Interview: Aiming for Enrike @ ArcTanGent
Aiming for Enrike by Jez Pennington
At ArcTanGent Festival, we had the pleasure of reconnecting with Simen Følstad Nilsen and Tobias Ørnes Andersen from Aiming for Enrike. After a high-energy and improvised late-night disco set, the duo was gearing up for another performance Thursday afternoon.
We’re big fans of this duo, and it was great to hear about their experience at the festival, the evolution of their sound, and what fans can look forward to in the near future. From their unique live shows to their busy schedules, it's clear the band is enjoying every moment of their journey.
It’s so nice to see you both again! How are you? I know you played the disco set late last night?
Simen: Good. Well, a bit lacking in sleep, but generally pretty good. The disco was a 50 minute set, so not too long, but pretty late.
For something like the disco, did you play a pretty regular set or change it up a bit from what we’re going to see this afternoon?
Tobias: We changed the set a lot. We actually improvised almost the entire show. And today we’re playing a different show.
That’s incredible. How do you prepare for an improvised set, considering that you’re building and dismantling the layers for each song and I assume have some solidly planned transitions?
Tobias: We practiced before the show and had some cues planned. But a lot of the stuff was also improvised.
Simen: The set list was set to a BPM (beats per minute) on the tempo and some notes on what to maybe do. Not what to do exactly, but some things that we could do.
Tobias: Then we have some visual cues. Nothing special, just like nodding up and down.
Catching your cues is so interesting. There’s this great recording of a live stream on Youtube, I’ve watched too many times, and it’s been really interesting to catch that subtlety.
Simen: Wow, nice! That’s great, that’s so cool. Last night, I was pretty surprised that so many people did stay up. Also, I was expecting people to walk around more and be more ‘at a party’. But they were still acting like a crowd, looking at us.
I’ve seen your crowds; people are already trying to vibe and dance as much as you can dance to a lot of this music but they definitely jam for you.
Simen: It’s very easy with us, I think. Especially last night. Super straightforward.
So, it’s the 10th year anniversary of ATG. How does it feel to be here for the celebration?
Simen: It feels very good. It feels nice to both be able to play a silent disco set and a regular one; to be playing twice on the 10th anniversary. That’s really nice. It’s nice to be a part of that.
Bittersweet because we were really looking forward to the band that you’re filling in for. Sad they had to pull out, and then saw the announcement for your second set and thought, “Well, that’s not so bad.”
Simen: That’s what I hope people say when they see us: “That’s not so bad.”
Aiming for Enrike by Jez Pennington
Do you have a favorite song that you play live?
Simen: That’s a very good question.
Tobias: I don’t know. It kind of changes.
Simen: I think a song that always works is a song called “Flat Beats” from Music for Working Out. It always works. It always sounds really good. So it’s always good to know that’s coming up. I feel safe for six or seven minutes.
Tobias: I like one of our newest songs. It’s a bit more up-tempo but still like a dance song. We don’t have a name for it yet.
It’s new new?!
Simen: What’s the working title?
Tobias: “140 BPM” because it’s 140 BPM. And 140 BPM is a very good tempo.
Simen: A DJ friend of mine told me that it’s a magical tempo. So we had to try making something at 140.
Tobias: And when you hear 140 BPM, you feel that it’s a good tempo.
Are you going to play it today? I’ll get my metronome out on my phone and try got guess which one.
Simen: If I see you, I can do like this—[makes gesture].
Conveniently, nice segue: what have you been up to? I know you’re both busy with other projects. You’ve obviously got some new material then, what else?
Tobias: A lot of different stuff. Actually, I’m playing here tomorrow, so I’m here for three days.
Aiming for Enrike by Jez Pennington
Are you really?
Tobias: Yes, you play with Ihsahn, the black metal artist from Norway. I’ve been playing with him since 2017.
Yes you do! How did I not put that together?! Noted. And you’ve got some more shows coming up together in Norway in September?
Tobias: We have a show on Saturday in Oslo. So it’s a busy, busy weekend.
Simen: We’ve been slowly but surely making new stuff and just implementing new things into the way we’re playing the new stuff. It’s a natural progression from the last album and the album before. If you mix those two together, I think you might get the new stuff—more electronic, more dancey, not so long songs, not as much ambient anymore.
We moved into a studio, which is our practice space now, so we record all the time. We listen back to it, then we talk about it, make changes. Something’s going to materialize over the next year or so.
Last time we talked, you did say that you might put together a live album?
Simen: Yeah, we’ve been busy doing other things, but we have many recordings. I think we have like 30 or 40 shows recorded now, really good recordings as well. So…something’s going to happen.
That’ll be sick. Do you have any aspirations going forward, or more happily here for the ride?
Tobias: We’re here for the ride.
Simen: We actually talked a lot about this in the last 24 hours. The goal is kind of just doing it, and the reward is, basically, if we get to play festivals like this and release music and people listen to it, that’s the reward. Anything other than that…like praise is very nice, but it doesn’t really last that long. But being happy with the situation creatively, that’s the main goal.
Incredible. What have you both been listening to?
Aiming for Enrike by Jez Pennington
Simen: I’ve been listening to clipping. lately. You know that band, clipping.? Hip hop, noise, horror thing? It’s very cool. I think…I’m going to check my phone…
Tobias: The latest JPEGMAFIA. You know JPEGMAFIA? It’s very cool. Yeah, it’s crazy. You should check it out.
Simen: MF DOOM. Sunn O))), Sunn O))) is great.
Tobias: Yeah you should check out Sunn O))). If you have a chance, you should see them live. It’s…it’s very special.
Why?
Tobias: It’s like noise, drone music with guitar. And they wear these robes and it’s…
It’s a whole experience?
Tobias: Yeah definitely! It’s like a ceremony, and it’s very loud. Very, very, very loud. Physically too. It’s a legendary band I think.
Simen: I got one: Ricardo Villalobos, with the Neunachi EP. I’ve listened to that so much over the last three or four years. It’s almost only drum machine and some samples way in the back. It’s very hypnotic and very cool.
The only other question I have for limited time today is, Tobias, you’re an incredible drummer, and from watching you I wondered if you trained in jazz? I know you play some jazz, but your technique is so interesting.
Tobias: Yeah, I play a lot of different music, but I didn’t go to a jazz school. I listened to a lot of jazz music and practiced different stuff.
Aiming for Enrike by Jez Pennington
Simen: I think he stands out at this festival. I don’t think many people here play like that.
It’s a different style for sure, it’s a different approach and way of playing.
Tobias: A friend of mine described it as “rolling.” You have this rolling motion on the drums, if it makes any sense. And that’s like a jazz thing, because the technique is different, and the phrasing is different. But there are lots of rock drummers who play in the same style. Especially from the ’70s, like John Bonham and the Black Sabbath drummer. They have a jazz feel.
I don’t have any other questions for you. I just want to stay here and hang out for the rest of the day. But you have to play a gig soon.
Simen: We have to play a gig pretty soon.
Tobias: Are you going to come to the show?
Yeah obviously. Would not miss.
Tobias: We will let you know when 140 kicks in. You will feel it.
Please do! Figure out how to give me one of your subtle cues. You’re busy though!
Simen: I can take a break. I can take a little break. This is the one, I’ll do that.
Thanks so much to Aiming for Enrike for catching up with us at ArcTanGent. If you have the opportunity, we highly recommend this duo and seeing any of their upcoming gigs:
