Interview: Montt Mardié
The concept of Swedish indierockers creating soul music may sound perfectly awful on paper, but somehow, despite the odds stacked against them, they make it work. IAT contributor Matt Giordano recently took the time to do a little Q&A with one of the genre's leading practitioners, Mr. David Pagmar of Montt Mardié.
When I first heard Montt Mardié I was excited to hear something embracing soul, pop and a swinging playfulness in the music. I compared your style to Moneybrother (as he is also embracing soul) in a recent video post comment, but it really is it's own entity. Has there been any specific events in your life that made you want to create the music you are doing?
Well, everything that happens, happens for a reason, right? And I'm telling you, I've been into so many diffrent genres and styles of music that I can no longer keep track of them all. But ever since I was a child, there has been a certain type of melodies that has made a stronger and a more lasting impression than others. I've been trying to figure out the essence of the music I'm most drawn to, and I realised something just last week, watching "Sound of Music." I think I've seen that movie 20 times as a child, and when I saw it now again at 22, well to say it took my breath away would be the understatement of the year, I almost collapsed 'cause the songs where so incredible. Those melodies really make my heart ache. And what I realised was that, I guess you can call it an "old fashion"-kind of composing, where the melody not only is important, but is everything I want. For me, and this might sound elitist, a song must be something that can stand alone, without an arrangement or a specific sound. When you play the melody with one finger on a piano, people should still be forced to say, "God, that's a beautiful song." I'm not saying that my writing is there yet, but that's what I'm aiming for. So much music today is so insignificant and boring. Almost every time I hear a new band now days I just think "Jesus, they're not even trying...." Well well, back to everything that happens, happens for a reason. I've been into punk, post-punk, electronica, synth, dub, house, ambient, rock, post-rock and now I find, that whatever my scene-of-choice has been for the moment, there are something I've always listened to, a little boring but still, The Temptations, The Beatles, Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick, Brian Wilson and Beach Boys, those old musicals from the 50's and 60's, those are the ones who really has made a mark. When I've had my heart broken, I haven't turned to the Konki Duet or to Maher Shalal Hash Baz, I put on Sammy Davis on the stereo and "Singing in the rain" in the DVD. Those melodies, I'm telling you, they'll never leave your heart.
Being considered a pop musician, do you find this label to limit you or to actually allow more freedom, as it is my opinion that the realm of pop music really is open to any and all sonic dimensions and textures. Would you agree or disagree with this, and please just state your theory on what pop music is, and moreso, what it should be.
I'd really like to think that pop to me is just a word: popular. But I guess the music I'm most drawn to is labeled pop, and if someone (probebly an old class mate) on the street asks me what kind of music I make, and I'm having one of those "I-will-not-sink-to-the-level-of-your-idiotic-uninspiered-questions"-day, I might respond "pop!" But to answere your question, yes, I believe that pop music today welcomes almost anything. and if someone considers me to be a pop musican, I have no problem with it.
One of the first things that struck me about your music was the recording quality of your "Drama" album. The sounds and levels you got make it sound as if it actually was recorded in the 1960s, as opposed to trying to sound like a 60s recording. What in-studio techniques did you use in order to achieve this?
Pure accident! The reason "Drama" sounds like it does, is because I didn't have the slightest idea of how to record an album. I put the microphone where I figured I'd get the best levels, recorded it, EQed it until I thought it sounded the way I wanted it, and then just drowned it with reverb. And I just kept going like that through out the process. I love "Drama", and I'm proud of it, but I won't be making an album like that again. For my upcoming release (a double album) I've started to work with real pros. And it's terrific! You know, working with session musicans, it's great! A good friend of mine, Anders Söderkvist, has written string and horn parts, Johan Kronlund is recording and mixing the songs. Very diffrent from the making of "Drama". The latest single "1969" is from those sessions. But actully, whatever the process looks like, I still hate it. To record music is, for me, so stressful and awkward. I just want to be done with it, have the record in my hand and say, "cool, that's that, next!". It's not a good attitude to have in a studio. In the end though I always stop complaning and
start singing.
Also, I noticed you recorded most of the album at your home, did you find being in a comfortable enviroment to make the recording and writing process easier?
The writing yes, recording...I don't know. I get lazy. There's no doubt my best work is done under pressure (or my only work for that matter). At home, of course, there are a million other things to do. All the books you never finish, all the movies you want to see, all the phonecalls you should make. I get distracted real easy.
Since Montt Mardié is solely you, how do you go about the songwriting process, since many of your song involve full arrangements. Do you think of a string or melody line when you are walking down the street, and record instantaneously, or is it more of a laboured process?
It always starts with a melody. I sit down, often by the piano, and one moment there's nothing, and the next it's just there. For "Highschool drama" it was the "so you're still in high...", those five notes (or three). When I have that hook, that I'm always looking for, I start to work out the rest of the melody. When I have it, a verse and a refrain, I record it straight into my Macbook, using the built-in-mic. This process certainly come with some rules. It has to be quiet around me. If somebody says anything, or if the kids down the street are too loud or if a truck drives by, it can kill everything. Something distracts me and the moment is gone. Of course, it's always when you're in the middle of writing the next "Do you know the way to San Jose?" or "God only knows" it happens....
Alright, here's a little subject change: what does a Montt Mardié live show consist of, and what should attending fans expect to witness?
I'm really a moody person and I'm not always good at faking it. I've done some gigs when I afterwards just wanted to shoot myself because I basiclly failed to deliver. But often I'm really good. It might sound cocky, but for an example, we, me and my live band "The Intelligence", played at the Hultsfred festival in June. We played at the same time as Sweden played soccer in the World Cup. I thought, you know, since Sweden this summer got struck by the soccer fever, there would be three maybe four fans there supporting us. When I walked out on stage, it was packed. So many people, and they were screaming! So loud that my ears actully started aching. And I thought to myself: "I'm gonna give the a show they'll remember." And it went great, best show of my life. But I don't think I would have preformed as well if I hadn't been so surprised by the audience support.
Other than writing and performing music, do you have any other artistic forms/passions you actively pursue?
Well I would like to get into golf, but you know...
Seriously, I'm writing a lot, started on a novel, but I don't think it's something I want to make a career out of. But I guess you could say that I'm very much a appreciator of many different forms of art.
Lastly, what does Montt Mardié mean to you? What do you think Montt Mardié means to the world? And just where is Montt Mardié, as Montt Mardié seems to be everywhere.
Well, I've always wanted to be a composer, the writing part of the job is without question what means the most. And of course, being Montt Mardié allows me to spend most of my time figuring out how I want to write songs. And lyrics, gee, that's a whole chapter in itself. I sit for hours, days, months trying to get an idea for a song. An idea that's just simple enough to work, and has that hook quality that so many lyrics these days don't have. Now since I know my songs will be put on a record and that the record will be released, I have to work a lot on them. So being Montt Mardié, in the end, makes me a better composer.
At the moment i don't think Montt means anything to world, I'm not sure if it/he/I ever will. But I think that one or maybe two songs mean a lot to a few people and you can't really ask for more then that. Although, if Montt Mardié becomes the next big thing you won't be hearing complaning. Where I am? Well, in the middle of making my second album, in a house by the archipelago outside of Stockholm. At the time I'm reading Studs Terkle's book on Chicago, drinking tea, and serching eBay for a decent price on golfclubs.