Orka: The Darker Side of Existence

This Saturday, an über-interesting band is playing in Prague. They are called Orka, come from the Faroese Islands and build their own instruments. In our chat, they also revealed they might use the show for their next recording.

You build your own music instruments - how is the process of inventing and making such a thing? 

Most often you start by experimenting with materials, e.g. wood or metal, and as you start playing with it, you let the material decide what it wants to sound like. So it is mostly quite impulsive. Although sometimes you know want you want beforehand and you seek a more precise sound.

The only other Faroese musician we have heard about is Eivør Pálsdóttir - what else are we missing here in the middle of Europe? 

Well, there is of course Teitur, who must be among the more successful musicians from the Faroes, but also there is a very good “viking metal” band called Tyr, and also Høgni Lisberg.

What was the moment that made you think "we have to start a band"? 

It was actually shortly after starting experimenting with making musical instruments. It started off as an experiment together with some friends, but soon after starting the experiment we all felt that we had hit on something significant. Therefore we decided to form a live band.

Which bands were you listening to when you were growing up, and how difficult it was to see your favorite musicians live - did you travel a lot? 

As a child I heard a lot of Skeeter Davis, Bobby Bare, Beatles and Jim Reeves, which my mother listened a lot to + a lot of church music. As I grew older I started to listen a lot to U2 and Pearl Jam. We could of course never see these bands, because they would not come to the Faroes, and therefore we didn't really mind. It was more seen as an impossibility... or something you saw on MTV.

How about your new album, is there a theme to it, and is it a big development from the first one? 

On our first record we went into a farm in a small village to experiment, while on this one we went into a warehouse in the capital, Tórshavn, to record. I think the difference lies somewhat in the location. While our first record was more rural, this new one has a more urban quality, also because we collaborated with New York producer Oktopus (from Dælek) on this one. It is in many ways colder... there was more wood on the earlier record, and more concrete on this new one.

What are your favorite websites? 

I usually visit pitchfork.com a lot, although the quality varies they seem to touch upon things which are relevant. Other than that I often visit Warp and Ninja Tune to see what great music they are working on.

We really like your music but have no idea about the lyrics, is there a way to get to know more about the themes you sing about?

Most of the poetry is quite existential, and this particular record deals with the darker side of existence. But while the poetry can be described as an acknowledgment of darkness, it at the same time contains a longing for light. This also comes to show through the musical side, which is quite dark with bright vocals on top.

Do you sell your music online, or how can one hear your songs apart from the streams on myspace? 

It's available on iTunes as well as a number of other digital distributors.

What has nobody asked you about and you wish they did? 

You've actually covered very good questions, so I am having a hard time answering this one! :)

Faroe Islands have a great knitting tradition. I do not know if you, as men, are interested in textile / crafts at all but in case you are - is this something that is for the older generation, or does the young art scene have anything to do with this?

I personally have no active interest in the craft of knitting, and neither does anyone in the band. Although we all have great respect for the people who work in this field, Guðrun & Guðrun etc. It's definitely something that young people work with and it's constantly evolving.

Anything else we should know about? 

Maybe that we are recording a new album on tour. And that parts of it will be recorded in Prague straight after or show. Parts of the show might even make it to the record!

Orka play Palác Akropolis (Kubelíkova 1548/27, Praha 3) on May 14, 2011.