By dropping the dark approach of their debut on the follow-up „shouldhavebeens“, the Swedish post-hardcore group TENGIL created a unique record, that conveys an unreal, shimmering atmosphere. In the following interview leadsinger Sakarias among other things told us about why the band was named after a villian from an Astrid Lindgren novel, how the quartet ended up at Prophecy Productions and why you shouldn’t always trust your own memories.
TENGIL is the adversary in Astrid Lindgren’s novel „The Brothers Lionheart“. Did you consciously name yourselves after this character and if so, for what reason?
We just chose a name that we thought sounded cool at the time, we we’re 17 (laughs), but it has since proven to mean a lot of things in a lot of different languages. It means something similar to „king“ in old norse, „link“ in Islandic, „asshole“ in Indonesian and it’s similar to the word „tengu“ in Japanese, which is some a type of folkloric demon. It’s fun to think it just turned out to mean all of those things, we had no idea when we chose it.
Your music is pretty eclectic, somewhere between hardcore and post-rock. Are you mainly inspired by bands from these genres or is there also other music that inspires you?
We’re just trying to make the music we ourselves want to hear but don’t think anyone else is making.
Some stylistic parts of your music could also be assigned to metal – you use blast-beats, for example. Do you also have a personal connection to metal or is that not more than a side note?
We’re all metal alumni, I guess. It sort of comes back to the previous question. Growing up we all went through those ordinary phases; metal to post-rock to hardcore to indie rock and so on. Right now we mostly listen to noise and classical music, we’ll see when we grow out of that. However, we try to still keep the thing we most loved with metal with us, which is the violence.
Your debut „Six“ was quite dark, optically and musically, but on your new album „shouldhavebeens“ there is a bright, colourful atmosphere. How did this change come about?
Just being all drab and dark all the time can get pretty boring after a while, we wanted to widen our horizons a bit. Not to say we’re not going to meddle with a darker atmosphere again in the future, but we’re so happy that we allowed ourselves to not only do that. Now the thing that scares us the most is just how we’re going to chose what way we continue in the future, at this point we can do anything!
Also on your band photos you now show yourself in shimmering, glittering colours. What is the connection between your new appearance and the themes of your new album?
We tried to bring to the photos a sense of unreal glossiness, something that could only exist in your dreams or another kind of not sober state of mind. That’s really what we wanted to communicate with the entire album, a sense of excessive, unrealistic brightness.
Do you have the impression that some fans found it hard to get used to your new style or did you get mostly positive feedback?
We definitely got mostly positive feedback! People have been so positive! Then of course there have been people who have expressed other feelings, but you can’t be too sad about that. Of course it’s too bad that some people didn’t get what they expected and feel bad about that, but still this is the album we had to make, so it really couldn’t have turned out any other way. And we’re still proud of the old stuff, and everyone can still listen to that if they want to.
„shouldhavebeens“ is a concept album about two friends and three New Year’s Eve nights. Would you say that some of the lyrics are autobiographical or is the record pure fiction?
It’s always inspired by real life, but I think the story is more autobiographical in the sense things felt than how they actually happened. You know, that’s the thing with autobiographical stuff, you can only ever remember it the way you think it happened.
In my opinion, the album conveys both a youthful mood of departure as well as nostalgia. Would you agree, or do you think another characteristic of the record is more significant?
No (laughs), I think you’re pretty spot on actually.
Due to its theme and appearance, „shouldhavebeens“ seems to have a certain coming-of-age character. Are you consciously targeting a youthful audience or do you think that older listeners can also connect to it?
I actually think that if there would be an age group that can’t get anything out of it would be the people who are too young to have experienced the things we made songs about on this album. It’s an album about recalling past times, and it seems to me that the older you get, the more you want to do that.
The production will probably be quite strange for some listeners, it sounds rather unpolished. What was your plan in that regard and are you satisfied with the result?
There’s dirt and a bit of gore in the story and feelings explored, but we tend to choose to not remember things like that when we’re nostalgic. Also a lot of the „partying“ (as in doing an excessive amount of …stuff) often makes the memories some people tend to hold on to very unclear. So to me, making the album that way was to make it more true to reality.
You really seem to push yourself to your limits when you sing. Isn’t it quite exhausting and even risky to use your voice like this? Or do you still pay attention to your singing technique, even with all that untamed passion?
Most singers get problems with their voice from time to time, and if you’re going to continue you’ll need to work something out. I don’t feel like I have had any particular problems yet though, so maybe my technique is just that good, ey? We’ll see, maybe I blow up my vocal cords and start coughing blood next tour, who knows.
If you were only allowed to play one particular song of „shouldhavebeens“ to give a person an impression of the record – which track would you choose and why?
I would play „And The Best Was Yet To Come“, since then people would want to listen to the rest of the album and the song’s title would come true.
With „A Lifetime Of White Noise“ you have a few seconds long interlude on the album, which is completely silent. What is the purpose of this piece?
It’s because the music doesn’t really ever stop until you’re dead or deaf. It’s the sound of you changing sides on the vinyl.
It must have come as a surprise to some that you got signed by Prophecy Productions. Why did you choose to work with them in particular and do you think that you will stay with Prophecy for a longer time?
I think that Prophecy, while still being a mostly metal label, are one of the only labels bold enough in this day and age to sign a band like us. We’re not pandering to any pre-established community, everyone just thinks we’re an anomaly. Prophecy has given us a platform to prove that we’re not. So as long as that partnership can remain, like you say, „mutually beneficial“ we’ll keep working with them.
How will you continue with TENGIL? Will you return to the style of „Six“, do you want to continue sounding like you do on „shouldhavebeens“ or maybe try something completely new?
Next release is to be 33% „Six“ 33% „shouldhavebeens“ and 33% staring with the letter „G“.
Let’s finish with our traditional Metal1.info Brainstorming. What comes to mind when you read the following terms?
Spirituality: Kneeling in front of a symphonic orchestra and the burning white lights.
Neofolk: Modern culture
Lo-Fi: Giles Corey (The album) by Giles Corey (The artist)
Friends – Acquaintances: Modern globalist friendships made possible by the power of the internet.
Politics: Spinelessness and wasted potential
Alcest – „Souvenirs D’Un Autre Monde“: A girl studying medical science at uni playing „Schism“ by Tool on bass.
Thank you very much for this interview. The last words shall be yours:
Keep on rocking! Even if your dad thinks what you’re doing isn’t „real“ rock.
14. Dezember 2018 Stephan Rajchl
Dieses Interview wurde per E-Mail geführt.
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