Awakening the Soul with Afargang in Norway Rock Magazine

racks before it, it felt almost like a breath of fresh air. What was the inspiration behind that track?That track is quite special. I actually wrote it for a modern dance show that I did the music for a couple of years back. And then we used it for the show, but I felt that there might be something more to do with it – maybe to record it properly. Because I quite liked the atmosphere of that and the melody. So, that’s what I did for the second single on this album. And I think we just wanted, because the project is quite dark, and some people might think it’s a bit too aggressive and heavy. So, I think it’s nice to have a little break from that in the middle of the album. But that’s also something that we wanted to show off – that I also do a lot of melodic and more quiet stuff in the project. It’s not all like running away from dragons! So, we just tried to build up the track in the studio to get the atmosphere right, and then adding strings, and it became nice! Both melancholic and also hopeful at the same time.Where do you see Afargang going in the future?I think all our ideas were really good, and we put it all on the album. So I think even if I think a lot about future albums, I don’t really know where we are heading. But I think that we also had quite a lot of ideas that didn’t end up on this album and that’s really nice. We can probably go in different directions next time. We have also thought about doing a lot of live stuff, because that’s my and a lot of the other band members’ background is. And it’s my first album where I am the frontman, so I think we’re really up for it. And we are also rehearsing now to be able to play live if we’re able to do some shows.How was it going back to playing more ‘traditional’ folk again when you’ve been working on such an intense project?Well, during the whole process of this album, I’ve also been working a lot with traditional music, and so that step back into playing folk music was just the best thing I could do. So, we had quite a few soundscapes and now we’re rehearsing and it’s just pure joy to play.How does the music-making process differ between making traditional folk music and something like Afargang?I think the biggest difference is that in a traditional workflow, you have more of the tunes laid out for you. It’s also a bit different because in Afargang, we’re making songs that last for 4-8 minutes – it’s a different process to make those songs with different tempos, whereas traditional music is in shorter pieces, 20 seconds to a minute maximum. So, I think that’s the biggest difference, just the length of the pieces, and what kind of instruments you’re going to use. And of course, the sound!Lastly, is there anything that you’d like to add for people who might want to know more about Afargang?Just to add that we were really happy when we got the Spellemann nomination. It was really nice to see that the project was taken seriously from the start! And of course, I hope it gives me and my band members some other opportunities. And so much has happened with this project in such a short period, so we’ll see how 2026 will unfold!