Interview with BlackieBlueBird: ‘Longing For Something Better’
The Danish duo BlackieBlueBird released their fourth album this year on Aenaos Records, and it’s a particularly special project. Heidi Lindahl and Nils Lassen selected 10 tracks from their previous albums and reimagined them to create “A Symphony Of Shadows”. The result is a stunning and artistic production that blends Dream-Pop and Ethereal-Pop. Each song is filled with emotion and subtlety, highlighted by Heidi Lindahl’s graceful vocals. In my opinion, it’s one of the best albums of the year, so I had a few questions for Nils about the creative process. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: How did BlackieBlueBird come into being, and what brought you together to start this musical journey? Could you also share the story behind your unique band name?
Nils: Once upon a time I walked into a local club, and I heard this magnificent girl singing her songs. I was blown away (and still am!;) by Heidi Lindahl’s fabulous voice. We started to record a lot of songs (and threw some away), that eventually ended up as “Ghost River”. We laughed through the whole process and still do, which is a good thing, when working together. And I hope it’s somehow audible behind all the wistful songs and soundscapes.
I guess the BlackieBlueBird name just popped up in the process, as the songs came about. It suited the music perfectly, we thought, and then the music also somehow started to suit the name in a cool spooky way.
Q: Your music feels like a blend of various influences rather than fitting neatly into one specific genre. How do you perceive your sound, and what can you tell us about the key inspirations behind it?
Nils: Maybe 90% of what’s incorporated into your music, you have absolutely no control over –it’s mostly just based on a gut feeling from when you created your own identity at some point in life. (Like a goose following the wing leader when it is migrating?) You can choose to go with the flow, and just be who you are instead of trying to fit in. To me it’s all about the process and not the result as such. It sounds easy, but it’s not 😉 We started out with the drumless soundscape, because that would create the space for Heidi’s timbre and soft voice. Instead of trying to fit in, we just enforced the powers we had.
Q: Reflecting on your three previously released albums, what were the main themes or emotions you aimed to express? How do you view your creative evolution across these albums?
Nils: We got an overwhelming response from all over the world to the first albums. From Bangalore, India via Cairo, South America, US, UK to all of the continental main cities. That made you think about what the common nominator is for all of those people in general. What is it that give us all the drive and meaningfulness that makes us get up every morning and continue do what we do? Without sounding too clever, I think it’s something about longing. Longing for something better, for something more meaningful in life. BlackieBlueBird’s music has that in it –the longing. And then it’s about refining and alternating that feeling in the music and the lyrics.
Q: Speaking of evolution, your latest album, “A Symphony of Shadows”, features 10 reworked versions of earlier songs. How did the idea of reworking these tracks come about, and what was that process like? Also, how did you choose which songs to rework, as it seems like it wasn’t an obvious selection?
Nils: We started working with the renowned Danish drummer Tomas Ortved (of Sort Sol fame) and of course you get inspired when working with a capacity like that, and then you start asking yourself what if? What if we took our favorite BlackieBlueBird tracks and started adding drums to them?? –how would that sound ?? And when we opened that box one thing just led to another!
Q: What inspires your lyrics, and how important are they in shaping the overall feel of your music?
Nils: We had the concept of ‘the wistful longing’, you know with mermaids wailing in the background. Every lyric that fitted into that image would be okay.
Q: Is “A Symphony Of Shadows” a stepping stone for future projects? Are there any new songs in progress, and what can we expect from you in terms of future releases, live performances, or music videos?
Nils: We are currently taking a bit of a break. We have released so much material in the last 5 years and it’s been hard work. It’s still great fun, but it’s been a bit uphill since the Covid period. It broke a bit of the momentum we had, but then again it goes for everybody, I guess. We have the outline for the next album ready, but when and where it’s going to materialize, only time will tell.
Heidi is working on her own material and released a cool EP last year. As Nils Lassen I’m working on a solo album release called “Fingerprints”, and I hope it will be out worldwide in the beginning of 2025 through the German record company Aeanaos. And as a side-project I’m fiddling about with an instrumental album with ‘dark surf’. Tracks are being recorded as we speak. How it is to be released is to be announced. The beat goes on!
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