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Cryo
Progress Productions keep on unleashing solid debuts. Earlier this spring it was time for yet another; Cryo, who seems to have been well recieved by press and fans alike. Now, just in the nick of time before making his biggest live apperance ever at this year's Arvikafestivalen, Moving Hands had a chance to talk to the man behind Cryo - Martin Rudefelt.
It’s often said concerning debut album that they’re something that artists have to ”get off their shoulders” before they can really proceed to write their music. A lot of the time the songs have been about and worked at for several years as demos. What’s your take on this?
“I think it’s partially true. I’ve experimented a lot with different styles and MOs during the four years that the album has taken to complete. But I don’t feel like it’s composed of “old leftovers”, I’m still very happy with the way the songs sound. And I can’t say I’ve found one formula to proceed with. The next album will probably be quite varied too (assuming of course there will be a second album). I make music that sounds good to me, without trying to make it sound a certain way or fit a certain category.
Tell us about the journey from the inception of Cryo up to Cryogenic. Has it been a long hard road or would you say it’s been surprisingly straightforward?
“I’ve had this solo project, in some way or other, ever since I bought my first synthesizer when I was 13. I started off making instrumentals, geeky and mundane. As time passed I summed up the courage to sing as well, mostly because I didn’t know any vocalist that wanted to sing to this kind of music (anybody out there willing to step up and grab the mic in Cryo?). It was in 2002 that Cryo was really born and I decided to go for a more aggressive, monotonous feel but not completely without touches of melody and warmth. I try to have a certain depth in my lyrics. Topics that are important to me are usually the foundation of the lyrics. Most often than not, I think I try to communicate an emotion rather than try to tell a story. More of a snapshot than a movie. The songs on Cryogenic have a lot of diverse topics, politics, violence, sex, lies and decay. Maybe not love, but I’m sure I’ll do that too, in my autumn years.
About the long hard road…I haven’t pushed forward very hard to make something of this or to promote Cryo and myself. I’ve written the occasional song. And with time there were enough songs for a live set, and later an album. I think the pressure to come up with something as good or even better than Cryogenic, and preferably in less than four years, will be a lot worse.
A lot of press seems to compare the album to older Covenant material; can you see the similarities? Personally, the references sound older to me, not in the least concerning the baselines. How would you describe you influences?
I think I had just barely heard Covenant when I started Cryo, my influences are more deeply rooted in older bands. Three important bands are Front242, Kraftwerk and Jean-Michelle Jarre. Generally speaking I’d say the music I grew up with has had a big impact on me. Sandra, Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, those kinds of pop artists (pop at the time at least, now everyone seems to say it’s synthesizer music. If I had to live with listening to only one album for the rest of my life it would be “Equinoxe” by Jean-Michelle Jarre.
Looking at the show photos on your website two things struck me: a man in a mask and loads of TVs.
Those photos are from my first show, at Vogon Variety in Malmö. A friend of mine, Jerry Sahlin, an experienced rock musician that discretely wanted to have a go at synthetic sounds, helped me out playing keyboard. He was given free hands to do whatever he wanted for the show so he went out and got himself a nice white mask. It worked quite well, adding a bit of mystic to the show. The TVs are for video material to go along with the music. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort writing the software to direct the four separate streams in the way I want. Unfortunately I can’t always take the equipment with me, not everyone wants to pay for a big rental car to transport it all to shows. Perhaps there’ll be some kind of workaround with projectors in the future – not as original though. I think it’s important to give the crowd that shows up something extra. Bands in this genre are generally not visually generous compare to say a rock band where there are constantly things happening on stage (and much of the music is actually play on stage, instead of playback).
Last but not least, what’s up next for Cryo?
It was just confirmed that I’ll be performing at Arvikafestivalen on the 14th of July. It’ll most certainly be the biggest show I’ve ever done which is very exciting. And I’ve started fiddling around with some songs for the next release. I actually made a new song for the release party, a bit softer than the rest of the material. We’ll just have to see what happens, either I’ll become the Micheal Bolton of synth or the Ronny James Dio, fingers crossed.
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