Interview with Simon Heath, 2002

1. The new stuff I heard from Za frûmi was great, it fed greatly on Medieval and Ecclesiastical/Gothic Baroque music to deliver sombre and glorious anthems of refined beauty and sorrow. It was indeed dark, but also strangely blissful and serene...Za Frûmi has built grand and bold orchestrations where ethereal string, piano, oboe and clarinet melodies are allowed to rise from the keyboards and complement by majestic and epic percussion and both male and female choirs and solo vocals which blend with the music in an intimately compromising and unsuspecting manner. How do you prepare before working on a piece?

Simon H: Preparation is quite different from working with other projects because
first of all, there is an epic storyline in Za Frûmis work and each track is
carefully crafted even before the melodies are born. The first step is
discussing what emotions are to be part of this track and what feelings we want
the listener to embrace, sometimes the first step is just an abstract idea or a
word, sometimes the focus can be a painting like the one seen in "Chapter 2:
Tach" with the Uruki standing atop a mountain pointing towards the vast
landscape beyond. We write a lot of ideas down along with the storyline and this
serves as a bible of sorts when we venture outside into nature where we record
the sounds, this process is probably one of the most time consuming considering
we travel all over the country (and others) to record the sounds for the albums.

After this is taken care of we carefully begin crafting the music, melodies are
worked out (some of them are made from our dreams, at least 4 melodies on TACH was things that stuck in my mind when I woke up and that I recorded when I
entered the studio the next time). The whole process of mixing the sounds,
playing flute, drums etc and crafting the whole structure that is a track takes
a lot of time and if you listen carefully to our tracks you begin to discover a
lot of details in the background, so the listener can listen over and over to
the tracks. I have heard many fans say to us that the "world of Za Frûmi" really
opens up before your ears (or inner eyes) when you start embracing the music to
the fullest and start listening to the details.

After all of this work comes the mastering and with this process comes a lot of
discussions about the artwork that is about to be used. As you may know I am the
one responsible for the layout of our booklets and covers because we feel we
want that "Za Frûmi" feel to the whole packaging.

2. Is there a special reason why you chose music, and more precisely, the music that you create with Za frûmi, to express your feelings and in what way do you think that you manage to put them onto the music? What do you value most about your music?

Simon H: I think ive chosen music because I have always been involved in
different musical scenes, ranging from pure Classical to Darkwave, ambient,
industrial, medieval, black metal and Psychedelic. Za Frûmi is very different
from any other project that I’ve done because of the highly visual thinking that
is put onto the music. Za Frûmi is not just something that you should hear, it
is something that you should see before you. I guess what I value most about Za
Frûmi is that when I listen to it I see the music more than hear it, call them
hallucinations if you will (laughter).

3. Can you tell us a little about how you and Simon Kölle work together. What is Simon Kölles good sides and are there any bad ones?

Simon H: To just scratch the surface of how we work together would make a book
in itself. Kölle handles concept, melodies, sounds, dialogue, voices, and is our
main ethnical drummer. Whereas I am more focused on the same things with the
difference that when he plays the drums, I play the flute, I am also the one
mastering the tracks before finish.
Simon Kölles good sides are that he is a pure professional, when he enters the
studio he is dead serious about recording and that even means that he totally
looses it in there. Just listen to the shamanistic voices he performs,
absolutely stunning. He has many good sides, but what interesting are those to
talk about? You want to hear the nasty stuff right?
Well, his bad sides are also that he is a work-a-holic, he woke me up one time
at 5 AM in the morning and said "Open your balcony and listen to the birds we
HAVE to record this... NOW" after this he forced me outside 5:30 in the morning
into the vast freezing forests record sounds for almost 2 hours!!! I don’t know
if it is a mental illness but everywhere there is sound he goes "Listen to that
sound, is that someone walking in the woods, should we record it?", "Let's
travel to Norway, I have heard the fjords have the most amazing sounds". All in
all, I have great respect for Simon Kölle, he is the last true visionaire and
his visions are grand and epic indeed. He is the "Tolkien" of music.

4. If you have to choose two songs that you are most proud of which will it be and why?

I have to say "Za Shulg" since that is the first track we recorded, and I think
we captured the spirit of Za Frûmi in it. The other track I am most satisfied is
not released yet, so I am not allowed to talk about it yet. But stay tuned for
"Vampires: Legends Act 2".

5. Please tell me a little about Abnocto and your other side projects.

Abnocto is mine and Simon Kölles Gothical/Dark Medieval/Chamber music project
and it is different from Za Frûmi in many ways, first of all it isn’t as
rhythmical, the instruments are more orchestral and we sing the choirs
ourselves. The visions are more modern ranging from I would say 1400AD-1800AD
and the focus is religion in many ways. Visions of enormous Cathedrals and the
sadness that Christianity caused is amongst many of the visions from the debut
album "Abnocto - Simon Magus". As of yet I am unsure of when it will be released
but Waerloga Records are interested in releasing it so probably later this year.

I have some solo side projects also, but as of yet I am not allowed to discuss
them openly as they are not being released on Waerloga Records.

Interview with Simon Kölle, 2002:

1. Much has happened since you started the project Za Frûmi, a lot of people are fascinated by the fact that you record all of your sound effects and nature sounds yourselves. What are some of the most memorable moments when you have been recording sounds?

Simon Kölle: You are right and it's a wonderful feeling. I actually don't feel
pressure at all! I am very inspired to work with Za frûmi and Simon Heath. Many
are the "moments" I promise you. When paddling a night to capture sounds was
great, the times me and Simon been out in a nature resarvate to capture sounds
early in the morning when only the birds and shy animals are up, when running
out in the middle of the night to capture the sounds of rain and thunder as we
where staying some nights in a little odd house on a hill (in the Swedish
countryside).
When you know you captured a great sound you get really inspired and sometimes
you carry that feeling for quite some time.

2. We just learned about your upcoming release "Barrow Wights" which is a limited edition album, what does the future hold and could you tell us some more about the "Legends" series?

Simon Kölle: Yes, the future holds many things for Za Frûmi! The Legends series
are the fruit of our ideas of creating instrumental music that really would
capture the feeling of dark fantasy. Also to create somewhat a world of Za
frûmi. On the first Legends cd (act 1) you got songs that create the mood of an
inn, midnight and a trollish forest etc. But most of all this is the legends of
the world of Za frûmi. Told in music with no dialogue or singing (except some
chanting). We try to paint a picture of legends and myths not telling to much
about them in writing . The first track is about the Dwarven wars and then the
second about a mysterious keep.
Legends act 2 are 10 songs about two vampires (five of each). It's the dark,
brooding vampire Jakesh five songs that take up the first half of the cd. Jakesh
and the music of his mood and surrounding are very orchestral, neo-classical and
gothic!
In my view probably the best songs we made are from this cd.
Track 6-10 are about the vampire Rianji, a fearsome queen and leader of a huge
cult in the east. The songs are also very dark and orchestral but with a flavour
of the Fareast and the tunes are all inspired from eastern music.
On Za shum ushatar Uglakh we made two songs about the vampire Ismael and many
are those who love them. We wanted to get deeper into vampires and trying to
make true vampire music!

3. What is your view of Simon Heath, you said he is a musical genius in previews interviews. Are you also friends outside the studio?

Simon Kölle: We are great friend though we come from different backgrounds, but
that's what make us work so well together I think. He's really a true genius
when it comes to music, but he's pretty good in the things he do in general too
(not a genius though). You not often see him do something he's not so good at.
That's his personality.
His great sides when it comes to music is the way he so swift and fast come up
with great ideas when inspired. He's a master on mixing and the work with
details and design.
The best thing is that he's honest, hardworking and loyal. Of course everybody
got flaws but why concentrate on them?

4. You are currently signed on Waerloga Records, are you happy with this or would you rather have been signed onto a more well known label such as for example Projekt or Cold Meat?

Simon Kölle: I am very satisfied with Waerloga records. We have no problems
being signed on more well known labels but then we would be just one in a crowd.
From this position we can collaborate with other labels in specific projects
such as the cd-book released on Tenser and Waerloga.

5. Is Za Frûmi here to stay and where do you see Za Frûmi in 10 years?

Simon Kölle: Yeah I really think so! We will soon release a total of
three Za frumi cds which for sure will make Za frumi stay and be remembered not
only as a band that made the first and second all in all orc cd, but as a band
with many sides and possibilities.
In ten years from now I think Za frumi still exists. We may release one cd per
year. We already now know that we will be one band of many GREAT ones that in
2004 will make an homage to Alistair Crowley.

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