MP3: The Splendor - Canary Islands
Our guest for this week's Göteborg Spotlight feature: Lisen Rylander of Midaircondo and The Splendor. On to the questions!
How long have you lived in Göteborg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?
I've lived here for all my life except for two years in Skurup studying improvisation, and two and a half years in Stockholm. I really enjoy living here now, I think it's a good music climate and I play with many good musicians. Of course I'm sometimes thinking of moving to another city for a while when I think Göteborg is too small. For example New York would be nice, but not right now. Actually, I often like the small size of Göteborg, you always meet someone you know on the street and it's easy to get everywhere.
I'm touring internationally a lot and Göteborg is a nice city to have as a base.
Do you think there's a particular Gbg sound or attitude? If so, how would you describe it?
Yes, maybe... I think there's a very relaxed music atmosphere here, not so much competition between musicians. Since media in Sweden are very focused on what's going on in Stockholm, musicians here have kind of the same situation in fighting for attention. Most Gbg musicians I've met are also very musically open minded. Göteborg is kind of an industrial city, rough in a way, and that sometimes shows in the music. A lot of interesting bands and artists are coming from here. For example, an artist like Håkan Hellström could probably not come from another city than Göteborg...
How does the city inspire you? Is it the people? The geography? Weather? Other artists?
I'm inspired by the way many Gbg musicians are open minded and do their own thing irrespectively of what other people think.
One thing I appreciate about the Gbg scene is that it seems to foster a collaborative attitude - do you find this to be true as well? How do you think it compares with the scene in Stockholm and/or other Swedish cities (or elsewhere)?
I agree that there's a collaborative attitude among musicians in Gbg but I can't really compare to other cities... Maybe this attitude comes from that the city is quite small and everyone knows one another. Also, musicians here often mix genres. But on the other hand, I think this is quite common everywhere these days.
In my interviews with Petter Ottosson of Fang Bomb I bemoaned the lack of a female presence in the experimental music world. Would you agree that this is the case? What do you think can be done to change the situation?
Yes, I agree that there's too few female artists in experimental music but I think it's about to change. For younger female musicians to have role models in experimental music, it's important that the one's working in the field today are encouraged and exposed.
Lastly, do you have a song you'd like to share with our readers?
Sure! Here is "Canary Islands" with The Splendor. It's a track from the new cd "Sound of Splendor", released in April.
The Splendor - Canary Islands