Curioustin Interview

We had a moment to sit down with Hamar, Norway’s Curioustin. How is everything going with you today?

I am fine, thanks. I was hoping that the weather would be nicer so that I could go outside, but since it’s cloudy and it started to rain, I might as well stay inside and work some more with my music. I am very nervous to release it, but mostly very happy.

Can you give us a little insight about how Curioustin came to be?

In Norway we have a thing called Folkehøgskule, which is basically a school where people from all over the country, and even from outside of Norway, go for a year to study something that they like. The school has no exams in the end, we go on school trips to different countries (we went to Berlin and London), mostly just working with what you like, and having lots of fun with our new friends! I was in a class called Music Production, which is basically learning how to produce music, use the studio and learn how to rig for a concert and controlling live sound.

Before all this I had all these musical ideas which I couldn’t do anything with except for recording them on my phone. Singing with a piano on a stage isn’t really my thing either. My goal for the year while at Folkehøgskule was to find my sound, and create my own musical space/environment. After just a few months at Sunnhordland Folkehøgskule it was all clear to me; I had to start to produce these glitchy and ______ (insert other genre here)-music. By the way, it is pronounced [Kjuriostín], like curious + teen.

Your Dreamescape EP is going to be released on 1 July. What are particular highlights from the release?

In my opinion they are all good songs. None of them are alike, and they all have something exciting and new. I have shown a few of the songs to some of my friends, and they often tell me that they’ve never heard anything similar before, which is great. I don’t want to make boring music, music that you have heard before. I like changes, I like the new, and I like that a song is a bit challenging to listen to.

What artists or genres have played the largest role in influencing your music?

There are so many, I don’t know anymore. I am really inspired by Alissa White-Gluz and the rest of The Agonist, and Hol Baumann. Also, Infected Mushroom have played some part to inspire me. As you can see, they are totally different people in different genres, and that is the whole idea: Mixing genres. I like almost all kinds of music except a genre called dansband. I think it is some swedish/norwegian sub-genre from Country. After a while, I have stopped to compare my music to others, because I can’t find anything to compare it to any longer, just small parts, and that is good. New and exciting!

How have you evolved since the first few tracks that you recorded?

I have evolved a lot! Dreamy Clouds of Glass was the first song I finished. I got much help from my teacher. I am still learning though, mixing and mastering is hard work, and takes a long time to master. Luckily I have worked with a friend from Sunnhordland Folkehøgskule, Ehtergram, who is also  into the same music as I. We have exchanged both inspiring songs, ideas and experiences. It Ends or Begins was the first song we cooperated on. She is really a genius, who knows how to make a good sound, and good songs. Since the school year is over, and I am in Hamar, I have to mix and master my own songs again, and each time, I get a little better.

Which sort of social media website have you had the best successes with? What about these online services are different from the traditional face to face meeting that musicians traditionally utilize?

I am still a very unknown artist, so it’s hard to tell. The SoundCloud community is big though, and as long as I am active there, commenting, liking and follow other users, I get some attention and new followers from time to time. Also, since I haven’t released something properly yet, it’s difficult. It’s hard to advertise for something I can’t show to them. But I am also on Facebook, Bandcamp and a norwegian site called Urørt to reach out to as many people as I can. If one gets big on Urørt they can be played on the national radio.

The internet, I think, is not very personal. You don’t get to feel the energy of a person through Facebook. One often don’t recommend a facebook page to a friend personally, like you would have invited them to a concert. Invites are often ignored because people “don’t have the time” to find out what the page is. Therefore it’s very hard to reach out to people. I used to play in a band before called FirstImpression, and we always got to know other people by their faces and not their profile picture, and vice versa. It was much easier to get fans by playing live gigs. In the future I am going to be working on how I can play my songs live on a stage. It’s not that I can’t play the melodies, but performing with Ableton Live, I have never done that before. It’s like learning a whole new instrument from scratch. I am very motivated though, so the next year I am going to learn how to do that as well. Almost like DJ-ing my own songs.

What does the rest of 2015 hold for you? What sort of hints can you provide about the music that you will release after the Dreamescape EP is released?

The first few weeks after the 1st of july I will probably just chill, take a little break from composing, but not for long if I know myself right. I have a few vague concepts, and ideas now, and I will probably try to further develop the sound environment that I’ve already made. Glitch-ballad was a thought that popped into my head a few days ago. Hopefully, next time I will make an album, but that’s going to take a long time. I prefer to work in my own tempo, which can be a little slow, but the quality of the songs always turns out good. But for all we know, maybe Curioustín and Ehtergram will be a duo?

How can interested readers find samples of your music, and what can they do to help spread the message of Curioustin?

Right now I have a soundcloud profile and a Bandcamp page where Dreamy Clouds of Glass is. And I try to be active on Facebook as well. I wish I  could travel and play gigs, because then I would have more to write about. Please buy my EP when it releases on BandCamp. Take it with you on your phone and play it at parties. Contact me if you want to use any of it in a game, or in a live set or in some other way that I have not thought about. It would be much appreciated. And of course I will spread the word of your thing as well.

Thank you so much for your time. Do you have any further information for our readers here at NeuFutur?

In about one week I am going to share with you the last song from the EP – It Ends or Begins. Only you who read this article from this page are going to be able to hear it one week before the whole EP releases. Also, I will share a discount code that you can use if you decide to buy the EP from Bandcamp, so stay tuned!

Curioustin Interview