‘The World They Have Built Needs To End.’ - Lydmor
Some artists embraced the deadlines that had been set for their releases in spite of the pandemic and what that could mean for their art’s impact. Others sought to wait for a better time, building up the excitement for their record. In this case, the artist released their album eighteen months after putting out the first single from it. This is the story of Lydmor, and her new album ‘Capacity’.
Image Credit: Liv Rossander and Kamil Dzielinski
Of course I’ve written about Lydmor before. At the very beginning of the pandemic, I wrote about her livestreaming habits before interviewing her twice for her next two single releases – ‘Someone We Used To Love’ and ‘If You Want Capacity’. But the story of Lydmor is a broad one. Her debut album ‘A Pile Of Empty Tapes’ was released in May 2012 (good luck finding that one). Her follow-up entitled ‘Y’ was put out three years later, plus a collaborative record with Bon Homme called ‘Seven Dreams Of Fire’ in November of 2015. Acoustic renderings of these tracks came in the form of an EP entitled ‘The Red Acoustic STC Session’ a year later.
Somewhere around this time is when I discovered Lydmor as she streamed piano sessions live from her Mum’s spare room. I was captivated by her talent, not only by her original songs, but by the seemingly unplanned covers, with Kate Bush’s ‘Army Dreamers’ sticking in my mind. Her next album was a musical and conceptual triumph called ‘I Told You I’d Tell Them Our Story’, affectionately referred to simply as the ‘Shanghai’ album by Lydmor.
The tour for this record was monumental. Unofficially known as the ‘Neon Show’, Lydmor toured solo with her lighting director and tour manager Oscar Trap, his part in the performance of near-equal importance. Painted in patterns of circuitry and symbology, Lydmor would perform surrounded by synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, a laptop and tubes of neon lighting. The latter, when activated, electrified the performance, taking the whole show to another level. I saw one such performance in November 2018, London, at The Waiting Room – a truly unforgettable experience.
Image Credit: Liv Rossander and Kamil Dzielinski
Her fanbase didn’t know it yet, but September 2019 would see the first single from her next album released, entitled ‘LSD Heart’. The second came in December, ‘Guilty (Kill Me)’. Though Lydmor performed more sporadically during this period, her work would diversify, seeing her contribute to theatre productions, television and film soundtracks. She even branched into radio with a programme called ‘Mon Amie Complexe’ with fellow Danish artist Louise Lolle.
With the dual complex issues arising from the pandemic and a weighty emotional setback, Lydmor forged on and released ‘Someone We Used To Love’ in May, followed by a single edit of ‘If You Want Capacity’ in August. Throughout this time, Lydmor took to regularly livestreaming, collaborating with her fanbase on a track called ‘The Isolation Song’ on the music, lyrics and performance aspects. ‘The Gadget Song’ became Lydmor’s next single in November, featuring video contributions, again from her fanbase. In anticipation of the album’s release, Lydmor released her latest single, ‘Nevada’, in February, with the full record ‘Capacity’ coming in mid-March.
Playing this album for the very first time, a smile spread across my face as the words of ‘Amanda’s Lullaby’ struck through the speakers. A co-write with Bryan Osuszek, it’s proof that ‘epic’ doesn’t have to have everything and the kitchen sink thrown at it. Consisting largely of voice – that of Lydmor’s and the Concordia Choir, Amanda’s Lullaby is devastating both in its execution and the lyrical content, which I implore you to seek out in its entirety. For now, I’m compelled to quote these lines:
“My friends dream of running through forests, escaping bad men shooting guns, ‘cause the image is easier to win, than to try to explain to these men that, the world they have built needs to end.”
There have been moments in my life where I have listened to something so incomprehensibly ascendant that I have felt my soul leaving my body, rising upwards to meet the empyrean cosmos above. I am wrapped in every word, every note of the melody, stretching to the tips of my fingers, forgetting that it isn’t just me (barely me) and this small glimpse into heaven that exists. Amanda’s Lullaby is one of those moments.
Coming back to Earth, we land in ‘Nevada’ and spend a disorientating evening with Lydmor and Faroese singer/songwriter Eivør Pálsdóttir at the Hotel Leopold. I can see instantly why this was chosen as a single, the vocal play between the two performers is complimentary to their individual voices whilst carrying the narrative in an exciting way. My favourite lines are: ‘Slow run through a swimming pool, free spin like a molecule, finding all these pieces of your past you know it hurts me more than you.’ As well as co-writing and producing, Oliver Cilwik Andersen contributes synths and drum programming to the track. Overall, Nevada is one of the anchoring tracks on Capacity, seemingly based in the real world more than some.
This very visual track received a music video, directed and edited by Sophus Andersen, depicting Lydmor and Eivør like they’re burying a body, at least that’s what I thought originally. When studying the lyrics, the whole song and video seem more like a metaphor for burying a dead relationship. Or maybe I’m oversimplifying the concept. Most likely the latter.
I’m reminded of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ in the more spoken parts of ‘Diamond Breeze’, which features the widest co-write on Capacity with Lasse Lyngbo, Mads Møller and Thor Nørgaard. The drum programming by the additional writing trio is a staple of this track, emulating the feel of ‘DIM’ from Lydmor’s Shanghai album. I could fully believe this song being conceived on tour, with a lot of the imagery taken from the sites a travelling musician would see. From that perspective, I think Diamond Breeze would make an interesting music video. As the last synth atmospherics ricochet off the ceiling, they are cut dead-
-and the short instrumental ‘Labyrinth Faced Man’ begins. Written and performed solely by Lydmor on grand piano, I was immediately struck by the title of this track. What an image to conjure – a Labyrinth Faced Man. It’s at this point where I’d like to direct you to the exquisite artwork by Noa Lachmi, a piece that full-size vinyl artwork was made to showcase. There is so much to see on this front cover, with elements of the songs a part of the image, but in the very centre, is that not the rendering of a face surrounded by a labyrinth? Funny how that should be in the middle of this visual aspect. The story of Capacity deepens.
Lydmor stays at the piano for ‘Emma Spins’, already this album has more natural elements than her previous works, balancing well with the electronic counterparts Lydmor is better known for. This song in particular was a fan-favourite even prior to the release of Capacity due to Lydmor’s tendency to trial some of her material in a live environment.
There is nothing abrasive or harsh about the mixing and mastering on this album. The mix is largely undertaken by Peter Kjædegaard and Lydmor, while all the mastering is by Søren Oliver Due. One of the things I like about Emma Spins is the layered piano textures, creatively opening this song out without overcrowding the composition. As well as this, the melody is one of the many high-points of Capacity, imparting equally brilliant lyrics like: ‘At the sink, she’s falling in, her crystal skin is dipping into half expensive gin, Emma thinks, of what she’s been, a mandolin is playing out of tune in West Berlin.’ It’s been more than thirty-one years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, how the world has changed since then.
I made the mistake of reading what I wrote about this song back in May 2020, and I realise I can’t really improve what I wrote about it then:
Beginning with an arpeggiated bassline, the vocal soon follows with a tinge of reverb. 'So cold. You say you're sorry, as you're leaving already, I can feel the love retreating in you - fuck.' The way Lydmor swears is unexpected and exactly right. Atmospheric synths join in, as her voice lifts for the chorus. The song is about someone you used to love still loving you, and you wishing they would pull themselves together as you've moved on, that feeling of disgust. But at the same time there could be a situation where you still love someone who has moved on, and you wonder 'how could you love someone after me?'
I always love the percussive sounds in a Lydmor song. They pick up after this first chorus, like handclaps from several rooms away. A faint synth dances around, hinting at what's to come later. A touch of piano, leading you to wonder if this was the instrument the song was originally composed on. Then BOOM, the drums come in proper, and suddenly it becomes that 'fragile banger' that Lydmor talks about on her bandcamp page.
There's a breakdown with a male voice saying, 'hey, sorry, uh, I've just been really busy lately.' Then the drums are back in and you can't help but want to move to the track. 'So lost, you're leaving already, oh you forgot I was sexy? I'ma try to keep a straight face for you - fuck.' That perfectly placed curse is back, said with more certainty than the first time. Then it pulls back - 'You're the only one who thought the shape of my nose was worth mentioning. Now you look at my face as if it's some kind of foreign thing.' The fragile part. But Someone We Used To Love finishes as a banger, making you wish it lasted longer. It's perfect for a live crowd, for people to dance to.
The video, filmed by Asbjørn Christensen for WH_BNTP, is entirely performance based, set to the single edit of the track. It features elements of Lydmor’s Neon Show, particularly on one occasion where ropes attached to Lydmor are controlled by the crowd, pulling her in different directions. With the brilliant editing of this video, I wish they’d set it to the album version.
The first single from Capacity, ‘LSD Heart’ is about as electronic as this album gets. More of the moment, LSD Heart is the only track on Capacity not mixed by Lydmor and Peter Kjædegaard, instead the mix was undertaken by Frederik Braad, not that you can tell the difference – it blends seamlessly in with the rest of the record. A significant portion of this album was written by Lydmor and Christian Schousboe Vium, including LSD Heart. The only non-vocal performances listed are ‘programming’, undertaken by the songwriting pair, it doesn’t get more electronic than that.
Even Lydmor’s vocal is laced with vocoder, giving it that watery robotic sound, though this doesn’t mean that it lacks melody, or character. Particularly the lyrics are full of venom, as a representation of the sexism Lydmor has highlighted in the entertainment industry on multiple occasions, even going as far as appearing on television to fight against it. To that end, my favourite line is:
‘Guys get away with so much bullshit in art.’
What women are criticised for doing in the music industry can seemingly pass without a glance from the media at men. While the cultural shift of social media has allowed the intense scrutiny of artists from the press, it also allows the intense scrutiny of the press from the people who pay attention. The press doesn’t so easily publish their defamatory mire any longer, but they still get away with doing it.
The video is a studio-based affair directed by Lydmor and choreographer Sebastian Kloborg, it features five elderly gentlemen in an idea conceptualised by Lydmor. It’s interesting, the first time I saw it, I was convinced something bad was going to happen to the men, but nothing bad happens at all. They all just co-exist. Like everyone should.
‘Guilty (Kill Me)’ was the next single, released in December 2019, and is a more sedate affair than LSD Heart. I love how it opens with a vocal sample, I’d be interested to know where that comes from. Lydmor’s vocals are more dynamic on this track, featuring more layers than the straightforward LSD Heart, with the vocoder dialled down to allow her voice to shine through.
To me, the focus in Guilty (Kill Me) is on the narrative and vocal melody. But Christian Schousboe Vium does an excellent job of soundtracking that, contributing drums, synth, bass and percussion. The drum sounds aren’t abrasive, nor are the synths as previously seen in Lydmor songs. Towards the end of the piece, you can hear the same vocal sample that opened the track used more creatively in the rhythm. Does this mournful clip have a bigger part to play in the story?
The true meaning of many Lydmor songs is often veiled, and this one feels just out of grasp. Reading over the lyrics, it’s like the narrative is two people in a relationship, alternating verses as they seem like they’re from different perspectives, with one party having been unfaithful. The melody here is one of the most interesting on Capacity, particularly I love the way Lydmor sings ‘Hey, you ought to give it some time.’ A thoughtful and daring choice for a single.
There’s a certain delicacy to ‘The Gadget Song’ that I love, the whole sound of it is almost soothing. The drums are softer, there’s even some acoustic guitar played by Christian on this track, an element Lydmor’s music really benefits from, taking the entirely electronic feel away from it. There are some manipulated vocal parts here, pitched up and acting as a harmony. I can hear piano, though I’m unsure who plays that with both Lydmor and Christian listed as playing synthesizers.
The video for The Gadget Song is another milestone in Lydmor’s connection with her fanbase, as she invited people to submit short clips into a shared folder, where she sought to turn them into a music video for this song, at the time not yet released. Not only did Lydmor edit these clips together, but she did so on a series of livestreams, where people attending those streams were invited to offer editing opinions. This resulted in a highly collaborative video, with tinted clips, overlaid segments, and even Lydmor asking for new clips to fit the feel of the work as it unfolded. It was a real pleasure to watch this come together, and to me is the definitive companion to this song.
Something that would make an incredible video is ‘Amanda’s Dream’. Yes, the same Amanda Linnea Ginman referred to as part of Amanda’s Lullaby performs the spoken word in one of the shortest pieces on Capacity. Similarly, there are themes in this track that are hinted at in Amanda’s Lullaby, such as; ‘And I have the intuitive feeling that we can escape from these bad men, so we run and run and run and (and while we are running through the woods)…’ Lydmor’s amazing sound design for Amanda’s Dream could well be a glimpse into her soundtrack capability. I enjoyed her spoken word parts on the Shanghai album, but this is another level. I’d go as far to say that I would listen to an entire album of spoken word from Lydmor.
‘Go Slow But Go’ is a sole-write from Lydmor, featuring Trond Bersu contributing elements of synth, sound design and drum programming. In the beginning, the listener is lured into thinking this song would be of a one-track mind, slower and more gentle, with an approach similar to Guilty (Kill Me), before exploding into a symphony of distorted noise. This happens multiple times across the track, and making a reappearance is Lydmor’s use of vocoder. My favourite lines in Go Slow But Go read like poetry; ‘Highlights they aren’t flashlights, they don’t control, they work their wisdom with a sudden subtle blow.’
Buried beneath the end of the track and becoming more obvious as the sounds die down is a reprise from a section of Amanda’s Dream, which I wasn’t expecting to hear. I didn’t consider the narratives of these two tracks to be overlapping, but it certainly makes me question what I think I know about the storylines on Capacity. As with ‘I Told You I’d Tell Them Our Story’, this album could mean something different from one listen to the next as it slowly reveals itself, or not, as the case may be.
‘Heavier In Life’ is much more than just a feature track, Lasse Ziegler is this song’s co-writer, playing drums, synth and most notably guitar. Lydmor’s experimentation with guitar on this album is a welcome one, not at all overdone, just one of the many sounds a person can expect to hear on Capacity.
Lyrically, it seems easy to think this is about the aftermath of a heavy night, but I believe the references to drugs are a metaphor. Nevertheless, the lines; ‘Some mornings cannot shake the night, I’ve been coughing up the sky, it takes a careful and fragile state of mind, I know, I know, I know, it kills you when I go…’ are some of my favourite. The placement of the tracklisting from Guilty (Kill Me) to Heavier In Life makes you believe the album is winding down, that is until…
…‘If You Want Capacity’ begins. Like Someone We Used To Love, this track was released in a single version, also with a music video. But the album version is so much more. In fact, amongst Lydmor’s solo studio albums, this song is the longest at almost six minutes in length. Here’s what I wrote about the song in August 2020:
The track begins with a light beat, a tight and not so low bass drum, with percussion elements backing it. 'You want attention, not advice, no peace of mind. A minute longer in this room and I'll die.' This song is all about expanding your capacity - freeing your mind and becoming educated at the same time.
Variations of the phrase 'do I bore you?' over a melodic bassline are utterly addictive, this is the most dance Lydmor has ever been. Though this is without the psychological onslaught that is the coda to her 2018 track 'Claudia', a moment of madness, but highly recommended listening from this artist.
If You Want Capacity conjures up images of losing oneself in a club, which is just as well because the music video features Lydmor performing the track in an empty club. She can be seen applying her trademark neon paint prior to the performance, then completely taking ownership of the stage as is her wont to do. Not standing still, she dives into the open audience space, dancing like everybody is watching. Strangely, this is a superb example of what to expect at a Lydmor live performance. My favourite part of the song is the repeated vocoder phrase 'if you want capacity, gotta lean into the love you breathe' invoking some of the Daft Punk of old. The ending of the song takes no prisoners, I only wish it lasted longer. If this had been released 35 years ago, there would've been a 12-inch mix.
Well, wish granted past Teri. The album version is exactly what this song should be.
Our Capacity Experience is concluded with ‘Hotel Ads’, and I couldn’t imagine this album finishing with any other song. Composed with Joey Verskotzi who also contributes synth and sound design, Hotel Ads completely embodies the feeling of Lydmor not willing to take anyone’s shit anymore. With the sounds of distant thunder and pouring rain, Lydmor begins with ‘Dirty secrets and hollow nights, hey I don’t mind, don’t fret. I’m fine.’ A most interesting lyric on Hotel Ads is the repeated phrase ‘My body turned to glass last April, now a lot of people carry little shards around,’ but more on that below.
The inclusion of piano on Hotel Ads is a real melodic asset, fitting right in with the contrasting electronic sounds like breaking glass. It’s not angry, nothing about Hotel Ads is angry, more like it’s the admission of a lesson learned. Perhaps the entirety of Capacity is the admission of a lesson learnt, like everything from this point forwards will be different, and we cannot go back to the way things were before. And neither should we want to.
Keep reading for our in-depth Zoom interview with Lydmor, conducted prior to the release of the album. We talk about her radio show ‘Mon Amie Complexe’, the singles and album collaborations, the mesmerising artwork by Noa Lachmi, the role of livestreaming in Lydmor’s career, the concept of the Labyrinth Faced Man and much, much more.
Image Credit: Liv Rossander and Kamil Dzielinski
Teri Woods: Hello!
Lydmor: Hey! Good to see you!
TW: And you! How are you?
L: I’m good. I’m good. Er, I had a busy day. Just a little bit.
TW: Yeah. Yeah they said you were recording your radio show this morning.
L: Yep. Yeah it’s this new thing I’m doing, like a radio show every Sunday? On national radio, and we kind of got to be the weird kids of the alternative channel? So it’s a lot of talking about philosophy and creativity and we have guests and we do like these weird gong dream sessions with them, and yeah it’s very, very odd and actually it’s funny because making weird things actually takes a lot of preparation. Erm, but it’s a privilege, we’re still kind of like we have a feeling that they haven’t really listened- the people who hired us haven’t listened to a lot of programmes or something, when they figure out how odd the shit we’re doing- they’re gonna fire us again.
TW: I’ve seen you post about it before but I’ve not been able to listen to it so-
L: Ah it’s in Danish, sorry. (laughs)
TW: Well that’s ok! So the album is amazing. What came first, was it the title of the album, or was it ‘If You Want Capacity’, the single?
L: Erm, the title came first. I think for me it always starts with the title, or the good albums do. Like the last two ones. For me it’s like, I’ll start creating things and kind of like- My process is a little bit like, I’ll finish an album, and then I’ll release it, and then I’ll have almost one year of being like ‘I can never make another album’ (laughs). Of just being like ‘No there’s no more left, I’ve given everything!’ Erm, and then I start just picking at things and getting ideas and then suddenly there’s a moment, like ‘Aha! There it was!’ And then the energy completely changes and I become very, very focused and I create an album.
And I remember very, very clearly sitting in my window, it was late at night, and I was alone in the apartment and calling Thomas, my manager, being like ‘IT’S CALLED CAPACITY!’ And he was like ‘Oh my god that’s so much easier to pronounce than the last one!’ (laughs) Because everybody- the last one was kind of a tongue twister.
TW: In terms of the singles we’re going back to ‘LSD Heart’ which was released in September 2019-
L: Mmhmm.
TW: Back then, how much of the album was formed? Was it mostly done then or did you do a lot of it afterwards?
L: No, no, no, no. When I released LSD Heart, I knew the title of the album back then, but I was so early in the process and LSD Heart was kind of like a revelation of a new path I could be taking? For me, in a way? And I just wanted to put it out even before the album was finished. I was like ‘I need this out, I need people to know that I’m up to something.’ Erm, and then the rest of the singles have been while the album was almost finished. So the album has been finished for a long time.
TW: We get to ‘Someone We Used To Love’ and that’s where the artwork begins as well, so, I always thought ‘Someone We Used To Love’ was the first single. But then, seeing the album-
L: Yeah, the other ones kind of came in there- I think that’s because the artwork was not developed yet at that point. I think actually yeah, Someone We Used To Love must’ve been the first single where I had the entire album, now that I think about it. But it’s been such a long- like because we expected to release the album sooner, so we’ve had so many singles out, it feels a little bit weird to have so much of an album out before I release it.
Image Credit: Noa Lachmi
TW: While we’re on the subject of the artwork, what’s your favourite element of the album artwork?
L: Oh! I mean I was so psyched when Noa sent me the drawing. There is a real drawing, it’s in my label’s and it’s very big. Erm, because she managed to catch so much of what I had told her. We had an evening where we just drank a lot of beers and I told her every single story and detail and single of the album. So she’s the only one who knows everything. And then I was like ‘ok make this into mythology please.’ And then she came with the Capacity compass. And I think that my favourite piece would probably be the middle? The ‘Labyrinth Faced Man’? And her kind of like the way she took the Labyrinth Faced Man and made him this centre of the story – I think that was kind of genius.
TW: That really jumped out at me, the Labyrinth Faced Man in terms of the title, when I first heard it, so where were you when you came up with that title?
L: Well, it’s actually like this thing that has been kind of growing in me for many years. Erm, because I saw this little statue, this really little statue in a museum in Brazil? I was so hungover and this dude from the venue had just decided to take me and some other bands to show me the city, and I was just like walking around this museum all like bleugh. And there was this mansion and inside it was this statue and there was no plaque, no nothing. I couldn’t figure out what it was. It was just this little man and there was this labyrinth in his face. And I was just so struck by it, I was like ‘what is this? This is interesting! This is something.’
And it was before Shanghai even, it was like this idea slowly grew in me and I thought about this symbol of having a labyrinth in your face? I thought about when you look at a person and you feel like their face that was once so understandable is now a labyrinth. And I thought about male privilege, and I thought – it was so many things all of a sudden! And then a specific person in my life started having kind of the characteristics of a labyrinth faced man, so I feel like the Labyrinth Faced Man ended up being like five different things.
I feel like the Labyrinth Faced Man was a character that was with me throughout the entire album process. And then in the end I was like ‘Ok I need to put it out there for everyone to know he was there, but I can’t write a song about him because if I try to put words into that, it’s just gonna ruin it.’ Erm, so that’s why it became an instrumental.
TW: Going back to the very start of the album, I think ‘Amanda’s Lullaby’ is such an epic album opener, which is almost entirely made up of vocals, so was it always that way or was it written to have more instrumentation with it?
L: Erm, no it was written definitely all for vocals. Erm, and very fast. It was one of those songs that just like *click*. She had just called me, that morning, telling me about the dream, and then we just sat down and had this whole like, I wanted to comfort her? And anger, I was also in the middle of a lot of drama with those things that the song is about, and I had this harmoniser on my keyboard, when you play it and you sing at the same time, it kind of spreads your voice into the different tones? And it just kind of needed to be that way, it needed to be that many voices and needed to be very simply produced.
And actually it’s funny because when I was mixing the album, we had like two months of mixing, me and a guy called Peter (Kjædegaard), and we were working with the song and I was just like ‘argh, it’s not working!’ And I just tried a lot of different things, and then suddenly I was like ‘Ah I know what it needs, it needs another level, it needs something real.’ And then I was like ‘Ok I need a forty-piece choir’. (laughs)
I was on the last part of the mixing process, we were really, really busy meeting the deadline, and I just had to do that weird call to my label like ‘Ok I need a really big studio and I have a choir that I can call that I’ve used before,’ and then I called them ‘Can you record next week?’ And it was really like shambled together, write the arrangement, got them in the studio, I recorded them myself, I was the technician myself because I was very specific, I knew exactly what I needed, because I was so far along in the album process?
And I took them in, and I directed them and I was like ‘yeah! Do it like this, do it like this, do it like this!’ And they sang it, and it was- I think that moment on the album when we mixed I made it so that it sounds like I’m still singing through a telephone right before the real choir comes in, in the second verse? And that kind of like going from tiny, tiny, tiny, to BIG, BIG, BIG is like- I’m SO proud of that.
TW: I’ve played it on speakers kind of very loud because I just wanted to have it hit me. Oh it’s just so very powerful, so how would you approach doing that live? Do you think it would all be with a vocoder or a harmoniser?
L: I mean I actually played it a little bit live before Corona, and I did it with a vocoder. And it was a good way to test the song, because playing songs that are not released, which I’ve done a lot because I’m kind of impatient, like ‘YEAH I WANNA PLAY IT NOW.’ Erm, it’s like you can kind of get a feeling, a very intuitive feeling from the audience of what they think. And I had a look around when I played it and I’d see people going like ‘yes, yes, yes!’ I was like its ok, people get it.
TW: Ok, well ‘Emma Spins’ is one of my favourite songs on the album, can you tell me about the writing of that?
L: Oh yeah. That has been on for a long time. I think Emma kind of has become a symbol for some things. Emma was a girl I once dated, and I wanted to write a song about her, because I guess I felt bad? Erm, and then on writing the song, I realised that I am also Emma and there was a lot of things in the song that kind of like made it bigger than Emma, but like pulling it down to that little- sweet little character, er, made it easier. But it’s a difficult thing making a person into a mythology.
Erm, and I’ve talked to her a few times about how she feels about it and if she’s ok with it and she has been nervous about the song coming out and of course, I get that, but has given me her permission to put it out. Because that’s the thing with the Shanghai album, it was really easy because nobody could figure out who the people were. But now with this album, there are actual characters that you could very easily figure out who are.
TW: Where you’re actually naming people this time, whereas a lot of- I’ve listened to ‘I Told You I’d Tell Them Our Story’ so many times, and sometimes the story changes in my head and I’m like ‘Oh no it’s about this’, I’m like ‘no, no actually no it can’t be about that, it’s about this!’ Yeah, so this album is a bit more direct then?
L: Yeah, I think so. In some ways, and that’s funny because there is an underlying story, I think everything in this album is kind of like the Labyrinth Faced Man, so there’s a real-world representation, there’s a real Emma, and there’s a real Amanda, and then there is a fictional Amanda and a fictional Emma, and then there’s a symbolic Amanda and a symbolic Emma. So in that way it’s- you can- the thing you’ve been doing with the, ‘I Told You I’d Tell Them- I Told You I’d Tell Them Our Story’ even I can’t pronounce it! Erm, I think like this album has the potential to do the same many times - it has been doing that for me also.
TW: While we’re on the subject of Amanda, I’ve always loved when you’ve delved into spoken word, so how did the collaboration with Amanda Linnea Ginman come about and was that- you mentioned earlier that that was sourced from a dream?
L: Yes! She’s a friend of mine, and I think she’s a really, really inspiring, extremely inspiring person. She’s very intelligent, she’s very philosophical, she reads a lot. And I’ve been doing collaborations with her as well as just- we’ve had a lot of conversations about the world and politics and feminism.
She called me one morning and basically that call is what I made a fictional version of on the album with that dream. Erm, and kind of she had this dream and I thought it was so inspiring in so many ways and I realised that it was kind of tapping into some of the other things I was mentioning on the album.
So I asked her if it was ok that we took that thing from her and we kind of built it into the fictional story of Capacity and she was really excited about it and it is her voice in Amanda’s Dream! And I think for me like the special moment is when she says ‘and then I’m dead for a while’.
TW: That line has always really struck me, actually. I thought ‘ooo’. (laughs)
L: Yeah! Like how does that work? I feel like that’s a cataclysm of questions that spring from that, ‘I’m dead for a while’ kind of remark that in my head relates to a lot of the stuff that’s going on in ‘Nevada’, and the stuff that Eivør is singing about in Nevada and it’s kind of- there’s an interconnected-ness there.
TW: With Nevada, was somebody else always supposed to be performing that song or did you sort of bring Eivør in later on in the process or…?
L: It was always gonna be someone else. I actually wrote the song with a guy called Oliver? Who sang the lead, the second lead, and he’s an amazing, a funny, and very talented singer and producer and I had a lot of fun producing and writing the song with him. We just had a really nice day in the studio together, but, kind of when I started really, really working the lyrics and kind of figuring out like 'what is this?’ Because we had mostly just done the song, melody and the production and just had a lot of fun doing sampling. I just realised that I needed a female vocal for it, that it was not the story of a man and a woman, it was the story of two women, because it needed to be a story that could both be one person and two people.
I had several months of thinking, where I was just like ‘who- who can do it?’ because I knew it had that feeling where you know exactly what you want, like a word that’s stuck on the tip of your tongue. You’re like ‘argh’, I was like it needs this specific spice and it’s not salt and it’s not pepper and it’s not curry, and argh I can’t figure it out.
And then, I think someone, I can’t remember who it was who suggested- actually I think it was my manager? Erm, because he talked to her about something else, and he said ‘what about this Eivør?’ And it was just like ‘Yes! Of course. Oh yes.’ This is why I hadn’t contacted anybody else and this is why all of the other suggestions that I had gotten was like ‘no, no, no,’ because it had to be her. And I knew like when she sent me the recording she did- she did the recording on her own. It was so funny because she had completely- like the melody was the same, but she had changed the way- the weight of the words? The way she sung it she, she changed the entire song and it was perfect.
TW: When you were making the video, was it difficult to shoot that with the Coronavirus restrictions in place?
L: Yes! I mean, we were a small crew, and everybody got tested, but we actually made the video at a point when it was not that bad in Denmark? So it was in the fall. I think right now we wouldn’t have been able to do it in that way, that wouldn’t have felt comfortable.
TW: Lasse Ziegler is another collaborator on this record, what was it like to work with him on ‘Heavier In Life’?
L: Oh! It was such a joy. I mean, oh, Lasse is so nice. Erm, it was in the end process of the album? And I needed something soft, I had ‘Gadget Song’ which kind of also has a softness to it, but I was like I need- like I knew that along the end of the album there needs to be like this breath because there’s a lot of very straightforward stuff going on but we’re like ‘Ooh. Hello.’ Especially like If You Want Capacity in the album version it’s, like, a lot! (laughs) Erm, so, and I was like ‘oh- how do I…?
I was trying to make it on my own but it became very piano-y? And Emma Spins is kind of that. So I was like ‘argh this is not what I need’. And then Lasse, he’s a friend of a few friends, he’s like a person I meet at parties a lot, and I had never tried writing with him. I just knew that he was a nice person and I heard some guitar playing he did on the Phlake album. There’s a very specific song called ‘Aliens Need Love Too’ that I think is genius, the guitar in that is just so great!
So I just called him like ‘hey! Can I come to your apartment and just see what happens?’ And I came to his place and we just- it’s always like this weird thing when you go to someone’s apartment looking for something very specific but you- he’s not a mate yet. You kind of just sit around, I was just at my computer or something, ‘Mm, this beat, mm, this sample,’ I sat with his synthesizer. And it’s one of those songs that just kind of magically (makes a “materialising” sound).
He’s playing his guitar and then suddenly I was like ‘there it is!’ And we just did the entire thing in his tiny apartment in four or five hours. The entire production was made there! And then we invited some friends over, and we got really drunk and I think we played the song like ten times during that night. I was like ‘hey! Guys let’s- do you wanna hear our song again!?’ We were so excited with it! It was just like a little gift, and I think that’s why I decided to put him on as a feature because I- I mean I have also- like Christian plays guitar on Gadget Song and I have other instrumentalists like Concordia sings on Amanda’s Lullaby, but there was something about the song that would not exist without Lasse. Erm, and that’s why I decided like Ok I actually need to do this as like a- he’s on that song!
TW: Well this is the longest album you’ve actually released so far, but even so, are there outtakes or songs that didn’t make it that are kind of around? Somewhere?
L: I mean yeah I have stuff lying around, but I’m not that kind of artist that- I know some people, they do like thirty demos and then they cut, and cut, and cut, and then they make an album. I think when I work I know what I’m doing. And like if I was working on a song and it started becoming not Capacity material, I would drop it after very few hours. I think for me I work a long time on my songs and also I bring in people like when I can’t figure it out myself like I’ve done on this album with Christian and Trond and Lasse- so yeah dropping any of them didn’t come up.
TW: It’s very clear you’ve put so much thought into this album, you can tell, that it’s so layered and there is so much more to be unveiled in multiple listens, which is what I love about music and sometimes not everyone can do that, but this album- I look forward to watching it reveal itself, if that makes sense? Later on.
L: Yeah, yeah I’m looking a lot forward to see what it does to people because, my part of the work- like I have one part of the job, but another part of the job is – listen, I feel. And especially when you start to deal with subconscious material, then it becomes very much like give and take with the people listening to it, because some of the things on this album, I don’t even understand, because I’ve started working in a way where I don’t necessarily have to get everything? I just have to know that it’s right.
Image Credit: Liv Rossander and Kamil Dzielinski
TW: All of your previous work has been available on CD, but this one is just going out on vinyl and digital, so what was the reason for not putting it on CD this time? (laughs)
L: I think the CD died, didn’t it? (laughs) I mean- it was mostly a record label decision, I mean the last one we did, we did a CD, but I’ve always been more interested in the vinyl because it’s BIGGER. Yeah so actually I don’t have a clear answer for why we didn’t put it out on CD except that I think my team kind of decided it would be-
TW: I mean it makes sense, I think more people- I think was it last year actually that vinyl outsold CDs or was it 2019 or something like that? Which is crazy. Also I’d be doing the Lydmor’s Friends Group a complete disservice if I didn’t ask what has become, or what will become of ‘The Isolation Song’?
L: The Isolation Song is of course not for Capacity, so that’s why it’s not out, it will be released, and we had SO many discussions on how. Erm, because it wasn’t really a plan and a thing. It was just an idea I got (laughs), and the thing with releasing internationally is you have to have plans. Erm, because I have some very talented people from record labels all over the world doing cool promotion work and it takes time and they need to know when to do what.
So, we were in the middle of preparing for Capacity to come out when I just- suddenly, Isolation Song! I think the decision is that it’s gonna be released after we’re done with doing Capacity promo? Erm, and it might be like a ‘hey remember back when we had like, covid, single?’ But it’s definitely not dead and I still listen to it from time to time. It was such an interesting process, I loved that.
TW: I think that whole time was very interesting, erm. SO collaborative, so- SO creative, I think.
L: Yes! And I think I feel like I kind of got a lesson in exposing fragility and that never being a bad thing at that time. And that’s actually something that- I’m sorry I’m just going off-topic now but it’s something I think that YOU as a member of the Friends Group, I saw someone in there noticing something in the artwork. The sentence ‘my body turned to glass last April, and now a lot of people carry little shards around.’ I wrote that, in 2019. And it was one of those sentences that I didn’t know what it meant. I don’t know, it was like I remember writing it and being like ‘I want something-’ I wanted a reference to the Shanghai album, and the ‘crystallise liquify’, that picture from ‘The Mansion’, and I was also describing a very real feeling. And then I felt like I needed to put a specific time on this, and I cannot remember why I chose April. ‘It needs to feel like a specific month, it has to have a time and a place.’ Ok, let’s put April in. And then now a lot of people carry little shards around just kind of like felt like a good thing to put into that image, and then, April 2020 happened which is exactly that, which exactly feels like I turned to glass and I felt so bad, it was a horrible time of my life. And I decided to kind of reach out to people around me and to the people who appreciate my music and be like ‘hey, what’s up? Can we do something together?’ And that way kind of give these glass shards to people, and that’s kind of what I feel the magic of art sometimes can be so like- it’s almost like a kind of a prophecy or something.
TW: Well those early livestreams that you were doing- Oh it’s such a time and a place I think, it was something I looked forward to and it was like you were doing it two or three times a week at one point.
L: I’m actually doing a small livestream tomorrow. It’s gonna be like a surprise livestream tomorrow at four. I’m signing some vinyls on the stream and just talking.
TW: Right! I look forward to the March 11th as well, the release party.
L: Yeah! That’s gonna be so much fun! It’s gonna be so nice. Yeah, looking forward to that. A little celebration.
TW: Yeah! I know you create and, you know you’re involved with this art for so long that when it does finally come out, it’s like, ‘oh my god it’s over’ like almost if that makes sense like? (laughs)
L: Yeah (laughs). It’s such a weird feeling like when something comes out, it’s like ah! Hello!
TW: This must’ve been almost two years in the making now?
L: Yeah! I think I got the idea for the album title in the beginning of 2019. Yeah, so two years! More than that maybe even. I can’t remember.
TW: You said before- you probably haven’t mentioned this since because it’s not happening. Erm, but you’ve said before there might be a live release of the Neon Show coming out at some point? Where are you guys with that?
L: Erm… Not out (laughs). It’s difficult because we have recordings that are cool? But I feel like we can do more, in a way. It’s kind of like if I wanna do like a real live recording of the Neon Show, I want it to be perfect, and I don’t think the recordings we have are perfect.
TW: What do you think they’re lacking?
L: Hmm. Cameras.
TW: (laughs) So instead of ten cameras, you want twenty, sort of thing?
L: Yes, I mean I’ve done a lot of video editing as you know, and I’ve done a lot of directing of music videos and I’ve worked with film and I think that in a way, especially in the past few years has made me more critical. Erm, and I’ve just decided that I wanna make something where there’s no audience? Because then, if there’s an audience, then I put up too many cameras, the cameras are annoying the audience. Yeah. It’s a thing I have thought, to do.
TW: Well I suppose you touched on that idea then last summer when you recorded those videos at Train.
L: Yes, definitely. That was kind of working with that idea, and it was very important for me to record ‘Nostalgia’ for those because that version, like, never made it onto an album.
TW: Yeah, they’re great videos. You’ve got a tour booked for the end of this year, is it possible we might see you in the UK at all?
L: Looking into it. Erm, help? Please? I mean it’s kind of out of my hands? Erm, it depends on venues and bookers and stuff, because it’s very difficult right now to book shows because everybody has been postponing their tours. So everybody that was going to go on a tour from March to now, has decided to tour in the fall. So suddenly the venues are packed, it’s a complicated thing. But I’m hoping. I’d like to come to the UK. Sorry I can’t say anything about unreleased dates, I can’t say anything about those things.
TW: I imagine there are more singles to come from this album? Are you able to give us a clue maybe as to what the next one might be?
L: Erm, no. (laughs) I mean, no. No, no, no. I can’t because maybe I haven’t decided. So I thought ‘maybe I’ll give him a vague clue’ but then I was like oh, no. I can’t.
TW: Well that’s my last question, so (laughs). You’re just like – ‘No.’ (laughs)
L: End with a serious no. Well I must say, one thing I do wanna say on the subject of touring is that I am dying to tour. I’m like in the lockdown- actually when it began because I was so heartbroken and fucked, I actually wasn’t missing it, I was just like ‘Yeah ok that’s fine.’ Erm, and I also toured a lot before, so that whole thing- I mean there’s a lot of stress and lack of sleep and hangovers, but that’s me, involved in touring. So I was kind of like ‘I’m good without that’, but now?
I saw a video from a show I did in 2018 in Hong Kong, and I saw myself standing on stage, and I was playing ‘Helium High’, and I was jumping into the audience and I looked so confident! And I was so strong! And it’s funny because like, the last year, and especially the last half year I have been insanely busy, I have been doing a radio show, I have been doing the soundtrack for a movie, soundtrack for TV, doing two theatre projects, I’m writing a lot, but it’s all things that I haven’t tried before? So I feel like my attitude is very much like ‘Ooo maybe this- ooo’ like nervously- and I like that! It’s interesting, you learn lots and that’s fine and I get to celebrate like ‘Oh I made it! I did it!’
But I just realised that feeling of standing on stage. When I go on stage with my Neon Show and I have played a few acoustic shows which are different, but when I go on stage with my Neon Show, I feel like nobody in the world can say anything about what I do, it’s that kind of feeling of like ‘I’m best at this.’ I can do whatever I want, and whatever idea pops into my head, if I wanna take a pencil and draw a big cross on somebody’s forehead? Or if I wanna climb up on a bar and take the drink and throw it at a wall? I can do that. And that freedom, and that- argh- sense of expression? That. I’ve started to miss that a lot.
I really look forward to playing If You Want Capacity live, especially like the album version. Because the album version is like just an endless (laughs) journey of MORE SYNTH. It was SO much fun to make, it was so much fun. I was just dancing around the studio, I was like ‘Yeah! Oh! Can I go- and maybe do-do-do, and I’ve got- is that too stupid of a synth?’ I was like ‘YES it is TOO stupid, that’s why I need it!’
TW: (laughs) So, thank you for giving up your time to chat.
L: Thank you Teri I can’t wait to read what you make out of all my blah. I’m rooting for you.
TW: Thank you. (laughs) Have you got much planned for the rest of your day?
L: Erm, I have a phone interview, in five minutes? Oh wait, fifteen? And erm, and then I am going to visit my Mum. Who is also in the Lydmor’s Friend Group. I gave her permission to be in the group after she asked a few times, and I was like ‘Ok’. Because she’s so proud of what I do, and she’s so happy that I’ve- Every time that she hears I have a fan, she’s like ‘OH MY GOD THAT’S AMAZING!’ And I’m like ‘Mum I have a lot of those’. According to my Mum I’m the biggest star on the planet.
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To purchase the music of Lydmor, including digital and vinyl versions of her latest album ‘Capacity’, visit her Bandcamp page here.
Visit the official Lydmor website for details on the upcoming ‘Capacity’ tour.
Listen to Lydmor and Louise Lolle’s radio show ‘Mon Amie Complexe’ here.
Follow Lydmor on Instagram and Twitter @jennylydmor, and on Facebook @lydmor.
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