Årabrot have just released their most astounding piece of True Norwegian Art Rock to date; “Who Do You Love” on new home Pelagic Records. A new video for the track ‘Maldoror’s Love‘ has also been released which can be seen below.
Kjetil Nernes, vocal/ guitar/ composer & lyricist Årabrot:
“Årabrot is in so many ways as much a travelling circus as a rock’n’roll unit. Captured here is the essence of the snake-handling, the Holy Mountain alchemy and the medicine show prophesies. Laukli and Laukli with the help of the amazing editing skills of Dave Hall have done a remarkable job catching the heart and soul of the Church of Årabrot”
Paal Laukli, director/ camera from Laukli & Laukli:
“Being fans of Årabrot, we are always superexcited to be able to work with them. Kjetil actually let us choose which song we wanted to film. After a quick listen we landed on Maldorors Love. We love the song, and also the misantropic worldview put forth by Isidore Lucien Ducasse in Les Chants des Maldoror. The dark and strange content of the novel was an inspiration. There are also some visual nods to other artists that we know have influenced Årabrot in their work.”
The Norwegian grammy award winning band carry all the hallmarks of a sonic spectrum that has always been a wide and wild field of purposeful mismatches, a world of friction between the noisy, the disharmony and the tension, with rivalling moments of harmonic relief. But there is more than noise rock to Årabrot’s formula, “I’m interested in feelings, either the very silent or the extremely noisy“, band leader Kjetil Nernes comments. ‘I don’t care about what’s in between, the middle of the road isn’t my thing. The bible fits really well with that. I’m using it thematically all of the time.”
It comes as no surprise that the singer and guitar player has established himself in a former church in the woods of Dalarna in rural Sweden, where he lives with his wife, piano player and singer Karin Park, and where his band now rehearses and records, surrounded by pianos, organs and hundreds of old bibles that the church left behind when the congregation stopped. The clerical environment has proven to be an excellent creative tapestry for a band whose lyrical focus orbits around sex, death and defiance.
Kjetil Nernes has made his own first hand experience with the topics he sings about. He was diagnosed with malignant throat cancer in 2014, in the middle of a tour. Instead of heading in for surgery right away, the band finished a full European tour first, “Every night of that tour was like the last show ever“, Nernes comments, “It was really strange. When a doctor calls and says, ‘you’re terribly sick’, it’s surreal. You go into this phase where life is more vivid and more real, in a weird way. We’ve done so many shows through the years and sometimes it’s a little like going to the factory to do a job. But with an axe hanging over yourhead you perceive the world differently.“
After successfully recovering from cancer, Årabrot are now stronger than ever. The band has collaborated with procuders like Billy Anderson and Steve Albini, and musicians like Ted Parsons (Killing Joke/Swans), Sunn O))))’s Stephen O’Malley, and Kvelertak’s Erlend Hjelvik.
Who Do You Love? Is Out Now
CD | Digital
