Listening to the new Edena Gardens album Agar with headphones on is like slipping into a nice hot bath. While the band’s rich and smooth studio sound washes you clean, the slow majestic jams will put in you in a state of relaxation you had not experienced since their self-titled debut album came out last year. These Danish magicians simply cannot help themselves; they have something magical going on, and they are a prolific bunch.
The trio consists of drummer Jakob Skøtt (Causa Sui), guitarist Nicklas Sørensen (Papir), and bass/guitarist Martin Rude (Sun River), and as Edena Gardens they naturally lock together and jam dreamily with their eyes closed like they never did anything else in their entire lives.
So naturally these jams flow, that even though they are proper improvisations, the band finds themselves synching so similarly live that they perform back to back renditions of their album songs, even while not intending to. It’s like these jams have a will of their own, like water, slowly finding its way no matter what.
Which takes us back to my bath, the warm and soothing experience of Agar that calms the head and frees the spirit to wander where it may. When it comes to jamming, musically, technically, but most of all mindfully, there is no better album this year than this.
And still the water flows! Edena Gardens not only releases its second studio album this month, but also a live recording called Live Momentum that in a sense proves the above made point. The album most iconically features the seventeen minute monster jam Live Momentum, and is followed by a song from the debut album, and a song from the new album Agar.
Weirdo Shrine is proud to be able to premiere the first track Veil, which is a jam on the studio track from Agar, and definitely walks along the same lines. It is a minute shorter, but the ground rules are the same, and it sure makes you wish you were there when they played it. For now, while Edena Gardens does not play your city, it is a perfect substitute though.
But hey, let’s meet the band! It is always good to hear from instrumental bands as they do not have a mouth, and they are reliant completely on the abstract interpretation of their listeners. Edena Gardens‘ Jakob, Martin, and Nicklas give off the vibe of being pretty happy campers, and why wouldn’t they be? They just released one of the best albums of the year, and they do not feel the need to quit any time soon…
How are you? How has the pandemic period been for Edena Gardens?
Jakob: We’re actually a post-pandemic band! But the pandemic started out just when Martin & I had recorded an improvised conceptual duo album of stand-up bass and drums (The Discipline of Assent) in March 2020, I think everything started shutting down a week after, so I had time to mix it really fast and get it out so the LP was pressed and out in August. That’s crazy fast. We did two more albums in much the same way and felt like we wanted to try something else. But that sort of set the timescale for Edena Gardens as well. It’s a single session from the spring of 2022 of just recording everything and then cutting out the bits that fit. So same approach, but with Nicklas on guitar and Martin on electric Bass & baritone guitar. I always liked the concept of drums and two guitars – a power trio sort of reversing itself and tuning down and out in a way, moving away from the obvious rock cliches into something else. It’s music that’s played live that’s not in a hurry to get anywhere, but that still feels fresh, so t get it quickly done was an element.
Martin: Excactly. The pandemic period has been crazy prolific for me and Jakob’s collaborations. And the interest and relative success of our projects really gave us the confidence to collaborate with people we find inspirational. The Edena Gardens project was proposed to me by Jakob and, I think, Jonas and I jumped at the chance as Papir always has been one of my absolute favourite live bands. Also the format of short intense sessions really lends itself to working during the pandemic as we could meet after testing and get a lot done without too much contact afterwards. With credit to the great work Jakob put into the mixing and producing after the sessions.
Can you introduce yourself, how did you meet, etc?
Jakob: I play the drums in Causa Sui and run El Paraiso Records with Jonas Munk, who also runs the studio we record in, which is in Odense where I used to live.
Nicklas: I play guitar in Papir and have done a couple of solo records on El Paraiso as well as a duo record with Jonas Munk. Long time fan of Causa Sui and the label too, so the meeting seemed kind of natural.
Martin: I am usually a singer/songwriter type playing the guitar and singing. Once upon a time in the Sun River project on El Paraiso records. But lately I’ve dug deep in my bag of stringed instruments and reinvented myself as more of a bass player/ instrumentalist. Me and Jakob have known each other since the early 2000s through the music scene in Odense and has worked together before on Sun River. And when I had a short stint as a stand-in bassist in Causa Sui we found out we really had a good time grooving together.
What can you tell me about your musical backgrounds?
Jakob: I’ve played the drums since I was 10. I’ve played with the guys in Causa Sui since I was 13, so it’s fun to finally get another group together. I’ve also produced my own music for years. But I’m always trying to learn new stuff, so with this project, producing electric guitars and bass was a first for me.
Nicklas: Although I wanted to be a drummer I got a guitar for christmas around the age of 10 and I started playing in bands and taking lessons in classical guitar. I guess I have been in at least one band since I was 10. Went to study jazz guitar for a while, which didn’t go well. I’ve played in a lot of different constellations, and done a bit of session work here and there, but Papir has been the main project for the last 12 years or so. And well… jamming has always been a big part of the motivation for playing music for me.
Martin: I started out picking up my mothers short scale bass when I was really young. Maybe 5, and tried to get some tones out of it. I was glued to the bass until I was around 18 when I transitioned to the guitar.
What does a regular day in your lives look like?
Jakob: Get up, go to work, cook dinner, then in periods when I work on music, label stuff or artwork I dedicate the evenings to that. I always read stuff before I sleep – often multiple books for whatever mood. Currently reading Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead’s autobiography, Bruce Adam’s You’re with Stupid, about his label Kranky & Ursula Le Guin’s Complete Hainish novels, which is some of my favorite sci-fi.
Nicklas: I work 30 hours a week at a library. Been doing that for 16 years now. A regular day would include a walk to the library where I work, and a walk home. I spend most of my time off listening to records, reading if I’m motivated (and sometimes even if I’m not). Currently trying to finish a book about philosophical aesthetics by Danish idea historian Dorthe Jørgensen, pretty difficult stuff as I’m not an academically trained reader. Also reading a book about the Vedic and Buddhist concept of “Dharma”, which is quite interesting.
Martin: I work as a carer for a disabled man. If you have seen “intouchables’ ‘that is pretty much exactly my job. It gives me a lot of free time that I mainly use in my workshop. I’m in between shops right now but usually I spend a lot of time there building furniture and guitars. The rest of the time I spend with my girlfriend, my guitars and my cat.
What is the best thing about Agar?
Nicklas: I like how we tried to let a little more of the obvious rock and more free (rock) influences into the music without trying too hard and without giving up the mellow pace. Don’t know if we succeeded, but I hope so. I also had a real feeling of being “in the zone” a few times when we recorded and listening back I think that feeling is still transmitted through some of the jams, which is not always the case, when you do this kind of improvised music.
Martin: The best thing for this project in general for me is when me and Jakob find some special deep groove, where we can let our minds wander and just enjoy the incredible inventiveness and presence of Nicklas’ playing. It get’s me every time we play together. Also I get an excuse to use some of the weird downtuned guitars in my collection so I can justify having them around.
Where do you live and how does it affect your music?
Jakob: I live in Copenhagen, which means my drums are 200 kilometers away. That’s probably one of the reasons I’ve gotten good at focusing on capturing lots of fresh ideas in the studio and then bringing them home and edit it heavily. That has been my modus operandi for years on both solo and collaboration albums.
Martin: I live in a small town outside of Odense. It is in a really beautiful landscape and lately I’ve been going for long walks in the hills and the forests around where I live, where Edena Gardens seem to be the perfect soundscape. Especially when I’ve walked for miles along an old abandoned railway that runs close by my house.
Who are some contemporary musical heroes of yours?
Nicklas: The term “heroes” has always seemed odd to me when used in a context of music. It’s a bit too fairytale-like or cartoonish, but that’s just my taste. There are of course a lot of musicians and creators of music I admire, too many to be honest. One could be Brian Eno – besides making a lot of fascinating ambient music, I’ve always admired his ability to put thoughts about music, aesthetics and society into words in a way that is easy to understand but doesn’t lack philosophical depth.
Martin: I’ve always been very into african music. And the past good while I really have been digging the “desert blues” scene in Mali and Niger. My go to guys lately have been Bombino and Mdou Moctar, who I think are both masterful guitarists.
Jakob: I also hesitate to have “heroes” these days, there are very people I can cast my entire ship behind, and I’ve always been more into grabbing different aspects from a multitude of different artists, than settle with just a few. I was surprised at how useful Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being was at pinning down what it means to be creative in a both very thoughtful yet practical way.
Can you tell me about how you went about composing and recording songs?
Jakob: Like I mentioned earlier, they’re not really composed, but stuff that we come up with on the spot. The weird thing is that we’ve started playing these things live, and despite there being sort of a loose vibe to it, some of the progressions and ideas are just stuck to the point where we’re playing them similarly each time. It’s not a bad thing, just something we noticed. So we try to throw some roadblocks in there, like “hey let’s do a free jazz part in the middle of the tune, just to empty our heads” sort of thing. But yeah, after the first one we decided that everything should have a “flow” – not actively chasing changes and progressions, but just following whatever happens from a specific idea or concept. Sometimes it goes nowhere, and you just leave that out of the album – and sometimes you make something that’d be really hard to recreate, and that’s the honest nuggets we’re aiming for in a long recording session.
What are your immediate and long term future plans?
Nicklas: I’ve always been bad at making plans, but I hope to make more music with Edena Gardens in the near future. We do have a concert at the great Esbjerg Fuzztival, which I’m looking forward to. I also have a solo release coming out in May on an American cassette label called Aural Canyon. They release a lot of awesome music, so I feel honored and pretty excited about that. And hopefully we get time to finish the next Papir record this year.
Jakob: I’m currently working on some Causa Sui live albums and London Odense Ensemble, which also has a live LP coming out soon. And yeah playing with those cats again (you call people who play jazz cats, right?). But yeah keep milking this Edena Gardens thing for as much as it can take, it feels like a project with many sides to explore, and it’s an easy flowing thing so it’s not as much about effort as it is in simply making it a priority. Long term, it would be cool to go abroad with the project once the word gets around a bit more.
Martin: Yes, there will definitely be more Edena Gardens in the future. And I’m sure we’ll dip our toes into the jazz scene again soon as well.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do after reading this interview?
Jakob: I would recommend a deep dive into the El Paraiso catalogue – it’s kind of a red pill / blue pill thing: there are two playlists on Spotify, one for chilling out and getting mellow and one for the fuzzier explosive side. Take your pick, Weirdo Shrine reader:
Zone out and chill: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6sxkYUANgD0Z7WQ2zOodmx
Freedom Fuzz party: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tPOdCyWI3vLnNWT0q03E8
Weirdo Shrine 