[From the Ithaca Times] This Tuesday, local arts organization Ithaca Underground will present two solo musicians at No Radio Records. Svarte Greiner — the solo moniker for Norwegian musician Erik Skodvin — will headline, with support from Richmond, VA-based musician Jonathan Lee, aka Anduin. As Svarte Greiner, Skodvin hones a guitar-oriented, effects-heavy approach, combining drone, psychedelia, and noise elements into his murky and mostly ambient compositions. Utilizing field recordings, found objects and esoteric samples, Anduin approaches his solo works with a more beat-oriented approach. Respected UK music journal The Wire said this about Anduin: “A convincing display of, if not light and shade, then beguiling gradations of darkness.” Rochester-based noise duo Stone Baby — currently one of the best things happening to the noise scene this side of Upstate New York — will open with a set of swelling, free-drone guitar/organ/electronic experiments.
We recently spoke with Lee about his upcoming Northeast tour with Svarte Greiner, a new solo career, and combining his love for visual art with sounds.
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Popcorn Youth: How do you see Erik’s approach as different from yours?
Jonathan Lee: Erik definitely does more improv than I do live — he goes in the opposite direction. His music is very guitar-based, with loads of delay and layers, and no beats at all, while I move towards making beats out of found sounds and using unconventional samples. There’s definitely this great little niché in electronic music right now where solo artists are combining organic and analog together — field recordings, strange effects, nontraditional instruments, and new concepts.
Popcorn Youth: Live, what is your set up like?
Lee: As far as Anduin in concerned, I use a laptop, sampler, a few keyboards and some sound pieces. It can be really boring to watch a solo artist if they’re just sitting behind a computer. I do more of a performance art/installation [approach] to create a narrative. I have a cellar door on wheels that I built and a handful of other things around me that I use for every show, but I’ll use them differently each time. You’ll never hear quite the same thing… It’s all about taking it one step further, letting people in even more.
Popcorn Youth: Does your live show differ from your records?
Lee: The problem with laptop music, or I would say electronic music in general, is how to make it ‘true’ when you’re playing live, without just pressing a button and letting it go. In a live show I try to interact with every sound as it comes through. And depending on the pieces in my set or my interactions with the crowd, I might do it completely differently every time. It’s interesting — after you go through the recording process, you have to figure out how to do it in real time. It’s all about constructing something, and then deconstructing it again.
Popcorn Youth: So is there room for improvisation live?
Lee: If something feels right, I’m open to it. It’s great because I’m also in a band [Souvenir’s Young America], and when you play with other people, there’s only so much improvisation that you can do because you’re working within the confines of that song. But my electronic music is more of a sound collage — it doesn’t have to sound the same, it just has to fit the mood of the performance or the space.
Popcorn Youth: What else had you been involved with prior to your solo work as Anduin?
Lee: I’ve been in bands since I was 13, touring since I was 15, and putting out albums the entire time. With every new project I learn a little bit more about myself. I’m at the point in my life where music and art has intersected for me in a way that it couldn’t at other points in my life, when I wasn’t prepared to have those come together. I was a painter for years, and to take those ideas — mixing a visual presentation with a musical presentation — feels like the same process. It’s all brushstrokes. [Laughs]
Popcorn Youth: It sounds as though you’re moving in an electronic direction with your music.
Lee: To be totally free to do something on your own — it’s another outlet that’s been brewing for a long time. I’ve slowly moved further and further away from rock, and closer and closer to electronic music for years now. It’s not necessarily because I’ve changed as a person, but I’m always looking to challenge myself in new ways.
Popcorn Youth: At what point did you know you wanted to pursue a solo identity?
Lee: At first, I couldn’t quite break free to do things completely on my own, because I had never done it before. You get used to bouncing ideas off of someone else. I did some collaboration with other artists and ended up doing a live piece on my own. It was really one show at a time. And when I got interest from others, it was like, ‘Yes, I can do this. It is valid.’ I feel as though I’ve moved beyond the first steps; I know how to do it now, I know my voice and I know what I want to do.
Svarte Greiner, Anduin, and Stone Baby will perform at No Radio Records this Tuesday, Oct. 7. The show begins at 7pm.
