Made In Norway: Mörmaid
Mörmaid returns with debut album Pearlescent Dark, the follow up to EP Push/Pull, and singles Manicfest, I'm Trying and Wet Summer all earning top playlist spots.
It’s been quite a year for Oslo-based songwriter and producer Live Sollid, aka Mörmaid, already. It’s about to go up a notch again with the release of a powerful debut album - Pearlescent Dark - on 23 May.
There are many reasons to be cheerful about this, not least as it gives me an excuse to share this video which must surely rank high up there as among the most off the wall, ever. (Kudos to directors KAKSI / Alam Ali and Anna Katrin Karlsson).
Wet Summer, like two other tracks Manicfest and I’m Trying have helped to put the Norwegian on the radar for the likes of Spotify, Popjustice and New Music Friday. There is something both fresh and edgy about the sound.
The promo behind the new album describe it as being built from expansive influences and extremes: free jazz meets hyperpop, live electronics and sampling, field recordings and beat-driven club experimentation.
It has shades of pop, layers of clubbing and not small measure of electronic and funky constructs. It goes again and again and again.
Mörmaid puts it another way: "Big versus small spaces, chord and rhythm changes, vocal experimentation, different textures.”
"Pearlescent Dark is an album about duality, ambivalence, doubt and fear. It spans from individual and relational experiences to more conceptual reflections," Mörmaid adds.
"I explore the themes in many ways, both in the music itself, the production, the lyrics and the artwork. For a long time I’ve been fascinated with art that is beautiful and captivating and at the same time has a distorted and disturbing quality. This is something I hope comes across throughout the album."
"I’ve tried not to be afraid of the eclectic, and to push my own boundaries and break out of my comfortable patterns as a composer. Making an album, writing it, producing it and mixing it by yourself takes an immense amount of time, patience and energy. I’ve seen the face of frustration many times along the way, and fittingly enough, I’ve had lots of doubts.
"A mixing teacher I had many years ago once told me that you have to learn to be happy with 95%, because you’ll never reach 100%.
“Perfectionism and uncertainty can be a troublesome cocktail, and to break through it is a skill I’m still learning, but his words have definitely helped me through the years of becoming a better producer and mixer.
“At some point, it’s time to let go and let the music live. And then you can keep growing. I’m genuinely proud of having made this album, and of everything I’ve learned in the process.”
A former jazz student, Mörmaid is now the third signing to Metronomy drummer Anna Prior's Beat Palace Records label. Pearlescent Dark is out 23 May on Beat Palace Records.