“The waiting time [before releasing] is so long now, and we have time to write when we’re done with the whole recording thing, and now we’re just sitting and waiting, and I think that’s the worst part,” Håvik says. “Because when we made the music we didn’t really think of expectations so much, we just wanted to think about the music and create something new. And because [2014 album] Silent Treatment went so well, we can’t expect to do that again. But it would be really nice, of course, if we did.
“I just really want to record stuff, and when it’s already recorded and done with, I’m done with those songs and I just want to write something new. But I spend my time with interviews, with music video shoots, meetings and rehearsals. Just a lot of preparing for the album to come out.”
I immediately feel like a monster for being exactly one of those diversions, the latest in a long line of distractions for Håvik. Softly spoken, she laughs at my apology and assures that, so far, I seem like one of the nicer media jerks.
“At the same time, I think it’s very important to remember to keep an eye on what was the [interviewer’s] agenda. And if you reinvent yourself every time you’re going to talk about a song and find different answers then you might get a bit lost, and you’ll just start saying weird things that aren’t really true in the end. But I also think interpretation is very important, where every lyric in every song can be interpreted in different ways, and to not be too obvious.”
Whatever the interpretation, the shape of Highasakite’s trajectory stands in sharp relief. Their debut, All That Floats Will Rain, began it all in 2012, with strong support bookings and festivals, paving the way for Silent Treatment to reach number one on the Norwegian albums chart, and achieve the record amount of time for remaining in the top 40. It’s been reported that prior to the release of their debut, Highasakite had never performed live. However, that’s a myth Håvik is swift to slay.
“No, that’s not how it was,” she laughs. “We played live a lot, but we didn’t have our two [newest] band members with us at that time. It was just me, Trond [Bersu, drums] and Øystein [Skar, synths]. So we changed then. And I feel like I’m recreating myself with each record, and right now I’m in the middle creative [period], getting into each song and how to express them onstage. It’s very different from being in the studio, and I’m just feeling my way along up there, still learning how to best sing them live. It’s the same song you hear on the record, but there’s an extra dimension live, with movements, with singing that’s a bit more raw. You know, it hasn’t been polished by all the studio stuff. It gets a new expression – you have to show each song with your whole body.”
Through what is undoubtedly a very filtered Australian lens, it seems that Scandinavian music is becoming increasingly popular across the globe, spearheaded by artists such as Ásgeir and Of Monsters And Men (not to mention the ongoing significance of Björk). Something beneath that midnight sun is fuelling a creative spurt that is as dark as it is captivating, and though Håvik has certainly witnessed its evolution, she is at a loss to explain it.
“There are a few artists now who do really well in the US and the rest of Europe, maybe in Australia, I’m not sure. I feel like maybe Norwegian music is more interesting right now, is becoming more popular for the rest of the world. I think that there’s always been the creativity here, but a lot of jazz artists and a lot of educated musicians [are going] over to doing pop music. It used to be pop was looked down on, it didn’t have any cred. But now there is more quality inside of it, it has found that credibility.”
To shepherd Camp Echo and lead single Someone Who’ll Get It across the seas, Highasakite have already begun touring. Håvik promises to venture to Oz soon, a follow-up to their summer 2015 visit.
“It was so warm, so nice and beautiful. It was amazing to go there in January, fly in over beautiful water. I mean, the flight itself, it was gruesome, just awful. And then getting to Australia, and there were so many people at our show – it was like finding a new and better world.”
BY ADAM NORRIS
