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BIO | INTERVIEW
2006 - Stefan Weinerhall about 'Northwind'
Hey Stefan! Your new album 'Northwind' is about to be released these days. How happy are you with the result?
I’m gonna give you the most original answer in the world: I’m very happy. Honestly I haven’t been this satisfied ever before. A proof of that is that normally I start thinking of things I’d like to improve after just a couple of weeks but this time it I haven’t found anything yet and it was months ago we finished the recording.
Your original vocalist Mathias Blad is back on board? How did it come to that little reunion?
As I started writing for the new album which turned out to be in the true and only style for us I got Mathias’ voice in my head since I knew he did that stuff like no one else. The only way to make the material fair was to get him back otherwise it wouldn’t reach 100%.
Do you feel this is a restart now with Mathias back on board?
Well, it feels a bit like we did two albums with another band in one way. Musically I would say that we did the follow up to 'Chapters From A Vale Forlorn'. So yes, in a way it was a restart. Honestly I think our hunger and glow wouldn’t have been this high unless we had some kind of break like we had musically on the last album. This way my folk metal batteries were recharged and returned with a new lit fire.
The FALCONER figure that you already had on your first cover is back as well?
It does represent the return of both the music and Mathias. It wasn’t of a big importance to have the character back but I felt it fits both the timing and the title track. You can see immediately what style the album will have if you’re a fan.
Alongside to Mathias rejoining and the figure being back on the cover 'Northwind' goes back to your roots and presents you in a much more folk influenced style than on 'Grime Vs. Grandeur'. What’s the reason?
On the last album we tried to adapt to Kristoffer’s voice. To the result I didn’t feel that intimate or personally entwined to. The only way then was to start doing the music I’m used to. I’ve done medieval or folk metal ever since I started playing. It’s something that comes natural. Why try something unnatural?
Why did you name the album 'Northwind'? What’s the meaning behind it?
It’s just the title track. Although it hasn’t any deeper meaning I feel that the title sum up all the songs and the atmosphere of the album in a very good way. We have used quite strange and poetic titles in the past but this time a very easy and short one felt right.
In which way is the Swedish nature an influence for your song writing?
I don’t know if you have the same perception of the music as I do, but I feel there is a certain feeling of grey, poverty, melancholy and sentimentality over the music. The same things come to mind as I look at the Swedish nature during the fall or winter.
The limited edition contains a bonus disc with some traditional songs. How did you choose the songs? What are they about? What’s your personal relation to them?
Traditional songs have been somewhat a trademark of FALCONER since the beginning even though we haven’t done a lot of those. This time we had the chance to give away some extra candy. We had all material written and didn’t want to rush through four new ones as bonuses. So we chose these ones. Three of them are traditional Swedish songs. Two are metalized and one is kept in a very traditional way, soft and mellow. Then we have one Icelandic song which has followed me from my “Viking era” in MITHOTYN. It was the title track in a Viking movie that took place in Iceland during the 9th century. The lyric is still in Swedish though. There is something special to do traditional songs although they are not too far away from our own sound.
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