Behind the piano: Klangriket

Behind the piano: Klangriket

Sometimes you get intrigued by an artist just by reading a name. This is definitely the case with Klangriket for me. I think I first came across Klangriket’s music on some playlists by New Nordic Indie, and I fell in love with both the music as well as the artist name. It’s one of those artists/band names that sticks! Like “The Soundtrack of our lives” which must be the best band name of all times.

I wanted to know more, so eventually I wrote to Klangriket and asked if I we could talk!

And we could.

What’s your real name, and how did you come up with your artist name?
My real name is Fabian Rosenberg.
I keep notes in an app on my phone of wordplays, quotes or phrases. Anything that capture my interests. They often make it into lyrics or song titles. At one point I was on plane to Paris. As I was trying to pass time I were coming up with wordplays. Anyway I needed a psynonym to put a few things up on SoundCloud and kind of randomly settled for klangriket. And then it stuck. Had no idea back then that it be so central in my life haha!

I, as a swede, of course understand the meaning of the word “klangriket”, but how would you translate it so it makes sense for the readers?
I would probably translate it to land of sound
Forgotten Fields said this to me a while ago:“Speaking of power, I have devised a Fabianese etymology for Klangriket: “klang” (sound or music) + “riket” (power) together signifying “the effect of music (upon the listener)”. Haha.”
Which is a pretty interesting way to look at it. 

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I’m from Stockholm and I currently live there!

Tell us about how you started playing music.
When I was a kid there was a trumpet in the basement of my parents place. My dad still had it from practising the trumpet as a kid. I played it and seemed to love it. Then by accident my dad met his old teacher and I naturally started taking lessons from him.

How long have you been playing the piano?
Hahaha, well that is a good question. I’m orginially a trumpet player and never really started playing piano. It sort of just happened from practising music in general.

But you never took piano lessons?
Not really no. I’ve had a couple of lessons in the past but they’ve been in the context of using the piano as a tool for practising trumpet or as a tool in music education.

How long have you been making piano music?
To be fair I don’t usually think of it as piano music. I often think of it in terms of ambient or electronic music. However, there’s definitely been a few pieces of music that strongly emphasis the piano. It has a beautiful sound.

Have you made music in other genres before?
Yes! I’ve done a few jazz tunes and been making pop and electronic music. Definitely something I still like to do and hope to explore more in the future. I’m secretly very confused in what genre I belong!

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
Well for solo piano I keep coming back to Otto Totland and Analogue dear. If we allow ourself to look a little broader I really enjoy Ben Lukas Boysen, Olafur Arnalds. They’ve manage figure out the most difficult part of this genre. (Or perhaps any genre). They’ve made their music larger than life!

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s?
I mostly improvise actually. I usually tend to play ideas I’ve had recently or haven’t fully developed. I think the piano most of the time is a compositional tool for me.

What songs inspires you the most when you’re making music? Can you name just ONE song/composition?
Not really. I listen a lot to music in general. Like to move freely between genres and I probably listen to at least two or three albums a day. Sometimes it’s Coldplay, sometimes it’s Jon Hopkins and sometimes its swedish folk music. That’s inspiration to me!

Tell us something about you latest release.
My latest release is actually a pre-quel to Amsterdam Sessions. It’s a selection of pieces out of many that I picked out. They were all made when I started exploring my voice as an artist. I had been a session trumpet player and never really embraced making my own music. When I was recovering from an injury I took the time to explore production and composition. So it’s really a documentation of the expolration I had to do at the very beginning!

You recently had an internship with a composer recently; can you tell me something about that?
My internship is with Uno Helmerson. He’s a media composer. The things I’ve learned from is something that will be useful in the future for sure! 
Since I’m into photography writing to picture is something that really resonates with me.I’ve been asked to do a few things with music to picture recently and would love to do more. 

What’s happening next? New releases etc.
I’ve got a few things cooking. An album is coming out for sure. And I’m working on a smaller release and a concept for a longer release. An album maybe? We’ll see!
I’m really love exploring these concepts that I’m working. It might by best work so far, I hope that you’d agree with me.

The last question is asked by my 5 year old son: Where do all your songs come from?
I wish I knew the answer to that. Your son is definitely onto something here. It’s kind of otherwordly isn’t it? …has to be some kind of magic right?
This is something I’d gladly elaborate on in a different format. Maybe a podcast.

Thank you for talking to me Fabian!

Please check out these links for more information about Klangriket!
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