From Pembrokeshire in rural Wales, I SEE RIVERS have captured the attention of the UK. The Norwegian girls have no regrets about giving up city life. – More than anything else, I think it's the perception of time in rural Wales that has had the biggest impact on our music.
/ 18/10/2019 / Kristian DugstadName: I SEE RIVERS – Eline Brun, Lill Scheie and Gøril Nilsen
Current with: Collide (single)
TONO member since: 2014, 2014 and 2010
Who is I SEE RIVERS?
We are Gøril Nilsen from Hammerfest, Eline Brun from Jostedalen and Lill Scheie from Oslo, and together we are I SEE RIVERS. As songwriters and musicians in this band, we create music that floats and walks between alternative folk and danceable pop.
Tell us about your musical background?
We have three different backgrounds, but both Gøril and Eline started at the cultural school when they were in elementary school. Eline went from playing piano there to starting the music program at Firda Videregående Skule with singing as her main instrument, and Gøril replaced the flute with electric guitar and started a punk band at junior high school before she also started the music program, but then in Alta. Lill, on the other hand, was going to become an artist after high school and therefore doesn't have a big musical background to boast about, but was, like most Oslo youth, in the school revue when she was in high school.
You met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)? What made you apply out of the country, and what did the school give you?
All three of us wanted to study popular music, while also wanting to get out of Norway and experience something different for a short period of time, and the reason why LIPA was chosen is different for all three of us – but it was probably a bit coincidental.
I think there are as many different perceptions of LIPA as there are students who have attended it, but for us, that university and our time there have been invaluable. Without LIPA, we wouldn't be a band, but our experience of studying there was also that it was arranged for us to be allowed to prioritize running that band and try our hand at "the real world" while at the same time having the security of actually going to school.
And then you chose to stay – Not just in England, but you moved to rural Wales. Why?
After running the band in England for four years, we thought it was a bit silly to just drop everything and move back home to Norway as soon as we finished studying. On the other hand, we were quite tired of Liverpool, and we couldn't afford to live in London, Brighton or Bristol, so we were a bit confused for a while about where to settle. The year before this, we had been in Pembrokeshire, Wales and recorded our first EP ("Standing Barefoot") in StudiOwz with Owain Jenkins and Toby Couling based on a big tour we did with Newton Faulkner in 2016 where Toby played drums, and recommended Owain and his studio. When we first came to Pembrokeshire it was love at first sight and during the following year we travelled to and from Pembrokeshire and Liverpool around 5-6 times, so after some consideration, the choice fell quite naturally on Wales when we were going to move after finishing our studies.
How do the new surroundings, nature and culture affect your music? Wyt ti'n slaar Cymraeg?
We don't speak Welsh unfortunately, but we know the two most important words: "Diolch" and "Iechyd da".
Time moves differently in Pembrokeshire than anywhere else in the world – it’s like it moves at an incredibly slow pace and things take time, but strangely enough it suddenly makes you have time to do a lot more. It’s crazy, but that’s how it feels in terms of songwriting. And then there’s something magical about being able to sit in front of a screen all day writing or producing, and then being able to walk out onto a beautiful beach that stretches for miles, or walk up a cliff and greet wild horses. More than anything else, I think it’s the perception of time in rural Wales that has had the biggest impact on our music.
You are from Hammerfest, Jostedal and Oslo respectively, but have only known each other outside the country. Do you feel like a Norwegian or British band?
Can we say both? We are, as you say, Norwegian, but since the band was started and has had its main activity in the UK for so many years, we probably feel a bit British too. We are currently focusing on our home regions, which may make us feel a bit more like a Norwegian band, but there is something very nice about feeling a sense of belonging to so many places as well.
What feels most like home to you? Do you travel abroad or do you come home when you play in the old country?
Is it okay to answer “both” here? I think all three of us feel a duality when it comes to Norway and the UK, but we probably say that we are going home to play when we have concerts in Norway. Or, it probably depends on whether we are playing in the hometown of one of us. If we are traveling to play in Bergen, for example, I probably don't think we would say that we are going home, no.
You were recently among the first artists announced for Trondheim Calling in 2020. Are you looking forward to music in the Norwegian winter?
Great! We haven't played that much in Norway, and never in Trondheim, so we're really looking forward to it!
On August 30th, you released the single Collide. Tell us about it?
"Collide" is the second single from our debut album coming this spring! It was recorded at StudiOwz in Wales – a beautiful old chapel that Owain Jenkins (the owner of StudiOwz and our engineer) has just completely renovated into an insanely cool studio (www.studiowz.com)! The song was mainly written by Gøril before the three of us and Toby Couling arranged and produced most of it together before we went into the studio with it this spring.
The song is perhaps a little sonically different than what we've released before in that we've used a little more electronic elements in the production, but it's still based on both acoustic and analog sounds as before - I think the main difference lies in the style of the song itself, in addition to the fact that there's more space in the soundscape itself if you listen to it compared to the previous single we released, 'Helios', where there are a few more elements fighting for space.
What made you start writing music?
It is so important to find a way to express yourself in life. Making yourself understood and getting your opinions across to other people can be so incredibly difficult, and for us, writing has become a way to communicate and express ourselves. It is quite individual how we ended up choosing and using music and words as a form of expression, and in a way it was and maybe a bit random.
Where and how do you write? What inspires you?
We mostly write at home, and the way we write really varies from time to time – sometimes all three of us write together, other times we come into the band with a finished song, some songs are created in Logic, others with an acoustic guitar, and so on.
When it comes to what inspires us and how we write individually, it varies between us, but for Gøril, she is becoming more and more interested in writing lyrics, even though it is still the music that captivates first – in this sense, the instrumentation often comes before the lyrics. Eline draws inspiration from other people's stories, often through films and series, but also from conversations with people around her. Lill, like Eline, can also be inspired by other people's stories and writes a lot semi-biographically in line with that. Currently, it is Greek mythology, and the almost soap opera-like drama that can be found there, that captivates her the most.
Do you have any equipment or tools that are indispensable in the writing process?
It's so easy to get stuck and repeat the same process, so we all try to change our methods and approaches to writing. That said, it's really nice to use Logic as a tool because it's so easy to find different sounds that can help inspire. In addition to Thesaurus and Rhymezone, of course (hehehe)
A debut album is in the works and we can expect a release in 2020? What can you tell us about the writing process?
Yes! We are working towards an album release in the spring of 2020, which is incredibly exciting! Previously we have written a lot together, where we have either completed an idea that one of us has had together, or written a complete song with everyone in the room the whole time. For this album we have chosen to do it a little differently where we have written most of it separately, and then we have instead focused on coming together around the actual production and arranging.
What are your plans for the fall and winter?
We have the final push in the studio in November and December, but we're writing and producing right up until we start recording – so the next month we're going to focus on that!
What is your career highlight so far?
We've done so many cool things in the last few years and seen so many cool places around the UK, Europe and Norway, which is absolutely amazing. It's also been absolutely crazy to hear our music on such big channels as BBC Radio 1 and Radio 6, to be invited to play in the British Parliament, or to be on one of the UK's biggest breakfast shows, but the highlight of our career so far, and what has had the most impact on where our path has taken us since, was meeting Toby Couling (our now co-producer) in 2016.
Can each of you share one of your greatest musical experiences – as a listener?
Eline: Florence & The Machine, Øya
Gøril: 14-year-old me when I saw (what was then my favorite band) "Cyaneed" at Redrum.
Lill: Even though I was also quite young when I saw it, I remember it being pretty awesome to see Alison Krauss and Robert Plant perform the 'Raising Sand' album with the world's coolest band when they were in Oslo.
TONO: Thank you!
I SEE RIVERS: Thank you very much!
