Once I Was A Bird, perhaps the most modernist flavour of psychedelia offered on Majahua, is the album’s “drug song” - though as befits so sharp a band and so sophisticated a collection of songs, it’s no dippy anthem like you might expect on a psychedelic record.
“I wanted to write about the use of drugs in a non-judgemental or dramatic way but not to glorify them, but describe it like buying a ticket for the train or the bus and go for a ride,” explains singer, Mikkel Boström. “Buying drugs is definitely as easy as buying a ticket in Copenhagen. When the song was written, Denmark was on Forbes top 10 list over the happiest nations in the world, (I think we’re #1 this year) which I thought was kind of funny, given that people are using more drugs than ever before. Maybe that’s why we are so happy over here!”
The mystic melodies, the echo-drenched drums, the erotic lick of sitar and the multi-tracked vocals are enough to let even the casual consumers of Future War Bride’s debut album ‘Majahua’ know they are in for a psychedelic trip. Future War Bride counters all the meaningless noise in today’s rampant and digital society with a delicious noise of their own. Bringing to mind a space to think about self-discovery and peaceful feelings, Future War Bride’s psychedelia feels really relevant and manages to capture a sense of overcoming the mundane, all the while being entranced in compositions that are a true delight… We talk to Mikkel Boström about giving each track its own identity, 60s music and unwinding on tour…
TSH: What sort of motivations were you mainly drawing on regarding subject matter with your album ‘Majahua’?
Mikkel: We were trying to reflect on life events in a poetic way and not trying to make a dystopian record. We wanted to make a record that had some hope in it, but one that also asks questions about society today. It was also important to touch on connecting with each other despite our differences.
TSH: What’s impacted you most as a songwriter in the lead-up to this release?
Mikkel: I’d say that this record covers a lot of existential issues for me. As I was writing the songs I was confused about a lot of things in life, especially with topics like how to act and react in the world today. My main aim with the songwriting was to turn the thoughts in my head into musical expressions.
TSH: Would you say that the idea of each track standing on its own with a distinct identity was something that mattered to you?
Mikkel: I think variety is always going to be present in our records from song to song. The way that we worked on this record was sort of like having an umbrella, underneath which we covered a lot of old school type of recordings mixed with new styles on top. And yes, we wanted to have a thesis that implies that every song should have its own identity.
TSH: Do you still approach your crafting process via trusting the feel of a song?
Mikkel: Oh, yes. This approach has always made sense for me. It’s always a case for us to be more concerned with the music than the impact of other areas, such visuals or aesthetics.
TSH: What does a song like ‘Gloves Off’ convey to you?
Mikkel: This song is basically stating that we need to slow down and sometimes give things another think; it’s also to do with how we basically interact with other people. We went for a very high-paced feel with a slow chorus to make the song more reflective. Also, the change in tempos signifies us asking questions about whatever happened to the things we used to do.
TSH: What was it like to form the track entitled ‘Uniform’?
Mikkel: When we recorded that song we actually had two or three versions of it. This one certainly wasn’t an easy song to make so we had to labour over it for quite a while. I believe the third version is the one we settled on, but it was very challenging.
TSH: What sort of emotions did you feel upon completing this album?
Mikkel: Well, what pleased me most was the process of making the album together as a band and as a collective. It was so rewarding to know that four different people with various tastes each threw new stuff into the pool and that we ended up with an album where everyone had a say in it. We covered a lot of ground and the band chemistry was great.
TSH: You also really gravitate towards 60s era music...
Mikkel: What I like most about 60s music is the innovation and simplicity. Also, it’s nice to know that there were no rules back then and that you could experiment with everything at your disposal.
TSH: What does it mean to you to be so immersed in music?
Mikkel: It’s a nice relief with all the madness around us. As a band we do feel a sense spirituality coming into play too. Everything that we experience around us comes out when we write music. For me, music is more than just therapy.
TSH: How do you guys unwind on tour?
Mikkel: We do really simple stuff; we like to have laughs together. Most of the time we just get some food and beers and relax.
TSH: What are the key factors that you want to maintain as you look ahead?
Mikkel: The main aim for us is to have our music reach as many different people and audiences as we possibly can. We hope to definitely tour a lot more and make new connections with people wherever we go. Also, it’s important for us to form our own boundaries and to come up with music that we haven’t made before - we don’t want to be repetitive. I believe our sound will always evolve and we’ll continuously show new depth.
“It's a song that certainly has hallmarks of classic-era psychedelia. A kaleidoscopic joyride.” Track of the Day - The 405
“A bewitching psychedelic statement, all swirling, liquid guitars and heavenly vocals.”- Clash Magazine
In 2009, the Danish Air Force opened its UFO archives to the public containing over 15,000 reported sightings of unexplained events that happened between 1978 and 2002. 329 pages of previously classified info were released but to this day we are still none the wiser that this phenomenon exists.
Danish psych band, Future War Bride, whose debut album Majahua will drop on June 8th this summer, have a released a video for their time-traveling Thin Air single, warping between 60s melodic tangle and futuristic sounds in honour of these archives, reports and ongoing research into the unknown. It was the first track the four-piece ever recorded, and is, explained by frontman Mikkel Boström as, “a classic break up story about the distance between two people getting bigger. Underneath that it is the story of people acting as if they had altitude sickness, getting delusional and paranoid.”
The video was shot by the band and Brady Perron in Kvistgård, Denmark, home to the Futuro House - a classic prefabricated fibreglass house designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in the late 1960s. It’s a well-known building resembling a UFO that the band decided to bring to life for Thin Air. The production was shot over two days, with no budget and with the help from good friends Jens Lundvald Petersen and Ida Franck, who star in the promo. Ida, who plays the estranged space bride, literally ran around the woods, outside of Copenhagen, for two days straight, barefooted in temperatures below zero. “Her feet were completely torn up, swollen and blistered, and I think you can almost tell on her face how harsh the pain was,” adds Boström.
As much as this is a story about inter-galactic visitations and break ups, it's also a nod to human behaviour and our own man-made disasters. The world today looks even more space-age than previously imagined, so maybe we shouldn't be afraid of the aliens, but they should be afraid of us.
Made up of Boström on guitars/vocals, Christian Ki on guitars/vocals, Morten Puper on keys and Jakob Gravlund on bass, the Copenhagen quartet started to write songs in a swirling, retrofuturistic dream-pop vibe taking inspiration from yesterday’s 60s psych explosion. The band then added their own swirling cocktail of heavy rhythms, fuzz-bass, acid-gobbling guitars and colossal synth wonderfulness to form an album that takes you on a truly warm psychedelic trip from start to finish.
Pre-order Future War Bride’s debut album Majahua that will be released on June 8th from i-Tunes and Spotify.
Future War Bride is:
Mikkel Boström - vocals/guitar
Morten Puper - keys, guitar
Jakob Gravlund -bass
Christian Ki - guitar, keys
Follow Future War Bride at:
facebook.com/futurewarbride
twitter.com/futurewarbride
8 Haziranda Majahua adlı ilk uzunçalar albümünü yayınlayacak olan Danimarkalı topluluk, psychedelic etkili kayıtlara sahip. Future War Bride’ın, iki kişinin arasındaki mesafenin artması sonucu ayrılmalarını anlattığı Thin Air şarkısını dinleyin.
The city of Copenhagen is the home of Future War Bride, who’ve announced their arrival with their debut single Gloves Off set for release on June 24th. It is a synth led, driving psych-pop track with an ejector button chorus and you can stream it below. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/320628419"…
“Glorious, driven, infectious psych-pop that comes drenched in colour!”
– Clash Magazine
STREAM / SHARE DEBUT SINGLE, GLOVES OFF:
https://soundcloud.com/futurewarbride/glovesoff
The city of Copenhagen in Denmark has spawned a new psychedelic music project within the underground vaults of its vibrant music scene in Future War Bride, who announce their arrival with their debut single Gloves Off set for release on June 24th.
Gloves Off is a synth led, driving psych-pop track with an ejector button chorus, designed to surprise as much as propel, accompanied by a lyrical wake up call for those under the spell of political fallacy.
“The face down generation is, on a spiritual level, going belly up in the hunt for the next opportunity,” explains frontman Mikkel Böstrom. “It’s a weird and cruel philosophy that leads only one way, creating miserable people in a miserable world. This is not a game, and people are not athletes. Maybe it's time to take the gloves off and start fighting with winners and losers mentality.”
This rallying call comes from a singer who recorded this debut at the same time his memory was actually failing him. The song itself is a fragmented example of Boström’s medicated experience depicting two contrasting universes that collide and create. It’s also the first psychedelic journey into an album that has wondrous colourful beauty, space, time and catalytic reactions once digested.
Gloves Off, the band's loudest track in comparison to the harmony-led pop songs in their archives, is the first chapter taken from their forthcoming debut album; produced and recorded by Mikkel Böstrom and the band at Viktoria Studios in Copenhagen.
Follow Future War Bride at:
facebook.com/futurewarbride
twitter.com/futurewarbride
Future War Bride is:
Mikkel Boström – vocals/guitar
Morten Puper - keys, guitar
Jakob Gravlund - bass
Christian Ki Dall - guitar, keys
