Kim Ljung (Ljungblut) revisits Asian inspirational country on ‘Vietnam’ album
Kim Ljung (Ljungblut) revisits Asian inspirational country on 'Vietnam' album
(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Photos by Kim Ljung, Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Jean Yves) Out now is ‘Vietnam’, the latest album from Norwegian act Ljungblut, available only digitally and on cassette! This time focusing on the trips Kim Ljung and Harald Rosenløw Eeg made to Vietnam, mostly in the 90s, but also recently.
Vietnam became significant for Kim and his travel companion Harald Rosenløw Eeg back in the 90s. The young backpackers made countless trips throughout that decade. Both for leisure and for composing. Kim with his lyrics and music, Harald with his many novels to come. They shared the same intensity, the same eagerness, the same infatuation with Vietnam. Many years later they would end up going back, to catch that spirit once again, and it had to be documented – musically.
Ljungblut: Vietnam - Kim @ Ha Long Bay, 1994
Ljungblut interview
Side-Line: How did the first Vietnam trips influence your life and music back then?
Harald Rosenløw Eeg: Our first trip to Vietnam became life-changing, I think. The communist regime had just opened for tourists, and we went to this temple in the mountains and by the sea. We got this wonderful welcome by the monks, and stayed there for days, we felt that we were part of something unique, a fellowship. It inspired Kim’s writing of Seigmen songs. For me it influenced my writing (I was writing novels at the time) * , and we decided to come back.
I think we went to Vietnam every winter for five years, as a source of reflection and inspiration.
(* Editor’s note: Harald is also currently working with screenwriting for movies and TV-series, winning awards for both his books and movies – check him on IMDB)
Kim Ljung: We made the first trip to Vietnam in early January of 1994. The country has undoubtedly changed a whole lot since then. We fell in love with everything straight away. What made it so significant to us, was that the place felt so personal to us. Few tourists, quite unexplored and just very beautiful. Both the country itself and the Vietnamese people.
Their postwar life also made an impact on us. From our travel agency in Norway we got a handwritten letter in Vietnamese, where they advised us to go and visit a special Buddhist pagoda, as the first westerners. This was the picturesque Co Thach. We were warmly welcomed and enjoyed their hospitality and their lifestyle for several days.
Harald Rosenløw Eeg, my travel companion, was a writer and I was a musician/lyricist. We made the most of it. This was pre-‘Total’ (Seigmen’s second album). Many of the lines from that album were written here, some with contributions from Harald.
Unfortunately, we were thrown out by the local military police in the middle of one night. Didn’t even get to say goodbye to the monks. It was quite harsh. They thought we were spies.
We went back the next year. And the year after that. There were numerous trips made over the years. Harald did several with other famous Norwegian writers. He even took a master’s degree in Vietnamese Buddhism.
Harald summarised the album quite well when he had listened through it all:
«Kim, this is the soundtrack of our whole trip! Everything is in there». That’s all that matters.
S-L: When did you and Harald go back? What’s the most significant differences compared to the first trips in the 90’s?
HRE: When Kim was turning 50, I gave him a Vietnam-comeback tour, more than 20 years after our first trips. The country itself has of course changed a lot, but honestly, inside the two of us, it was like nothing had changed. We were just two young (but not anymore) boys hungry to explore this wonderful place. We were looking forward, writing new stuff, but having the historic impact on us, we were also looking back in time, on a friendship and on a quarter of a life!
KL: On my 50th birthday Harald surprised me and said we would go back together. Just the two of us. Like the old days.
It was the nicest gift ever. I was in a dreamlike state. Though it’s a long trip it’s not that far away. To experience that meant a lot. Vietnam was in many ways the same as before, though pretty much everything is different. It’s hard to describe. And with Harald and myself, it was like time stood still. All the same, and we loved every second of it.
When I got home I started writing the songs at once. Most of it was written in a few weeks. It just took time to have the time to record it all. I still can’t believe I got Harald’s daughter Sval to join on four tracks. She herself has visited both the pagoda and Miss Loi’s guesthouse. The song ‘Lyktene ved Miss Loi’ means a lot. She and her husband died from Covid. We stayed at her backpacker hotel so many times.
All the background noises on the album are from that trip. Recorded on my cellphone.
S-L: Will there be more trips?
HRE: I love the ‘Vietnam’ album, so if Kim will make something like that every trip to Vietnam now, I could go every year from now on.
KL: Think so 😊
S-L: Anything else lined up for Ljungblut in the near future?
KL: It’s not just Seigmen who has a trilogy on their hands with ‘Resonans’, ‘Dissonans’ and ‘Substans’. I will also finish the third cassette release with Ljungblut in 2026, with ‘Sauda’ being the first one, ‘Vietnam’ the second.
It sure is fun being a productive artist these days! Never at peace really. It’s all good.
Stream ‘Vietnam’ album
The sonic landscape is built up around Kim’s intimate vocal, soft acoustic guitars, muffled pianos, oriental bells, mellow trumpets and tasty old Korgs, all handcrafted into a sincere and warm production of engineer and multi-instrumentalist Terje Johannesen.
The warm oriental bells opening on the Eno-esque ambient work of ‘Etterklang’ sets the mood. Recordings from the trip; the chanting, the crickets, the traffic and dialogues, all blend neatly with the tracks. On four of the seven tracks, we hear the airy, near and honest vocals of the artist Sval, harmonising superbly with Kim’s lush, deep voice. Sval’s presence is not accidental. She is the daughter of Harald, and she herself has visited the monks at Co Thach. She has also stayed at the guesthouse of the lady referred to in the third track, ‘Lyktene ved Miss Loi’.
Stream digitally or get your digital or physical copies here. Also available from Apollon Records and Karisma Records.
About Kim Ljung / Ljungblut
Ljungblut is the personal voyage of Kim Ljung. The songwriter, lyricist and bass player of Seigmen and Zeromancer.
Since 2005 he has released six albums, with the most recent before this being the 2023 EP ‘Sauda’, issued on cassette and digital platforms. ‘Vietnam’ follows as its sequel – released in the same formats, bearing the theme of a particular place.
Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉
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