On „Faþir“ Ludvig Swärd has taken his folk solo project FORNDOM in new directions: Influenced by contemporary classical music, the Swede has created an atmospherically dense album that sounds more like ambient than oldschool acoustic music. In our interview, Swärd talks, among other things, about his unconventional approach to writing and recording the songs, the mythological and historical background of the record, and the fear of the unknown.
Although FORNDOM is widely considered a folk project, your new album „Faþir“ with its soundscapes also sounds a lot like ambient and film music. Do you also draw inspiration from these forms of music?
Yes, personally I would say that I listen to all kinds of music that I somehow find atmospheric, but whether this is considered metal, electronic or classical in the ears of others matters not to me. But as of late it has been a lot of contemporary classical music. I wouldn’t say that they work as the only source of inspiration though. In the end, the deepest inspiration comes from within – a thought, a feeling.
Nordvis, the label you are signed with, also releases a lot of (black) metal and the fandoms of metal and folk often overlap today. Do you yourself have some sort of connection to metal music?
I used to listen to a lot of black metal when I was younger and of course it also has an impact on the music I compose today. But I wouldn’t say that I’m that much of a metal-fan in general except for some old classical albums and bands that I still enjoy to listen to.
As already mentioned, on „Faþir“ there aren’t many separated, sharply defined sounds next to the percussion, but rather extensive soundscapes or textures. How exactly did you create these – are they all performed on string instruments?
Yes, that is true, as this album was mainly composed on piano it took me a lot of effort to try to fit it into my regular soundscape. The original idea was to record it more pure, but as time went by I simply felt that something was missing, which led me to experiment with a number of different tools in regards to modulation and effects. One might feel that this album lacks the rest of the instruments, such as the tagelharpa, but at the same time the focus for this album was not to be found within the instruments themselves, but rather within the vocals and the word itself. I tried to add some of these instruments throughout the process, but in the end I felt it was better without them.
Is this a development you want to keep or will you use more instruments again on future albums?
No, composing on piano was great to write the album itself, but at the same time it made me locked to an idea of how it was supposed to sound, making the recording process rather hard and limited. But I’ve learned from my mistakes and will no doubt compose more directly with the final instruments and sounds further on. The albums will keep on having a contemporary classical touch, with influences from Scandinavian folk music. Thus there will be a return of many old instruments for the next release, but also carry an even more acoustic sound.
Stylistically the songs are rather similar to each other. What would you say to someone who thinks the album is too monotonous?
Yes they are, and basically the majority of it consists of the very same chords with different variations, the two last songs even have the very same beat. But at the same time I never write individual songs, but rather look upon every song as part of a larger unity. I rather focus on a red thread rather than a mix of different spices as I find that this gives more depth and purpose to the album itself. I was also very inspired by the passage of the year and life and death itself which was why I wanted to keep something monotonous throughout the whole album, only changing the perspective. If one looks deeper into this album and tries to understand it, I think one might also understand that everything is done for a specific purpose.
With seven songs and a runtime of about 35 minutes, „Faþir“ is pretty short. Why would you have found it unfitting to add one or two more songs to the album?
For the same reason that I don’t speak when there is nothing more to be said. I don’t write music as mere entertainment but rather because I have something to say with it. I have always filtered out the parts of the album that I don’t think adds up to the unity or that feels unnecessary. Just because I have written something, doesn’t necessarily mean that it deserves a place on that specific album, if it in itself has nothing to do with it.
As far as I know, the album title „Faþir“ is translated as „father“. Why did you choose this title?
Well, first and foremost I chose it due to the fact that the album concerns the relationships between the father and the son – or in other words – the relationships between the god and the worshiper. The cult of Odin came as an influence from the roman armies and the cult of Mithras as germanic people met with them at Limes in today’s Germany to take part in trade or to join as roman help troops. In the roman cult of Mithras there were several different roles where the ‘father’ – in other words the general – was the highest. This whole social structure also followed the germanic travelers as they returned to their home – very often wealthy from the payment of their deeds. With this money they could also assure a similar social structure in their native countries – where they could hire or adopt men to fight for them and become their bodyguards, in other words, become fathers. This of course also influenced the religion itself. In mainland Scandinavia it was a tradition among leaders and kings to claim descendancy from a specific god, while on Iceland it was a lot more usual to see the god as a close friend.
So the choice of ‘father’ as the title had many different meanings and aspects depending on the perspective. But of course it was also a personal one – a dedication to my own father who has been a huge musical influence for me.
The album deals with the natural cycle of life and death. Can you tell us something more about it?
Like I mentioned earlier I wanted the album to be written so that it would contain aspects of both life as well as death. The album is more or less written like a journey, where it starts with darkness to be followed by light, later to venture into darker parts, with a more hopeful ending.
Although death is the natural consequence of life, the fear of it is deeply rooted in us. Do you yourself feel this way when you think about such topics or have you managed to make your peace with it?
Well, I think the fear of the unknown is what most people fear. Just imagine all those situations within life where you don’t know how things will be after something greater happens. Even in those situations a „negative“ consequence can be nicer to have than to live in uncertainty. Death is one of a few things that we will never get answers about for as long as we live, it will always be shrouded in a cloak of uncertainty, yet we all know it is going to happen. I have never believed death itself is the end of all, but rather the start of something new.
The certainty of death, of course, does not necessarily prevent us from living a beautiful life. Nevertheless, „Faþir“ seems to have a rather oppressive mood. Would you still call it a life-affirming record?
No, of course I would not call it a life-affirming record as in „happy“, but rather as an album that focuses on the cycle of life and the journey from this life to the next.
On the cover there is the face of a man covering his left eye with his hand in front of a foggy nature landscape. In which way is this image linked to the concept of the album?
The image is linked to the back of the physical release – containing an image of a statue of Odin, mirrored to the front – thus reflecting the god and the worshipper, the father and the son.
Jayn (Darkher) appears on the album as guest singer – but just in a very unobtrusive way in the background. Why was it nevertheless important to you to have her voice on „Faþir“?
I’ve always loved the natural characteristics of Jayn’s voice and wanted her to guest on a couple of songs as a representation of death itself – which within the norse world is considered to be a woman. We met during a festival in Poland and became good friends and as I was working on the album at the time and had these specific ideas, I asked if she would be interested in guesting, which she was.
On the occasion of the release of your new album a tour with Darkher and The Devil’s Trade was planned. However, this tour had to be cancelled because of the corona epidemic and the necessary countermeasures against it. How likely is it that you can catch up on this tour after the crisis?
It is all very uncertain at the moment. It was firstly postponed for a year until the current one. But as things are looking now it is probably going to be postponed until the next. It is really sad that this whole situation is going on, but on a personal level it affects me very little. I would love to go out and perform again as soon as possible, but I wouldn’t want to risk the life of anyone else.
I have the impression that the dense atmosphere of the record is also due to the layered production. How would you have transported this in a live setting?
I have always performed the most crucial parts of the production live while having the rest as a backing track. Perhaps it will come a day for it all to be performed completely with live instruments, but as of this moment I think it works fine with me and two percussion live members.
Coming back to the current situation again: Sweden is one of the few countries where fewer restrictive measures have been taken against the corona virus. How reasonable is this approach in your opinion?
As of this moment I would not say that the situation is that very different from many other countries, but if one looks at it from the beginning it certainly was a lot more liberal than most countries in the world, giving more responsibility to the people themselves, rather than having a state forcing them onto something. I think this is a reasonable way to go. The only problem is that there are still a lot of people who break the recommendations and live their lives as they always have. Even if I prefer the more liberal option, I think it would have been wiser to take stricter measures from the beginning, to make a lot more people realize the problem, leaving them more own responsibility further ahead.
On Metal1.info we usually end our interviews with a short brainstorming session. What comes to your mind with the following terms?
Immortality: Remembrance.
Climate crisis: Is certainly something that we all can do something about, but which in the end lies in the hands of the industries and people in power.
Electronic music: Is great, and not least as a tool to create atmospheres that would not be possible with acoustic instruments. Yet I wouldn’t say that I prefer it, if I have an acoustic counterpart as an available option.
Neo-paganism: To be able to understand the religions of old we must firstly put ourselves into the mind and society of the past.
Instrumental music: True music should always carry the ability to go beyond what can be expressed with words.
Current favorite album: Fratres / Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt.
Thanks for your time. I’d like to leave the final words to you:
The pleasure was all mine!
19. April 2021 Stephan Rajchl
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