An Interview with The Black Swedes - Tempest

The Black Swedes are a relatively new band to the Indie rock scene in Seattle, WA, and Tempest is their first full length release. The band is composed of two full time members (Ian Bell (lead vocals-guitar) and Matt Benham (guitar - backing vocals) and a cast of supporting performers that help flesh out their sound.

The Black Swedes New Album - Tempest - is all about atmosphere --- death, melancholy, subtle joy, and love all play parts on the album as well. Even though the album first appears thematically dark, the flourishes of strings and gentle guitar parts of Matt Benham help soften 'Tempest' into a moody yet beautifully introspective work.

The album begins with a lush guitar and string arrangement titled 'One' which settles the album nicely into the first full song in track 2 - 'Angel'. The song, with the help of Katie Freeze's tasteful string quartet orchestration creates a veritable pop-folk gem with Ian Bell's vocals gently pushing over the strings and wistful guitars.

'Please Let Me Down Slowly' is a gentle moment of reflection where the song slowly builds in intensity to a cathartic ending, while "I Would Only Love you More"

The only cover on the album, "Asleep" by the Smiths, is a moody rendition of the original, which captures the darkness which Morrissey embued in the track with lots of reverb. Bell's vocals help capture the quiet despair in the lines: "Sing me to sleep Sing me to sleep Im tired and i I want to go to bed Sing me to sleep Sing me to sleep And then leave me alone Dont try to wake me in the ..." The track almost seems to be whispering to you from a deep well. The Black Swedes version also includes the melody of Auld Lang Syne in the end with some bells which acts as a strange bittersweet moment on Tempest, where the narrator is comtemplating suicide while the joyful tune heralding New Years Eve echoes in the background.

Both 'One' and 'Six' are the only pure instrumental tracks on the album, and they help divide the album between the first 5 tracks and the last more diverse collection of songs at the end of the album. Six helps lighten the load a bit after the heavy, and emotional 'Asleep', however nothing really prepares the listener for the next track.

The darkest song on the album by far is "I Once Loved A Girl," which depicts the twisted imaginings of a scorned lover killing his ex-lover and her new boyfriend. Katie Freeze's string arrangement only help to increase the creepiness of track with screechy strings, and dark cello lines. Even after I spoke with Ian about this track, he admitted that it is particularly dark, and he even had a fan request that he never play it live because of its tone and message. The song has a certain tinge of Portishead to it as well.

Thankfully, the next track 'Power in the Union' is by far the most driving, rocking track of the album, even though like the rest of the album, it lacks a solid drum part. 'Mikayla' sounds nicely like Elliot Smith, and 'Peace' settles out Tempest gently with a solo by Ian Bell. The last line of 'Peace' seems like a quiet epiphany after the storm of the rest of the album, with all of its tempestous love, thoughts of suicide, anger, confusion, anguish... "If Peace is what you want from me, than Peace is what I'll be...."


Even though the album tends to drag into the depths of sorrow with 'Asleep' and 'I Once Loved a Girl' - the album is a solid, cohensive presentation, and is nicely balanced out with such tracks as 'Angel', 'I would Only Love you More,' and 'Mikayla'. Overall, Tempest, is a wonderful debut album for Black Swedes, and shows great potential for their music in the future.

I had the good fortune to be able to set up an interview with Matt Benham and Ian Bell and what follows is my conversation with them regarding Tempest:

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1.) When we initially spoke over the phone, you described the album as being an emotional journey in the process of getting over a girl -- do you mind elaborating a little bit more on this?

Ian: So I had been in a very close relationship with the same woman for roughly four years. As we began to fall apart I had just finished the last Sea.Mine release and began working on a new set of tunes. They were originally meant for my previous band to record but we fell apart at almost the same time that my relationship did. I went into the studio with a bunch of musicians that I really respected to record some of these songs. These session did not result in "Tempest" but it did solidify me and Matt as the Black Swedes. Those songs will actually come out later this winter as two EPs. Any who, the record is layered out at first in a reverse chronology of the death of that relationship. It starts with the good feeling of the instrumental. It then goes to Angel, which comes from a revelation I had after we had broken up. This angel spoke to me about how great things will get as long as I can learn to let go. The next song is more of a plead. The feeling was that since we had been together for so long I needed her to do me one last favor. That was to let me down as slow as possible. To be as gentle to my heart as she could be. These things are never what you hope them to be though in the end. Then track four is about the time before we broke up. It was going so poorly between the two of us but I would have stayed in it until my last breath. I felt that no matter how bad it could have gotten I would have only loved her more.

Matt: The same thing happened to me at roughly the same time as Ian. Both my relationship and my band Argo broke up simultaneously. My breakup wasn't as drawn out, but it definitely informed the feeling of letting go that I think is represented on the record. The song Mikayla was something I started for my ex, and then had Ian help, because we were basically telling the same story.



2.) So Ian - as far as I can tell, you are a nice, light hearted guy -- however a lot of these songs are so inwardly thoughtful and deal with notions of death, suicide, and forlorn love - to a degree they seem to be at odds with your outward demeanor -- what is your take on this?

Ian: I am relatively light hearted and for the most part I love to have a good time, but I have to deal with a few speed bumps. The songs are my way a processing the things in my life that I have very little control over. When I keep it all in I do become fairly morose, but as long as I can get it out and onto a record I am able to deal with the bad that life inevitably puts on your plate. I have also seen a lot of failed attempts at love through my close friends and family. I think that I have yet to see love out weigh the loss that I have seen. Kind of shitty.








3.) So one thing that is hugely apparent in the album is a lack of a rhythm section - no bass or drums. Are you guys planning on fleshing out your sound more in the future with bass and drums, or are you looking at keeping it to a more stripped down sound with two guitars and vocals? What are the reasons for your choice regarding this? Any personal animosity towards rhythm sections? :P hehe-

Ian: Yes I do have a bit of a love hate relationship with the rhythm section. Both of our band, sea.mine and Argo, broke up primarily due to the loss of drummers. Matt and I wanted to do something small, intimate and quiet. The rhythm section will be back soon though. We have already finished the sessions that will be our late winter EPs. Both of which will feature the drumming of Kaanan Tupper. He is a magnificent Portland based drummer who was last heard as a part of the Intelligence live set and on Jeremy Enigks record, World Waits. We are now working on getting our live band together for the EP releases. I believe we will end up being at least a nine piece; string quartet, bass, drums, piano, matt and I.





4.) How did you and Matt meet up, and how did the Black Swedes form? Furthermore, how did the name come about?

Ian: Matt and I met up through our previous groups. Sea.mine and Argo played two or three shows together over the years. At the end we were sharing a manager. I had booked a few days in teh studio to get a recording of other musicians first impressions of some of my new songs. I asked Matt to come in as the lead guitar player for those sessions. After both days went well I asked him to join the project officially. The name is from a lie I told myself as a child. I didn't know my father growing up, so I had no idea that his family background was of Jewish/Prussian descent. So growing up in a an all Scandinavian family I was confused about why I had olive skin. I told myself this story that my mom had said I was from a rare tribe of Black Swedes, just like there are black Irish and Russians. But the Black Swedes are rare and that is why no one knows about them. This lie probably was designed to counter act the idea that I was actually adopted, which was the story my brother was trying to get me to buy into.








5.)What influences did you guys have while working on the album? Any particular artists or bands which helped inspire you for the album?

Ian: I've personally found that the album sometimes has a sound like Elliott Smith, and Jeff Buckley. Matt and I both love Simon and Garfunkle, along with Elliot Smith and Wilco. I think that the most prominent influence for me at least was The Smiths and Nick Drake.





6.) As you mentioned previously, Track 5 - Asleep is a Smith's cover song from the album 'Louder than Bombs' - did you consider any other songs to cover for the album, and what reasons did you pick 'Asleep' as the cover to use on this album?

Ian:I have been a fan of the smiths for most of my life. Being the youngest of many many children, music was pushed on me at an early age. The smiths are what I clung to the quickest and I guess I never let go. Our producer Josh Evans had been making the case for us to try and pull off this cover some time by the time the tempest sessions were about to wrap up. Matt came up with an amazing guitar arrangement and I guess it just felt perfect to all three of us.

Matt: i struggled with this choice, as the piano version is very difficult to translate to guitar, especially for intuitive musicians like Ian and I. We started recording probably eight or nine times before we slowed it down to the tempo you hear on the record. I hadn't been swinging it as much and when we recorded it live, it didn't work. I think it turned out great, and can't imagine having to record it again. It was a little torturous for me.






7.) Goals for the future? With Black Swedes, what kind of a direction are you looking for with the band --- more players? musical direction?

Ian: We are very excited about this record. I think that it is the best album that I have been apart of since I first started playing. Our goal over the next season or so is to give those listening a sense of what we plan of doing over the next few years. We want everyone to see what styles and sounds we are interested in, what forms we call home. To do this we will be releasing albums fairly close together. This album is obviously a quiet, folk orchestral recording, but the next two EPs will be nothing like that. Those two recording were done with 6 piece bands and are done with an sense of improvisation. The songs venture a bit closer to the loud and fast but never fully reach that end. The records that we will begin recording in February will be a mix of the previous releases with the addition of quicker songs. We plan on using the same string quartet sound but will flush it out with the 6 piece used for the EPs. I think I will be a really good recording. After that release We will stay a full band for sometime. In the end Matt and I see ourselves as more a project than a band. We love Wilco and Radiohead but relate better to Tears for Fears when it comes to group function. We want to be flexible in our band make up to best serve each song and record.

Matt: Just a quick addition to this idea of a project rather than a band. We both were heartbroken when our previous bands broke up, and just realized how hard it was to rely on so many people. I think that's why I wanted to do a Simon and Garfunkel type thing where there were only two people in the whole friggin' thing, and it would be easier to play shows and tour once we got up and running.

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~Andrew D.B. Joslyn


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