2009 – How was it for you? part 1

As a new decade looms on the horizon, we thought we’d reflect back on 2009 by asking a number of bands and artists how the year was for them. Over the next few days we’ll catch up with old friends and introduce new ones, so lets begin.

Teitur
www.myspace.com/teitur

So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
“It was a very good year” (Sinatra). When I was a teenager I always used to say this was the best year ever at every new years eve. I kinda feel the same right now. I bought a small house in the country, which is the first place I have ever owned. It’s gives a strange satisfaction to paint your own walls. Also, I didn’t tour too much and tire myself, but I have been making lots of music and investing in next year.
Other than your own tunes, what have you been listening to this year?
I had this Arvo Part obsession at the first half of this year. There was also the introduction to Kraftwerk which also takes time to sink in. And then my friend gave me this collection of Stax recordings constantly pop up on my iPod, one, because there is so much of it, two, because it’s great sounding music that doesn’t wear out.
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
“Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention” (Sinatra). Just one single thing, but I don’t want to talk about it.
What are you looking forward to in 2010?
I am making my next record in the beginning of the year which for me is very exiting. There is also lots of other releases coming out that I am involved in which is something I look forward too. Also, I am hoping I can go to Japan as I have never been there.
Do you have a message for our readers?
Don’t quit smoking. Quit worrying, I’m trying to quit both.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun
www.myspace.com/theboywhotrappedthesun

So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
2009 was a blinder, a proper turning point that made the previous few years seem worthwhile. Making my first record, playing some awesome shows and meeting the boss, doesnt get much better than that!
Other than your own tunes, what have you been listening to this year?
This year has been taken up mostly by Bon Iver. That album completly floored me when I heard it, I hadnt really loved a record in ages and it was nice to find some new music that was truely inspiring. Also Eddie Vedders’ soundtrack to the film into the wild, aaaaamazing. I listened to that alot round when I started touring just me and my guitar, it’s a good companion. Then the Acorn’s record Glory Hope Mountain and Liam Finn’s amazing I’ll Be Lightning.
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
I wouldnt change anything, even the shit parts, cos they make the good parts even better.
Do you have a message for our readers?
Dear readers, you’re not just readers you’re people too, with beautiful eyes and good taste in sandwiches. I hope one day we can all float in the ocean together and talk about our favourite sandwiches. PEACE OUT ! XXXXXXXXX

Share (Andrew Sisk – vocals, guitar)
www.myspace.com/sharetheband

So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
2009 has been the biggest year ever for us. There were plenty of firsts for us: Touring in Europe, releasing our first album as a band, performing on trains, and eating caribou.
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
We played in Peterborough (Ontario) this year and there was no one there to see the show and so we played to the other band (old friends of ours, Sleepless Nights). It turned into a competition of who could make the band performing laugh the hardest while they were playing. Dennis from Share went on stage with no shirt and a Banjo in hand for one of the Sleepless Nights more rocky songs and convulsed around for the whole song. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen and I wish I had videotaped it for posterity. It’s Probably my only regret.
What are you looking forward to in 2010?
2010 is the year of change, so we are hoping to record a new album and try new approaches to things. We might be doing a tour on the train in March as a duet and trying out the 20 or so new songs we are working on.
That is the plan at the moment.
Do you have a message for our readers?
A message for your readers? Prepare for the end of things as you know it! Things are falling apart.

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF: Teitur

Every now and then, you come across an artist you can’t quite explain, one whose music is both exciting iand intriguing in equal measure. For those of us at Call Upon The Author, Teitur Lassen is just such an artist. This young man from the Faroe Islands has the outsiders viewpoint of his Scandinavian contemporaries, but also exhibits an otherworldliness that makes his music quite unique and truly beautiful. So, lets go catch up with him…

For those readers who haven’t yet come across your music, how would you describe your songs and your approach to writing them?
I have written hundreds of songs since I was very young and it comes very naturally to me, so basically, I write all the time and take great pleasure in it. I have been touring for the last seven years around the world and this has also influenced my writing. I can write on the tour-bus, while there is a lot of commotion around me, while I have conversations or even while I am cooking or watching TV. I doesn’t really matter. Also, I started out as a songwriter before I put out records. I worked for a publisher in Los Angeles and spent a lot of time co-writing with other songwriters. I still enjoy doing this and I also write for other artists. This year I have been writing a lot for a french female singer.
You grew up in the Faroe Islands, does your childhood have an influence on your music?
Yes. I think it does for everybody. No bands ever visited the Faroes, so I didn’t get to hear much live music or go to any shows. Most of the music you’d hear was in people’s living-rooms, at parties and social events. There is a strong storytelling and song tradition here. I think that it still is a driving force in my music. That the songs could be played anywhere, regardless of what instruments there are or who sings them. Songs travel in a weird way and people sing them whenever it is necessary. There are a lot of choirs here and there is a lot of quietness and drama in nature. People are very intimate and involved in each other’s life. That’s very much how I still approach music. That you can talk directly to someone.

Which artists influenced you to start writing your own music?
Leonard Cohen was a big influence on me early on. Other than that I don’t find music more inspiring than other things. Music just makes me feel good. But so do friends, life and conversation. I seldom hear something and think – I want to make something just like that. I guess when I was a teenager, it was different. Then I learned how to play Beatles songs on the guitar and learned guitar-riffs through rock music. 
For your first album you worked with Rupert Hine, how was it to work with him and did he have an effect on the way you approach your music?
Absolutely. I consider him to be my mentor, as it were. He was the first person I met who I felt could communicate with me about my music and he gave me confidence to record music. He let me make a platform to start from and insisted on being called the director instead of producer. He was all about finding what was special and unique and he spent a lot of time with me to help me understand the process of making records. He had been making records since 1969 and was also and artist and songwriter himself. We are still best friends and I talk to him all the time. 
In 2006 you left Universal to start your own label, it was a bold decision. What made you feel you should go it alone?
I was in the classic “album number two” situation and it became obvious that it would take very long to come to an agreement with my A/R with what to do next. She didn’t like my songs and suggested me to sing covers of songs I didn’t like. I knew what I wanted to do and I felt that it was better to move and and continue to release music as opposed to spending three years in oblivion trying out random things with random people to later release them without it maybe being what we all wanted it to be anyway. I had a fan base and I had the songs. It was time to move on. I have never regretted the decision, although I sometimes wish that we could have just moved on, because it took a lot of energy and finance to start all over again after having set it all up once already. Suddenly all the people that I had worked with at the label and gotten to know were gone and no longer available.
You also cropped up on some movie soundtracks that year, do you feel that was something that helped give you broader exposure to the public?
I guess so. Although a song in a film is quite an quick fix. It doesn’t necessarily give you die hard fans. Playing live and performing in front of people does. It helps on the publishing front.
Your most recent album, The Singer, seems to be getting rave reviews pretty much everywhere, it must be a good feeling to have such a positive critical responce? Tell us a little bit about the album and your approach to writing it.
 A major factor was that we recorded it in an empty summer hotel from the 1860′ies on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. We turned it into a studio and used a local brass band a choir etc. The musicians and my friends came to stay there and cook food with us. It is right by the water surrounded by trees. There was a large villa and a concert hall where we recorded. I worked closely with my friend, Tróndur Bogason on the arrangements. We met over a long period of time in Copenhagen before the recordings to prepare what we wanted to record. We made some firm decisions about what sort of instrumentation we wanted to use and how we  wanted it to sound. Some of the songs were old songs, some new. I wrote “The Singer” title song on Gotland the year before the recordings and it set the tone for the rest of the album. I spent a lot of time on Gotland in that time and that’s why we ddecided to go there. Then we shaped the songs into what became “The Singer” record.
Lastly, you’re about to embark on a UK tour, what can we expect from a Teitur live show?
I don’t know. It’s up to you really. We just like to play music. I am going to have a four piece band. I am very exited to be playing in England. I lived in London for six years, but I haven’t really played there that much.