Einar Solberg has established his presence in the current metal scene, being the frontman and the voice of Leprous. While his band thrives, he’s now trying to build his solo career and with his second album “Vox Occulta” he makes a big step forward.
Only a few days after its release, we had the chance to chat with Einar while he was traveling from Spain to Norway and learn a lot of interesting details behind his choice to focus more on an orchestral approach and write music that has a real orchestra as its foundation. We also talked about the importance to deal with feedback, and how much his solo stuff may affect Leprous’ music, among many interesting topics that occurred along the way.
You can read everything Einar told us right below, while checking “Vox Occulta”!
Where do I find you?
Driving from south of Spain to Norway.
So you’re on the road again. Is it for work or vacations?
I live in Spain, in the south of Spain. Now I’m just going home to Norway for the summer, because I’m not very tempted with the high degrees. I like the heat until a certain level and then it’s just unpleasant.
Yeah, I live in Greece. I have an idea of what you’re saying. But I was really wondering, do musicians like you that tour around the world so heavily get sick of having to pack your stuff again and get on the road again instead of staying home and relax a little bit? Because some musicians tend to go on the road again even when they don’t have to tour. Is that the case with you?
I think a lot of musicians are people who don’t really thrive on daily routines and a calm and peaceful life. I think a lot of musicians are adventurers who like to go for the slightly more… Like for me, there are times when I would have liked to be home for a longer time, and it is boring having to pack my things again, but in general the worst thing I could imagine is to just stay at the same place for a year without moving… (laughs). So, I think it’s just more like a personality thing. We have people in our band though that are more leaning towards like daily routines and stuff and they don’t like to travel as much as I do. I’m a bit extreme like that.
Yeah, I get it. Before we go straight to your new album, I’d like to ask you how did it feel playing two shows in Athens and one in Thessaloniki a couple of months ago? Because by now it’s obvious that you’re already one of our favorite bands over here and that your fan base keeps growing, isn’t it?
We loved it! It was super cool! It was so amazing, after the first show, just knowing that “Okay, we don’t need to move. We can just stay. We can just leave our stuff here”. It was the most comfortable thing ever. “We can just leave our stuff on stage and come back tomorrow”…
Did you go out that night? Did Baard show you some places he knows?
I never go out. But Baard probably maybe did. But he probably went out the day after the second show. He’s usually doesn’t like it going out on the same day. It’s usually if it’s an off-day after. He’s not a heavy drinker either.
I was just joking because he has a lot of friends here…
Yeah, yeah, that’s true! He’s that guy from the band! The rest of us, especially me, I guess I prefer it to just lay low… A tour is such a social environment with so many people. And even though I’m no introvert or anything, I get my dose of being social on tour. So, I want to spend that time just relaxing instead.
It’s easy to say that you don’t care about feedback whenever the feedback is bad…
Yeah, I get it. This is the second solo album and it’s been out for a few days now. What’s the feedback you have so far and how do you feel about it, now that it’s out there?
In one way, on an emotional level I try to distance myself a bit from the feedback, because there is nothing I can really do about it anyway. The feedback is completely out of my control. I just need to feel first whether I’m proud of what I did or not.
Because, music is such a subjective thing… You can have delivered what you think is the best thing you’ve ever done and then in the end, people don’t receive it the way you were hoping for. So it’s just better to just stop hoping for anything. That being said though, the feedback has been incredible and I would lie if I said that I wasn’t a bit happy about it. So, of course, it’s easy to say that you don’t care about feedback whenever the feedback is bad… (laughs)
Not that we ever did anything that in general got only bad feedback though, of course. But yeah, there has been times in our career where maybe things didn’t live up to the expectations…
It’s nice to be happy about good feedback, but it’s a bit pointless to be very sad about the opposite, because it’s a waste of your mental health, in a way
I don’t necessarily agree with that, because I follow Leprous from the very beginning. But I get what you say, that you have to distance yourself emotionally from the feedback. But on the other hand, you make something. You just want to know how it makes people feel when you make something. You don’t necessarily expect them to love it or interpret it like you do, but feel something about it, right?
Yeah, definitely. But the problem is… if you go into a place where you care too much about feedback, especially like established band and artists like we are… People listen often from a nostalgic point of view. They listen from like a “oh, this is different than what I’m used to” type of view. The receivers can vary so much. Especially new artists, they can completely lose all their motivation if things doesn’t go as they were hoping.
I guess what I’m saying is that it’s nice to be happy about good feedback, but it’s a bit pointless to be very sad about the opposite, because it’s a waste of your mental health, in a way. And in a way, you cannot control what people think. That’s what I’m saying. You can think people react in one way… You never know how people are going to receive things. Like now, for example, my most played track every day is my 12 minute track from the album, “Grex”, which I also think is one of the strongest tracks on the album. I wasn’t in a million years expecting that to become the most popular track, but it is becoming the most popular track. You can never know! So I’m very happy to see that things are going well, but it’s more, I guess, from almost a pragmatic marketing perspective that I think “Okay, that’s good. People like it. I’m happy about that”.
But there also has been a lot of things that people didn’t necessarily like when it came out and then later on it came back to being their favorite thing. For example, for “Congregation” we received a lot of critique when that one came out in the beginning. For those who were connected to “Bilateral” and “Coal” for example, it was like “Oh no, what is this?”. And then, of course, even more so when “Malina” came out and even more so when “Pitfalls” came out. So we got a bit used to distancing ourselves from it and then people sometimes they get a bit of time and then suddenly they go “Oh, now that’s actually my favorite album”. You never know how it changes. So really, I remember also I talked a lot about it, because that’s a good thing that I had some like mentors a bit early on, like my sister and my brother-in-law, Ihsahn. I remember he was saying “When we released “Eclipse” and “Anthems” with Emperor, people hated it in the beginning“. They got a lot of like crap that it’s terrible… and then the same journalist 10 years later said that “It’s one of the most important albums ever“… (laughs). So, that’s what I’m saying: to the distance yourself a bit from it. If it’s negative, at least you don’t put your self-worth into the opinions of someone else. That’s what I’m trying to say.
I feel most home in this cinematic way of expressing myself
Yeah, totally get it. Now, “Vox Occulta” feels more compact and stylistically oriented than the previous song, your first solo album. And you said that you wanted to be recognized as the go-to for cinematic prog. How did this goal appear and what makes it important to you?
I just realized with my previous album being so all over the place in a way, musically… it’s an album that has a lot of different genres in it, a lot of different things. And there are some people that vibe a lot with that. But my feeling pretty early on with that album was that I’m lacking some directions here. There are some songs that sound a bit of like Leprous and some that sound like something completely different. And there are some that are a bit cinematic. And that, of course, is because I started that album just as a fun project to make songs together with friends, people that I know. So I didn’t have much of an ambition back then.
But then I realized “Okay, I’m going to make my next album now. Now it’s time to put it in a direction, because now I tried a few things, I figured out what is it that works most, and what is most me“. And then I thought “Okay, I’m a very emotional person, I can be quite theatrical”. So I realized I feel most home in this cinematic way of expressing myself. And so I just went all the way with that. And yeah, I’m happy that I did. Very happy with the results and happy with your feedback.
Now, although we’ve heard classical elements before in works of yours, this time it goes to a whole other level. How was the process of writing with a whole orchestra in mind?
It was different… but I just wrote only for the orchestra first. So, I didn’t even have any plans for the bass, drums, guitars or vocals. I just wrote only for the orchestra and then I thought later I will figure out how to add the other instruments. It’s just like everything started with the orchestra and then I built from there, so it was very different. But in the end, composition is composition. You change the instruments that you’re used to, but still you have the melodies in your head and your vision that you try to chase. It was different, but at the same time, not as extremely different as people maybe would think.
There’s a whole genre made out of combining metal with an orchestra…symphonic metal, which normally I don’t even like…
You mentioned that you have your relationship with Ihsahn and that he was kind of a mentor to you. And I have to be honest, I drew some similarities with his latest, same titled work in this album. All this balance between composition and orchestral elements etc. So could it be a point of reference for you? And if not, what worked as a point of reference for you for this album?
Yeah, both I and he have been always into classical music, orchestral music. And it’s not like I thought “oh, now Ihsahn did this orchestral album, now I want to do it as well”. It was not really like that. Even though there are some similarities, especially if you hear his, the orchestral version of his album, I think this one is more similar to my stuff than the black metal version. Because, the black metal version has loud guitars and the orchestra becomes more like a layer there. But in my music it’s more like the foundation. I think that’s the difference with how I’m writing, because I don’t want that to be a layer. I want it to be the foundation. I want it to be the one of the main things in my music. It’s nothing original for me to combine prog and orchestral music. A lot of people have done that before. Or combining metal with an orchestra, there’s a whole genre made out of symphonic metal, which normally I don’t even like…
(laughs)
It’s not even my genre normally… I try to just write my type of music, but with an orchestra, if you get what I mean. And then I add the layers of the other things later. I’m sure me and Ihsahn, we have we share a lot of the same references and sometimes it’s just a coincidence that we sound similar on some records, because we’ve been maybe listening a bit to the same stuff. But I would say for him doing orchestra stuff would rather be like a reason for me to think twice about doing the same rather than doing it, because of it in a way when he’s doing it, and it’s like “Oh, OK, I don’t want to do it”. But I still feel like he did it different. He didn’t actually have an orchestra on the album. It’s all samples. And it has a very different character to it. I love that album. I think it’s his strongest album, that one. And I think it didn’t get as much recognition as it deserved. Honestly, I would have expected that album to take him to a completely new level in a way. But, yeah, I don’t know… It’s hard to grab people’s attention these days, I guess.
I loved it, I have to say. I consider it, if not his best, one of his best works…
I think it’s his best album. And I was very impressed when he showed it to me the first time. The only thing I would have loved would be the orchestra to orchestral elements to be louder… (laughs)
Don’t know if you’re familiar, but even Devin Townsend releases an album with an orchestra this month…
100%, there is nothing new about it from my point of view. What is new about it for me is that that’s my foundation and that’s my sound.
I really needed to make sure that I don’t just pay for an orchestra that will just be in the background. That will be awful for me
I was thinking that restless minds, because I consider composing-wise, Ihsahn or Devin or you, great composers, you all tend to use some orchestra stuff to maybe broaden your palette of music.
Yeah, maybe. But also for me, I’ve been such a big fan of classical music for so many years. And it’s one of the main genres that I listen to. And now I finally had the possibility to go all the way with it. And I feel like I even needed to rearrange the guitars. So like all the guitars you hear while there is an orchestra, it’s usually just like eight string stuff only, made for the guitars not to conflict with the orchestra, so that there is space for everything. So that you can hear every single orchestral element properly. Because, it’s so important for me when getting an orchestra on this album. I really needed to make sure that I don’t just pay for an orchestra that will just be in the background. That will be awful for me.
It can sound maybe a bit pretentious to have these Latin titles, but I wanted to go all the way with making it a bit like classy and theatrical
Yeah, I get it. Now, I think that’s a common question that you’re going to get is regarding the album’s titles. What was the thought process behind choosing Latin words? Is there another unifying theme or a concept tying the songs together?
The first song that I wrote for the album was the ending song “Anima Lucis” and that sounds probably very soundtracky when you hear it, without vocals and stuff. And I just needed that title first. I like that Creature of Light. And after that I was trying with some English titles, and it can sound maybe a bit pretentious to have these Latin titles, but I wanted to go all the way with making it a bit like classy and theatrical, I guess. And Latin sounds very pretty in my ears. And I just went for all the titles being there to be consistent in it. And most of the titles I wrote before the lyrics. I had a song and then I made a title based on what the song made me feel. And then later on I wrote the lyrics based on the title.
The orchestral elements gradually became more and more prominent in Leprous. And at some point, we felt like it went at the expense of the musicians we have in the band
Okay, interesting approach… Really, how challenging is it for you to write stuff for two projects on the same time? I mean, to split material between your solo discography and Leprous, because unavoidably there can be some parallels drawn. How do you deal with that?
It’s getting easier and easier, because I’m trying to build different strengths in different projects. If you zoom in on the two different projects, you will hear a lot of similarities. If you zoom out, you will hear that they are turning into different things. I would say “Melodies Of Atonement” and “Vox Occulta” are two very different records, very different stylistically. Even though when you zoom in, I’m sure that I could have had the “Medulla” riff somewhere in Leprous, for sure. So I’m not saying that I’m going to try desperately to never have anything similar in those projects. That’s unrealistic. But, I want them to still have a general overall different direction.
The thing is that with “Pitfalls” and “Aphelion” and “Malina”… I would say from “Malina” to “Pitfalls” to “Aphelion”, the orchestral elements gradually became more and more prominent. And at some point, we felt like it went at the expense of the musicians we have in the band. So, suddenly, by adding all these elements of instruments we don’t have in the band, there was less space for the amazing musicians we have in the band. And by stripping that away, suddenly we gave space to the lineup we have in the band for them to come and shine properly and do their thing. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to make the solo project sound exactly like Leprous. Of course, I can make it sound like similar-ish, but Leprous is also very heavily built around the musicianship we’ve built together for so many years and a lot of subtle musicianship… That’s the thing with Leprous… the musicians that I play with in that band, they are top class in my opinion. They’re top shelf musicians, all of them.
I agree…
And when you are a top shelf musician like they are, suddenly you have less of a need to show yourself and to prove yourself how good you are at playing. And a lot of the advanced things you can hear is more subtle, something that someone who is not an experienced musician wouldn’t necessarily notice. So to me, to be able to get that level of musicianship and togetherness, as we have built with Leprous over all these years, is not realistic even. Because we played hundreds and hundreds of shows together, and nothing can really replace that, and that’s not what I’m trying to do either. For me, it’s amazing. Next time now I start writing more for Leprous again, I’m not even going to think about any orchestral instruments. I’m only going to think about like guitars and synths and drums, and bass… an entirely different approach. And then I come back to the solo thing again, it’s like “Now I can finally add all the strings again and all this”. So to me, it’s a nice kind of restrictions in a way to have from each project. It kind of triggers my creativity to be able to work in these different projects.
We honestly need to cut down a bit drastically on our activity for a little while
So that leads us to an unavoidably, a question. How is the next chapter of Leprous going to sound? Have you made any progress? Do you have a time plan? Where are you with that?
These days my head is very much in the solo thing, if I’m honest with you. So I’m not very excited about anything that has to do with Leprous. But again, I’m always most excited about the latest stuff that I’ve done. And now this year is very exciting because it’s starting to take some more form. I’m starting to play some shows. I’m starting to get some more feedback. It’s starting to go better than the first album. So, suddenly, I am very excited about building this project for now. Leprous have already been built and we honestly need to have a bit of a… not like a proper break, but we need to cut down a bit drastically on our activity for a little while, because it’s been just too much. And most of the guys in the band are tired of playing concerts.
I was talking with Baard about that on the last show we did on the tour. We did seven tours for “Melodies of Atonement”. And after the last show on the last tour, we were just like “I don’t feel anything anymore on stage”. So we said “Okay, we need to start becoming a bit more exclusive now and start to build up”. That’s why he’s now focusing a bit on Rendezvous Point, I’m focusing a bit on my solo project. At the same time, we all know that we’re going to come back in not that long with a new Leprous album, maybe next year, maybe the year after. But we need to get excited about it again, because we exaggerated a bit too much.
Yeah, I get what you’re saying. It makes sense.
A healthy thing you can do for a band is to admit when you’ve exaggerated. Instead of quitting with a lot of drama and stuff, you can say “Okay, let’s take this back to a level that we’re all comfortable with now”… I don’t want Leprous to just turn into a band that I need only for economy. I want to keep the passion.
Yeah, it’s a basic ingredient if you want to thrive and stay on top of your game.
Yeah! Definitely!
Thank you very much for your time. Congrats once again for the new album. Hope you see your solo project blooming as well…
That’s going to take some time, but anyway, I’m happy with any progress… (laughs)
It’s well deserved, I think it’s going to come.
Thank you so much. It was nice to see you. And hopefully I can bring my solo project at some point to Greece as well.
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