1. When did you start composing – and what or who were your early passions and influences?
D: We began writing music together not long after we learned how to walk. It was a grand cacophony at first, as you’d expect, but I believe it was a crucial playground.
M: And we’ve always had people around us encouraging and supporting us. That’s a big driving force.
2. What do you personally consider to be incisive moments in your work and/or career?
M: Looking at our back catalogue, I’d like to highlight the versatility, and the whole. Of course there are specific compositions and arrangements that stand out, melodies that appeal a bit more and so on, but I’d like to emphasize the whole.
3. Can you tell us something about your new release “Selected Early Works”?
D: As the title suggests, it’s a collection of some of our early compositions – now, for the first time, made available on digital platforms.
M: The music itself is composed in a rather traditional Western classical-romantic style, although with a rather diverse array of influences.
4. How long did it take to prepare the album?
M: It took us some time to prepare the re-recorded songs. But all in all, it all went pretty fast, as we’d already laid down the foundation for most of the tracks quite a few years ago. Then it was mostly a matter of editing and sending them to Rob [Schubert] for mastering. We’ve worked with Rob in the past, so he’s familiar with the way we want things, and has a keen ear.
5. What do improvisation and composition mean to you and what, to you, are their respective merits?
M: Improvisation and composition are intimately related. You improvise and stumble upon a nice line, so you write it down.
6. The role of the composer has always been subject to change. What’s your view on the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of composers today and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?
M: Eh… don’t know how to answer that, really. In that regard, we’re probably quite old fashioned. We create music and that’s our sole focus and ambition. Then again, it’s hard to separate the art from its creator, so… I’ll just leave it hanging at that.
7. What equipment do you use to compose your music?
D: Typically a piano. For writing stuff down, note writing software like Sibelius, although pen and paper will do the trick just as well.
8. How, do you feel, could contemporary compositions reach the attention of a wider audience?
D: I’d like to think that with the shrinking distances of today, it’s easier than ever to reach more people.
M: And force-feeding has never proven successful, has it? You gotta put some trust in the audience to seek things out.
9. Could you tell us something about your future projects?
D: For about four years and counting we’re working on the album “Atlantis”, to be released on the Italian label Blue Spiral Records in the near future.
M: We’re also doing a second EP of Norse inspired music, to be published by US label Venus Aeon.
10. Where can our readers find more information about you?
M: There’s our homepage [www.tjernbergmusic.com].
Original source: The Musicway Magazine