Martin Rudefelt set up Cryo in the early years 2000. From start on this Swedish…
Martin Rudefelt set up Cryo in the early years 2000. From start on this
Swedish project dealt with a ‘different’ and clearly ‘intelligent’ electronic
format. It’s hard to call it EBM in the truest sense of what we define as EBM,
but let’s consider Cryo as a ‘futuristic sound made with vintage equipment’.
Together with Torny Gottberg (still label owner of Progress Productions),
Martin Rudefelt accomplished a new masterpiece entitled “The Fall Of Man”. I
sincerely think if Front 242 would have been set up today, this is the kind of
work they could have released. This album will be without a shadow of a doubt
one of the 2019 major releases.
Q:
Cryo is now active for several years and has just released its fifth full
length album (including the mini-album “Beyond”). What have been the main
themes and sonic ideas you tried to put in this album and how would you analyze
the final result?
Martin: Oh I thought this was our
fourth full-length album… I need to have a serious talk with Torny about
releasing new albums without my knowledge (lol). Anyway, we are very happy with
the result of the new album, many seem to consider it the best one so far and
that makes me very happy. Five years since the previous album is a long time,
but that’s the time it took to find my way to the sound I wanted. We could have
released it after one year instead, but I would not have been happy with the
result.
Torny: Also, I had this old-school
idea that I wanted work around a few singles to lead up to the album.
“Control” and “Sanitarium” both took quite some time
to organize as it holds quite a lot of remixes etc. But I think it has
been worth the wait. And it´s not like we have been lazy either. We have done
shows during this time.
Q:
Some artists compose songs and albums in a hurry, others consider that a song
is never finished and can always be improved. What’s your state of mind about
this topic and how do you look back at the writing- and recording process of
“The Fall Of Man”?
Martin: I fully respect any writing-
and recording process that an artist chooses, as long as the end result is
interesting and original enough. Some artists create a song in a day, some need
a year. Much song writing in the world is more of a mass-production industry
according to preset recipes of what sells the most. This is perhaps not as
prominent in the synth scene where there’s not much money to be made, but you
can still hear a lot of it unfortunately. I consider such mass-produced songs
as more of sound pollution than something that contributes to the scene and
attracts new listeners. Once in a while, I do find new music that I enjoy, but
as the bitter old man I am, I most often choose to go back to artists (other
bitter old men) that I know put their hearts and souls into their songs.
Torny: I sort of feel the same. I
have a hard time finding new stuff that I really like. There are some ‘new’
bands which I really think is great. Bands like Legend, Fix8:Sed8, Acretounge,
Zynic and a few more I really like. But like Martin already pointed out, there
are a lot of same-same as well. But then again music is a matter of taste.
There is no wrong, there is no right. All a matter of opinions. I think this is
the beauty of music.
Q: “The
Fall Of Man” appears to be a truly dystopian title for an album. What did you
try to express by this title and what does it say about the ëmení hiding behind
the ëartistsí and their vision upon life, society, world etc?
Martin: The album title reflects the
overall mood and messages of the songs, that faith in humanity has been lost
(and needs to be recovered) and that the core nature of man is far from
something to strive for.
Q:
I think there’s an interesting duality running through your work; there clearly
is a retro/vintage-like inspiration at one side, but still an explicit
modern/progressive approach in the sound treatments/arrangements at the other
side. Let’s talk about the Cryo ‘sound’, which seems to have a very proper DNA!
What’s the focus? Equipment? Procedure to compose? Possible criteria you’re
handling?
Martin: For this album we tried hard
to make the songs simpler, much time was spent to redo details over and over
again until they just had the core of what makes a cryo song interesting. For
example “Valium” took almost two years to finish, with about 15-20
very different versions until we finally were happy with the result. We used
older equipment even more than before, analog synths from the 70’s and 80’s
create the foundation, tape delays and other vintage items for their
unpredictability. This together with modern and precise production tools
creates an interesting contrast, not just a tribute to the past.
Q:
I always experienced Cryo as a band dealing with an intelligent and elaborated
electronic format. But ‘intelligent’ music is not easy to ‘sell’ and ‘gain’ a
wider recognition. Why is it people are more interested in ‘cheap’ standards
without any creativity instead of real innovative bands such as Cryo? This must
be frustrating or not?
Martin: Why do people prefer to go
and stand in a queue to McDonald’s instead of visiting that nice little Italian
restaurant next to it? One answer is, they know what they will get, a
cheeseburger is always a cheeseburger. And yes we could write cheeseburger
music, it would be easier and much quicker and the audience would love us for
it. It’s very tempting and maybe I will do it as a side-project one day just
for fun and to be allowed on stage more.
Q:
A lot of bands dealing with EBM and dark-electro related music styles are still
very busy with aspects such as image and social media. I don’t have the feeling
these things are the most important aspects for Cryo! What does it evoke to you
and do you think composing ‘good’ music is just enough?
Martin: If you want to become big,
you need to focus a lot on image and to be seen everywhere. I wish I had that
interest, and skills, to build such an image. But I just want to write songs
and perform them on stage. So from that perspective, I’m quite a failed artist.
The music of Cryo will still remain though, and we are very proud of it.
Torny: I also think that this
hysteria of social media, being everywhere is sort of blahhhhh… I mean I can
seriously get tired of the massive flow of things on Facebook etc. It just
becomes like an overload of things. And sometimes I just want to shut it of.
ALL OF IT. One should really focus on the music. Nothing else.
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