By Keith Walsh
Electronica songs in all genres portray the human condition arguably more effectively than any other category of popular music. The variety of textures available at the performer’s fingertips affords the ability to support lyrics documenting the good, the bad and the ugly of daily experience.
Being connected in the global synthpop scene, we catch glimpses of life in other parts of the world. It was a pleasure to connect with Tom Hedlund of Covered In Snow, a duo from Sweden which features Mikael Engström on keyboards, vocals and guitar and Hedlund, who programs and plays guitar. Their latest video is a remix by Patrik of Uncreated, of their exceptional track from late last year, “Starlings.”
Synthbeat: The skull imagery in the “Starlings” video is frightening. Is this to suggest that those that follow the crowd are dead inside, following the theme of the song?
Tom Hedlund: Not really dead inside, but maybe that the polished surface that some people show is tricking less and less. Like the clothes and everything is perfect, but you can tell something is not right. That’s how I see it at the moment, but of course, everyone has the right to their own interpretation.
Synthbeat: I think it’s Mikael on guitar and vocals? A Telecaster?
Tom Hedlund: We both play guitar, but I do it most of the time. Yes, we love the sound of the Telecaster and think it works great with our synths. We also use a Gibson Les Paul Studio, but in ”Starlings” there are only Telecasters.
Synthbeat: As Covered in Snow is a duo, how would you go about bringing it to a live venue?
Tom Hedlund: This is something we have started to discuss now when the pandemic hopefully is coming to an end. I think we need to add one or two more musicians, and that’s including a live drummer. My opinion is that a live drummer often gives a new dimension to the act, look at IAMX for example.
Synthbeat: What synths do you use? Is it in the box, or analog, or a hybrid? I see a modular in the video.
Tom Hedlund: Most of the sounds we use are in the box, mostly because it is convenient. Omnisphere and Massive are probably our most used VSTs, but we also work a lot with samples for percussion, fx and textures. When it comes to hardware we do use a Moog Sirin a lot, mostly for base and arps. Sirin gets some analog richness and hands-on control without being a hassle to integrate with Logic. We also track some synth-leads with a Moog Matriarch, it’s a wonderful instrument. We do have a small eurorack system and a Mother 32 as well, they are mostly being used for idea-generation and songwriting, but sometimes make it into final production as a sound design tool and drones/textures.
Synthbeat: How did you find Uncreated for the remix? How do you find collaborators in general in Sweden or beyond? (The original and remix by Mesh of remix video of “Glasgow Smile” are awesome too)
Tom Hedlund: Mikael did the vocals on the song “Rush” of Uncreated’s latest album Symbiosis. That was how we got to know Patrik and he was kind enough to his excellent remix. It’s different but people in this scene are really nice and helpful so it often starts with some discussion and one thing leads to another. It’s like a big, nice family actually.
Synthbeat: Do you happen to know what gear or DAW Patrik of Uncreated uses?
Tom Hedlund: He uses Cubase and hardware synths. Mostly a Roland JD-800 and a Novation Ultranova.
Thanks, Tom!
Covered In Snow dot com
Covered In Snow On Facebook
Covered In Snow On Bandcamp
Uncreated On Bandcamp
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