Acne Studios: So Nils, tell me about this new song of yours, Curious Love. Is it about the death of a love relationship or a desire for a new love?
Nils Bech: Actually, it's about the death of a relationship that never really started.
Your voice is exceptionally beautiful. How did you gain such command – are you classically trained?
Yes, I did classical music from the age of nine until I was 21. Growing up I was convinced that I would become an opera singer. Or, at the age of five I wanted to play the violin, so I started doing that when I was seven, but I only did it for less then a year, so it took some time to convince my parents that I really wanted to take singing lessons.
A few years ago you used to be in a band called Snuten, and then you moved on to collaborating with different kinds of musicians for different projects?
Yes, I played with Snuten for five years, and we released three albums. At the same time I started doing different projects with my friends who where mainly artists - acapella versions of songs at art openings. After a while I added movements and object to the performance as well. I manly work with Bendik Giske these days, but have also been working with Sverre Thorstensen.
Yes, one musician that seems to stay with you is Bendik Giske, the very talented saxophonist featured in your new video. Tell me about your relationship.
I met Bendik through mutual friends when he moved back from Copenhagen. My friend Michael and I had started a band, and we had recorded this song which a friend of mine said sounded like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen on speed. So I wanted to bring something organic to the song and asked Bendik to play some saxophone on it, we ended up making a new song instead, Drunk Love. For a while I tried to work with different people, but realized that Bendik and I were the best match. So now he produces most of the songs together with me and does all the musical arrangement, and is the only full time member of the band. He still works as a jazz musician with his own projects Listen! and BG-5, who I find very inspiring. The jazz musician and the opera singer making pop music. A funny match.
Another interesting match is the Norwegian model Iselin Steiro who is working with the best in fashion, such as Steven Meisel for the new Lanvin campaign. How did you get her to participate in your new video?
When I visited Michael in London we talked about how great it would be to make this video with this 90's reference with a supermodel on the catwalk. I have always been a fan of Iselin's work and her looks, so I called a friend who hooked me up with Iselin's number. I had met here round and about, and she had told me she liked my music so I just called, and she said sure, Id love to be in your video.
How was she to work with?
She was extremely professional of course, sweet, fun and very supportive. We had a great time on the set with her. Everybody who worked with the video worked for free. I'm extremely thankful.
Who designed her dress?
My best friend, inspiration, and partner in crime Michael Nybraaten made it. He said if your making a video with a model in it - I'm making the dress. He works as a designer for Ann-Sofie Back in London, so the dress was made after hours a week before the shoot and fed-exed just in time for the filming.
The video is filmed in Oslo where Iselin poses in an artists’ studio. Whose studio is it? Tell me about the idea behind the setting.
The video is shot in Ida Ekblad and Anders Nordby's studio. They are two of my favorite artist and my close friends. I love their work and I find them really inspiring, and so shooting in their studio made the perfect frame. It was also interesting to play with the idea of the artist and his model/muse. I wanted Iselin and me to be filmed in the same setting, but never together, so that it is never really clear if the love story is about Iselin and me or a third person? Actually the person I am singing about is an artist too, so it all comes full circle.
Nils Bech: Actually, it's about the death of a relationship that never really started.
Your voice is exceptionally beautiful. How did you gain such command – are you classically trained?
Yes, I did classical music from the age of nine until I was 21. Growing up I was convinced that I would become an opera singer. Or, at the age of five I wanted to play the violin, so I started doing that when I was seven, but I only did it for less then a year, so it took some time to convince my parents that I really wanted to take singing lessons.
A few years ago you used to be in a band called Snuten, and then you moved on to collaborating with different kinds of musicians for different projects?
Yes, I played with Snuten for five years, and we released three albums. At the same time I started doing different projects with my friends who where mainly artists - acapella versions of songs at art openings. After a while I added movements and object to the performance as well. I manly work with Bendik Giske these days, but have also been working with Sverre Thorstensen.
Yes, one musician that seems to stay with you is Bendik Giske, the very talented saxophonist featured in your new video. Tell me about your relationship.
I met Bendik through mutual friends when he moved back from Copenhagen. My friend Michael and I had started a band, and we had recorded this song which a friend of mine said sounded like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen on speed. So I wanted to bring something organic to the song and asked Bendik to play some saxophone on it, we ended up making a new song instead, Drunk Love. For a while I tried to work with different people, but realized that Bendik and I were the best match. So now he produces most of the songs together with me and does all the musical arrangement, and is the only full time member of the band. He still works as a jazz musician with his own projects Listen! and BG-5, who I find very inspiring. The jazz musician and the opera singer making pop music. A funny match.
Another interesting match is the Norwegian model Iselin Steiro who is working with the best in fashion, such as Steven Meisel for the new Lanvin campaign. How did you get her to participate in your new video?
When I visited Michael in London we talked about how great it would be to make this video with this 90's reference with a supermodel on the catwalk. I have always been a fan of Iselin's work and her looks, so I called a friend who hooked me up with Iselin's number. I had met here round and about, and she had told me she liked my music so I just called, and she said sure, Id love to be in your video.
How was she to work with?
She was extremely professional of course, sweet, fun and very supportive. We had a great time on the set with her. Everybody who worked with the video worked for free. I'm extremely thankful.
Who designed her dress?
My best friend, inspiration, and partner in crime Michael Nybraaten made it. He said if your making a video with a model in it - I'm making the dress. He works as a designer for Ann-Sofie Back in London, so the dress was made after hours a week before the shoot and fed-exed just in time for the filming.
The video is filmed in Oslo where Iselin poses in an artists’ studio. Whose studio is it? Tell me about the idea behind the setting.
The video is shot in Ida Ekblad and Anders Nordby's studio. They are two of my favorite artist and my close friends. I love their work and I find them really inspiring, and so shooting in their studio made the perfect frame. It was also interesting to play with the idea of the artist and his model/muse. I wanted Iselin and me to be filmed in the same setting, but never together, so that it is never really clear if the love story is about Iselin and me or a third person? Actually the person I am singing about is an artist too, so it all comes full circle.
In your performances you use element of an artists artifacts, such as
the canvas, the ladder, the pencil, the pedestal, paint. Would you say
it is a reflection of your involvement with Oslo’s art scene?
Yes, most definitely. It is also a flirt and reflection with Pierre Bourdieu's theory about the symbolic power of art, and at the same time it is a part of my aesthetics and performance-concept where I use different objects/sculptures to interact with my singing. How do you move with a brush or in a sculpture park, and how does that effect my singing? And I have to mention that the body paint in the video is by Ida Ekblad
By performing at your friends gallery openings and art happenings, you have almost become the “voice” of Oslo’s art scene. How do you feel that art and music facilitate each other in your hometown?
Not a great deal. The closest you get is probably an artist working with music on the side or vice versa. There is no real merging between music and art. The museum Henie Onstad used to be a great meeting point for artists and musicians from the 1960s until the beginning of the 80s with Yoko Ono and John Cage and stuff. And the last year they have had a revival with lots of great concerts so hopefully something will happen.
For such a small city, Oslo has a lot of very interesting young artists who are gaining international interest, such as Ida Ekblad, Anders Nordby, Lina Viste Grønli, Camilla Løw, Lars Laumann and Matias Faldbakken. Would you say that Oslo is a good place for emerging artists?
Yes, in many ways it is. We are very lucky to have good government grants for artists, and Oca (The Office Of Contemporary Art) does a great job with inviting international curators and artist here and by doing so create good opportunities for Norwegian artists.
Can you give us an update on what’s going on and what people are working on?
I think people are much more into works with emphasis on hand crafts: painting, sculptures and fabrics. The latest exhibition I really enjoyed was with Institutt For Degenerert Kunst, (www.instituttfordegenerertkunst.blogspot.com) run by Anders Nordby, Arild Tveito and Eirik Saether and Camilla Løws exhibition "M" which was also amazing.
Of all the songs that you have made, which is your favorite and why?
I think Brown/Blue is my favorite. It's about love, which is timeless. I'm totally over the top romantic.
You also give thought to your choreography.
As a child I always wanted to dance ballet, but at the country side where I'm from the ballet classes where only for girls, so I never got the opportunity. After working with a dance company some years ago I got totally hooked on contemporary dancing. I actually made a song about it, Contemporary Dancing. And when I perform I try to use movements that are inspired by that feeling.
Are there any particular performance you have done that you cherish the most?
Maybe the one that I did at Ida Ekblad's exhibition Silve Ruins at Fotogalleriet. I made a song inspired about her work and Ida herself. The song is named Vagabond Girl after an Agnes Varda movie, and the song and my performance of it is as Ida- corny and beautiful.
What is next for Nils Bech?
I'm going in the studio, to finally record all the songs properly, and then concerts and a project at the Opera House.
Yes, most definitely. It is also a flirt and reflection with Pierre Bourdieu's theory about the symbolic power of art, and at the same time it is a part of my aesthetics and performance-concept where I use different objects/sculptures to interact with my singing. How do you move with a brush or in a sculpture park, and how does that effect my singing? And I have to mention that the body paint in the video is by Ida Ekblad
By performing at your friends gallery openings and art happenings, you have almost become the “voice” of Oslo’s art scene. How do you feel that art and music facilitate each other in your hometown?
Not a great deal. The closest you get is probably an artist working with music on the side or vice versa. There is no real merging between music and art. The museum Henie Onstad used to be a great meeting point for artists and musicians from the 1960s until the beginning of the 80s with Yoko Ono and John Cage and stuff. And the last year they have had a revival with lots of great concerts so hopefully something will happen.
For such a small city, Oslo has a lot of very interesting young artists who are gaining international interest, such as Ida Ekblad, Anders Nordby, Lina Viste Grønli, Camilla Løw, Lars Laumann and Matias Faldbakken. Would you say that Oslo is a good place for emerging artists?
Yes, in many ways it is. We are very lucky to have good government grants for artists, and Oca (The Office Of Contemporary Art) does a great job with inviting international curators and artist here and by doing so create good opportunities for Norwegian artists.
Can you give us an update on what’s going on and what people are working on?
I think people are much more into works with emphasis on hand crafts: painting, sculptures and fabrics. The latest exhibition I really enjoyed was with Institutt For Degenerert Kunst, (www.instituttfordegenerertkunst.blogspot.com) run by Anders Nordby, Arild Tveito and Eirik Saether and Camilla Løws exhibition "M" which was also amazing.
Of all the songs that you have made, which is your favorite and why?
I think Brown/Blue is my favorite. It's about love, which is timeless. I'm totally over the top romantic.
You also give thought to your choreography.
As a child I always wanted to dance ballet, but at the country side where I'm from the ballet classes where only for girls, so I never got the opportunity. After working with a dance company some years ago I got totally hooked on contemporary dancing. I actually made a song about it, Contemporary Dancing. And when I perform I try to use movements that are inspired by that feeling.
Are there any particular performance you have done that you cherish the most?
Maybe the one that I did at Ida Ekblad's exhibition Silve Ruins at Fotogalleriet. I made a song inspired about her work and Ida herself. The song is named Vagabond Girl after an Agnes Varda movie, and the song and my performance of it is as Ida- corny and beautiful.
What is next for Nils Bech?
I'm going in the studio, to finally record all the songs properly, and then concerts and a project at the Opera House.