• GIDGE •
“The magic of any particular recorded sound often comes from what sounds happened to ’be in the way’, mistakes or rather happy accidents, and when recording in the field, especially in the woods, these appear all the time…”
Gidge is a Swedish electronic duo consisting of Ludvig Stolterman and Jonatan Nilsson.
Rooted in the city of Umeå, Sweden, they make electronic music that is shaped by field-recordings from their surrounding natural environment that is both comfortable on the dance floor and in calmer, contemplative spaces.
They recently released their Tundra EP via Dutch label Atomnation — a release that caught me as I listened to it on long driving journeys through the Alps. Curved forest roads and high mountain passes were the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous selection of slow, organic electronica.
I caught up with Ludvig and Jonatan to ask them more about their music and discussed some elements of the duo’s creative partnership and their approach to their sound to accompany this exclusive mix for Sonic Tapestries.
Hi Ludvig, Hi Jonatan! Thanks for taking the time to prepare such a beautiful mix for Sonic Tapestries. I want to start by asking you about when you both met and when you began producing music together?
Jonatan : We met in 2004 at film school. We had a similar taste in electronic music but more importantly we shared the same vision for what music should exist. Before making any music we mostly talked about what music ’should exist’ haha!
You mention on your artist profile that you create "electronic music that is shaped by field-recordings of nature that is both comfortable on the dance floor and in a more relaxing environment". What inspires you to begin working on a track in the studio? Tell us perhaps about the first step in your creative process?
Ludvig : I always try to place the music that I’m working on in a geographical setting in my mind. So like when working on ”Tundra”, I would imagine being high up above the treelike in the Swedish mountains, with mist rolling in. Then when I work on the music, I sort of know if it feels right or not, in that setting. If a song doesn’t have a ”place”, I feel like it’s lost…
Jonatan : The first step needs to be a kind of vague sense of something that ’should exist somewhere’, like placing the idea of a song in a geographical setting like Ludvig was mentioning. With a too clear understanding of what you want to make the first steps can often be tedious and frustrating because you have a too rigid idea of what it should be.
Can you tell me a little bit about the forests of Umeå - it sounds like such a beautiful place. Is it true that this serves as a great source of inspiration for your recording and producing process?
Ludvig : Well, the forest is everywhere around here. As soon as you leave the city, in any direction, you’re surrounded by forest. So growing up here, the forest has naturally affected us, and we’ve always been inspired to incorporate that into our music.
What does the practice of field recording mean to you?
Jonatan : It means letting things come in the way. The magic of any particular recorded sound often comes from what sounds happened to ’be in the way’, mistakes or rather happy accidents, and when recording in the field, especially in the woods, these appear all the time. Often these are the sounds that give character to what was originally meant to be recorded, like unintentionally stepping on a twig that breaks while playing a horn. That could end up making a sound that leads the process of making a whole track.
Do you use a lot of digital processing to create your sound or do you tend to keep things natural or organic - I hear that you like using wood and stone elements in your music?
Jonatan : We do use both digitally made sounds and sounds from the ’analogue’ world. We aren’t very strict to what method is allowed as long as the feeling we are after is there.
Could you tell us a little more about your studio - what equipment or software do you cherish most?
Ludvig : Right now we’re actually in-between studios, so currently we both work on music from home. So essentially our laptops are the equipment we are most dependent on. But we really cherish the acoustic stuff that we have, such as a beautiful Swedish upright piano from 1988, an old organ, the banjo used on ”Grit”, those kind of things.
What is the strangest item in your studio?
Ludvig : The night when we had the premiere of our short film ”Lulin”, there was a duo preforming before our screening. They were doing a live music soundtrack to an old silent vampire film, and for that they built this strange instrument which was essentially one large metal string strung between an empty glass bottle and a huge nail, attached to a wooden plank. They played it using a bow and bending the nail, while having a microphone in the glass bottle. It sounded great. When they were leaving later that night, they were gonna throw the weird instrument away, so we asked if we could have it!
You both have travelled the world touring in some incredible locations - Thailand, Georgia, Mexico... which has been the best atmosphere and most memorable crowd you've performed to?
Jonatan : Yes, we’ve been very fortunate to get to play in many places and we are also very lucky to have a crowd that is so willing to give their appreciation. Memorable moments appear all the time and often quite unexpected. In Åre, Sweden we played a small venue and had a power loss for maybe 15 minutes and as I remember it the energy was exploding when the power came back on!
What does the future hold for Gidge? What projects do you have in store for 2024?
Ludvig : Right now we are focusing on the tour we have planned in the fall. We really love doing these shows, and can’t wait to see everybody out there again. Other than that we can’t really mention anything yet, but we’ve got a little something planned…
If you would like to contribute your sounds or propose a feature for a future edition of Sonic Tapestries, please feel free to write me here/message me privately with links/codes/wavs/proposals :
— sonictapestries@gmail.com
Date of Broadcast : Thursday 4th July via Threads
NEXT EPISODE - Wednesday 14th August 2024
Listen on Mixcloud // Soundcloud
TRACKLIST
—GIDGE MIX—
BURIAL- Streetlands (Streetlands EP) - Hyperdub
FOUR TET - So Blue (Three) - Text - 04:32
SKYMNING - Varselsken (Varselsken) - Studio Vagnhallen - 09:40
M83 & FELSMANN & TILEY - Solitude (Felsmann + Tiley Reinterpation) - 13:42
FRED AGAIN… - Faisal (Envelops Me) (Actual Life 2) - Atlantic Records - 16:40
FLOATING POINTS - Del Oro (Del Oro) - Ninja Tune - 20:41
BURIAL - Streetlands (Streetlands EP) - Hyperdub - 26:53
MARIA CHIARA ARGIRO - Clouds (Clouds) - Innovative Leisure - 30:45
MAX COOPER FT. KWAKE BASS - Fibonacci Sequence (Seme) - Mesh - 33:18
GIDGE - Always Unfolding (New Light) - Atomisation - 38:15
CARIBOU - You & I (Suddenly) - City Slang - 42:18
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - Lost But Never Alone (A. G. Cook Remix) (Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (Blu-ray Edition) - Warp Records - 46:18
NATHAN FAKE - The Grass (feat. Wizard Apprentice) (Crystal Vision) - Cambria Instruments - 50:07
LUDOVICO EINAUDI - Seven Days Walking / Day 7: Ascent (Seven Days Walking (Day 1) - Decca Records - 56:14
QUINTELIUM - Hopes to Infinity (Dream and Reality) - Somewherecold Records - 1:00:08
EZRA FEINBERG - There Was Somebody There (feat. David Moore, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma) (Soft Power) - Tonal Union - 1:08:00
- the stream sent forth such sallies of glad sound (speak, thou vast and venerable head) -
- 1:12:16OLD AMICA - Klorofyll (För alltid) - Dronarivm - 1:19:12
BARTOSZ KRUCZYŃSKI - Whisper II (Dreams & Whispers) - Balmat - 1:20:48
ØJERUM - Coreless Whisper (Cut Paper Flowers) - Line Imprint - 1:23:20
Sonic Tapestries • S2 E4 w/ Gidge