GRETA

Danish songwriter GRETA explores some gorgeous textures on her new album, Ardent Spring. Like the change in seasons, she weaves between cool synths and warm, luscious guitar tones, but before you know it, a silky smooth rhythm takes over and you’re transported seamlessly to the next track. The colorful record is a trip across multiple genres, including ABBA influenced vocal-pop, dream-pop, psychedelia, and art rock, just to name a few.  She originally released the first half of the album in late 2019 as an EP, but was so inspired by the creative process that birthed these songs that she began writing and recording a second batch, which makes up the latter half of Ardent Spring.

We caught up with GRETA via e-mail to chat about Ardent Spring, what it was like working with Norweigan producer Farao, how the change in seasons inspires her work, and a whole lot more:

Congrats on the release of Ardent Spring! You originally released half of the album about a year ago as an EP. Why’d you decide to split the record into two parts? And why did you release both EPs together as one album? 

Thank you so much! For me, Ardent Spring Part I & II are deeply connected. They belong together. I first wrote Part I and got so inspired by the process that I wrote Part II right after. I wrote and recorded most of the material in the spring, which also had a huge influence on me and the music that connected the two. Part I & II also revolve around the same themes lyrically but with different perspectives. I decided to release Part I first to give people an introduction to me and my work and then release both as one full album. I really like that you can hear my development in the music and become a part of my journey as a person and as an artist. 

What was the recording process like for Ardent Spring? How would you compare it to the recording process Wild and Young, the EP you released earlier this year?

I wrote all the songs of Part I in Denmark (Aarhus and Copenhagen) and recorded demos in my tiny home studio. I moved around a lot in that time so the studio setup changed a lot, too. Fun fact: on the first demos I worked together with my friend Erlend, whom I also worked with on Wild & Young. He also plays bass in my band now. Later, I teamed up with Farao and we re-recorded a lot of stuff and produced all the material in her studio in Berlin. So, the songs from Part I have been going through a lot of different versions. Working with Farao was so incredibly inspiring and giving. It opened up a whole new world to me that I wanted to dig deeper into. So, as I came home from Berlin after having finished Part I, I almost directly after wrote Part II. I got even more interested in production and vintage synthesizers and felt much more secure about my way of writing. It was a very intuitive and inspiring process. So, I guess Part I was kind of a sound and soul search that naturally led to Part II. 

Wild & Young was also recorded as demos, together with Erlend in my living room. The Faroese-Danish artist Teitur fell in love with the songs and wanted to keep the magic of the demos, so we tried to just re-record them in better quality. But of course we also added stuff like synthesizers, some piano, and amazing string arrangements by Teitur. It was such a beautiful process and experience. I will never forget it, I think. We recorded the music on the Faroese Islands, in Bloch Studio as well as in Teitur’s own studio, and it was as if the music and the mesmerizing nature surrounding us became one.  

The story behind the songs on Wild And Young is cool. You recorded the demos with Teitur a few years ago, and he rediscovered the songs and sent them to his label. You then recorded them together last year.  What was it like revisiting these songs that you wrote several years ago while you were working on Ardent Spring?

Yeah, I must say I really love this story, too. It was like time traveling to see a younger GRETA, who had almost just moved to Denmark. It was so special to re-read in my songs how confusing that time has been for me. The songs revolve a lot about feeling homesick, being heart-broken, existential thoughts about life, growing up, and being wild and young at the same time and hardly trying to get the most of your youth. I think rediscovering these songs was a very important experience. It gave me so much more strength in my writing and helped me grow even more into my GRETA project. Thank you, Teitur and Erlend! 

You worked with Norwegian artist Farao on Ardent Spring. What was that like and what was she able to bring to the recording sessions? How did she influence its sound?

It was one of the best experiences of my life. Farao has truly opened my ears, my heart, and my mind. She had a huge influence on the sound as a producer and she also became my mentor in a way. We recorded in her studio filled with vintage synthesizers, harps, inspiring books, plants, and pictures of cats in space. Heaven! We rarely, almost never, changed chords or melodies, sometimes the song structure or the lyrics, though. We always took my demos as a starting point and then rearranged or replaced. We also played around with different sounds, added extra layers, and different dynamics. I have never met someone as razor-sharp as Farao, which is a good match with me, as I’m very intuitive and flowy. In the beginning, we hardly knew each other, but working together came very naturally. It got easier every time because I learned more and more. It was so much fun! 

You recorded the album in Berlin, a city with a rich music history and an incredible creative background. Did the city influence the sound of the record at all? 

Yes, it definitely did. I think there is kind of an industrial, german concrete vibe to the sound, mostly coming through Farao’s vintage Soviet synthesizers, which we used a lot. For example, the bass in “Hydrogen” is the perfect contrast to the more dreamy sounds and my airy vocals. I really love that combination. There are also a lot of 80s disco influences. Farao loves this music and we both listen and dance to it in our breaks from work or when partying on the weekend in Berlin. There was so much disco everywhere in Berlin when we were recording, in every bar, club, flea market and shop. That definitely influenced me. 

At the same time as I rediscovered my love for Berlin, I also fell in love with my mother tongue all over again. When first moving to Denmark and learning Danish, I really tried to distance myself from the German language, because I always ended up being ‘that German person.” I wanted to get away from that and blend in as quickly as possible. But my German accent will never fully wear off. It’s a part of me and now I see it as a good thing. I rediscovered the beauty in my mother tongue, especially in romantic poetry. There’s hardly anything more beautiful.  There are short passages in German on several songs on the album and I can reveal that there will be a lot more German in the future :) 

Your single “Hydrogen” explores how light can be a catalyst in our own lives to overcome obstacles. Was there a personal experience that inspired this song?

A walk home from a club in Berlin while looking at the stars definitely had an impact on this song. I was also influenced by some Danish poetry written by Inger Christensten and Søren Ulrik Thomsen. I also drew influence from a star documentary about hydrogen. But what inspired me the most in this song was living close to a person with depression, which gave me a lot of thoughts about how life and darkness gets into us humans. 

“White” is one of my favorite songs on the record. It’s gorgeous and hypnotic. How did that song come together? 

Thank you so much! I actually wrote it on an Irish bouzouki. So, that instrument definitely had an impact on the chords. I wrote it at a time when I felt that I had discovered my voice so I played a lot around with my full vocal range. With this song, I really dug into describing feelings through images and metaphors, in this case a trippy, hypnotic and maybe slightly toxic love relation. 

The album centers on spring and the change in seasons. What about that season is special to you? How do the different seasons affect you creatively?

The transition from winter to spring definitely affects and inspires me the most. To me, spring fulfills the circle of life. It’s the beginning of something new and the goodbye to what has been. Through my music, I reflect a lot on existential thoughts and I am definitely the most creative when I am in a transition, when I have just gone through a change, or when my surroundings or the people around me are changing. So, maybe that’s why this transition affects me so much. Because it is a change and a new beginning. 

I know you described Ardent Spring as an album of contrasts, between your old city and new city (Berlin and Copenhagen), and winter and spring. How would you compare your move from Berlin to Copenhagen to the transition from winter to spring? 

I sadly never stayed in Berlin for more than a month, but I have been traveling between cities a lot, especially whilst recording the album. Although I had visited Berlin a thousand times before, since I have close relatives there, this time I kind of fell in love with the city again and saw it with new eyes. It became my second home and I feel deeply inspired by and connected to it. 

The transition from winter to spring in both cities, especially in Berlin, has influenced me a lot. Every time I find it incredible how nature finds its way through the concrete and makes everything grow. Winter and spring are like different worlds in Berlin. The city is so grey, ugly and empty in the winter but blooms and comes alive in spring — and the people with it. 

What brought you from Berlin to Copenhagen? What’s the music scene like in your city? Who are some artists from your city that you’d recommend to our readers here in the states?

I actually never lived in Berlin for longer than a month. I grew up in a small town in northern Germany and moved to Denmark almost ten years ago. But I have spent a lot of time in Berlin and it feels like my second home, because a part of my family lives there and go there all the time to record and find inspiration. The music scene in Denmark is great, it is very small and cozy so I want to recommend you some of my dearest friends: Brimheim, Yune, Takykardia and We Are The Way For The Cosmos To Know Itself. 

Who are some artists that influenced the sound on this record? 

Uuuh, there are A LOT: Building Instrument, Lana Del Rey, ABBA, Blonde Redhead, Tame Impala, Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins, Beach House, MGMT, Moderat, Enya, Steve Reich, Farao , The Rah Band,Drive & Never-ending Story Soundtrack,UDSSR Sports & Music, Slowdive, Boy Harsher, Saada Bonaire, Robyn...and more

You are a member of the group Ida Red. When did you decide to start your solo career? What inspired you to begin writing your own songs and pursue your own path?

I am actually all solo now, I decided to leave the band last summer. Since I was a kid, I have always been writing my own songs, so in a way, being a solo artist is what I always have been doing. It all started with me writing songs on the piano again after splitting up with my band Who is Louis in 2017. Also, before that, I had been writing a lot of songs that I couldn’t seem to fit into my other projects. So slowly the wish of just being able to be me, GRETA, and do whatever I want and go into whatever direction I want to began to grow. And over the years, this desire just got stronger and stronger. When I played three debut concerts at Spot Festival, I knew there was no way back. I had to go solo. That is what I want to do with all my heart and it feels so much like finally belonging. 

What’s next for this project?

Right now I am hoping to be able to play my concerts scheduled this fall!  Besides that, I am already working on the next album and will travel to Berlin again soon to record it. I have a lot of exciting stuff planned so stay tuned <3 

You can purchase Ardent Spring on vinyl via Bandcamp. The album is also available on all streaming platforms.

Keep up with GRETA by liking her on Facebook and following her on Instagram.