Long interview with Carl + some before unpublished photos

Carl Norén, who has just released a record, is the 'middle brother' of three musical brothers from Borlänge. After eleven years in the band Sugarplum Fairy with his younger brother Victor, he tests his own wings with the new album Owls which is produced by his older brother Gustaf's Mando Diao colleague Mats Björke. Rodeo meets Carl half an hour between the release and tour to talk about Russian literature, reviews and music that makes him happy.

CARL NORÉN, WHO ARE YOU APART FROM THAT 'HANDSOME GUY'?
- Haha, is that a general perception? I'm a person who is curious, quite funny, happy and who likes to hang out with happy people.

WHAT DO YOU USUALLY DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING [WITH THE MUSIC]?
- I study. And then I read and look tings up. I usually start with different projects to conquer a topic or a subject. Like when I decided to read almost all Russian literature I could find.
WHERE DOES THE FASCINATION OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE COME FROM?
- I come from a family where reading has been respected, a bit too highly, and mum always bragged about her reading all the classics already at the age of 13. So after I began listening to classics on CDs I decided to read them instead. The Russian books were the most difficult ones, so I started off with them. I read a lot of them and eventually I found it fun.

"A review is for people with no taste of music, a person with a taste of music doesn't need to read reviews."

CAN WE FIND TRACES OF THIS IN THE SONGS YOU'VE WRITTEN NOW? SINCE IT'S VERY ROMANTIC AND EMOTIONALLY CHARGED , DOES IT GOT SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE LITERATURE?
- Yes, it definitely has. I guess we're afraid of being romantic in this way as it is today. Always what's cool, but the things that haven't been changed is romantic, or love, or real emotions, or children who are ashamed of their parents. Some feelings are constant and those are the feelings you can relate to.

IS IT DIFFICULT TO TAKE CRITICISM ON A RECORD THAT IS THIS PERSONAL?

- No, not at all. I don't know the people who wrights them [the reviews]. If they don't like the music, it's not for them. Music is as subjective as something can possibly be, you hear a tone and get an emotion (inside of you), and that emotion is completely unique for everyone. Reviews are for people who doesn't have a taste of music, a person with a taste of music doesn't need to read any reviews. They all know that Lykke Li's new song is good, they don't need to read in the newspaper that it has gotten 5 out of 5.
YOU GOT 3 OUT OF 5 IN DN, DOESN'T THAT MATTER WHATSOEVER?
- Oh, okey. Three, mhm okey. I don't know what that means, three out of five, well, that's good. I didn't expect to get more than that.
SORRY I THROW IT IN YOUR FACE!
- Nah.. Sugarplum for instance have never recieved anything more than 3 out of 5 in DN, so they won't suddenly throw four or five to you. If they have said you're 3, then you are.

SO WHAT YOU MEAN IS THAT YOU'LL ALWAYS BE CLASSIFIED AS THAT AND THAT CANT CHANGE?
- Then that would require a major change. But of course new generations of critics will appear.. and if I get 3 in DN then maybe I can get 5 in Germany or Japan. If I go to the US then maybe I'll get 5 there, or a minus, maybe I get a minus in other countries and then 3 in DN will be something great. In a way it's completely unnecessary to care about it. I never read any reviews, because in a review you often get to read "that was good and that was less good", and to get that in my head and start thinking about it.. then I would become schizophrenic. "I can't write that because DN wouldn't like that", that's not what you're going for.
SO YOU HANDLE IT BY AVOIDING CRITICISM?
- Yes, but it's a bit silly with reviews since no one buys any records, and no one spends any money on an unnecessary product. Then it's more "don't go online on Spority and listen to this in five minues". But time isn't that valuable that we don't have time to listen to music. If you read a review of a play for instance, you can't find 3 or 5 there. Because they think a literary play is higher, it can't just be reduced to a number. What they should do with the reviews is to remove the numbers, just wright a text and review what is high culture. As long as they'll put numbers we will always be oppressed to the popular culture.

"My music is more like home cooked meal and his is more like in the way they try to analyze what food the customers want to have with plenty of professional chefs cooking it."

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RECORD OWLS!
- It's a very honest and creative record. It's made without any money whatsoever which means we had to conjure all the time. But then it's also a record made without the plan to ever get released. It was meant for a few supporters, for family and friends or the fact I just wanted to make a record. I didn't have a record deal when we made the record, no advances or anyone who paid for it. I just took a job and started. I wrote the songs when we had finished up with Sugarplum, so I wrote them for myself as well. It's a big difference and it doesn't turn out that way very often.

YOUR BROTHER VICTOR, HE'S ALSO GOING SOLO RIGHT NOW. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR PROJECTS?
- He's using song writers. If you do that, the music turns out more directed and analized. In Victor's case they want it to sound commercial and in this way it somehow gets more professional and some people would say less personal. My music is a bit like home cooked meal and his is more like in the way they try to analyze what food the customers want to have with plenty of professional chefs cooking it.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
- I'm going to release the record in other countries and start touring. And then I'll start with a new record, since it takes a while to make one.
YEAH, I READ SOMEWHERE THAT YOU HAD ALREADY BEGUN WRITING NEW SONGS, IN WHICH DIRECTION WILL THE RECORD BE IN?
- It's almost impossible to make a record that is like the last one, because I don't feel the same way. Some parts of this record is very sad because I felt that I would never play music again, and I don't feel like that now. To make the second record is the most difficult thing you can do, really difficult, especially when you wrote all of the songs by yourself. It's almost impossible, but I'm working on it.

"For some reason Eminem and Lil Wayne now dress like me, with skinny, black jeans and hoodies."

AND YOU'RE WRITING NEW MATERIAL TO SUGARPLUM FAIRY, WILL THERE BE ANOTHER RECORD?
- Yes, I definitely hope so! It would be really nice to make another Sugarplum record as well. I can imagine it will be out about the same time as my second record, which I plan to release in 2012.
WE TALKED A BIT ABOUT FASHION AND MODERNITY BEFORE, HOW AWARE ARE YOU WHEN IT COMES TO STYLE? DO YOU THINK MUCH ABOUT CLOTHES WHEN IT COMES TO IMAGE AND BRANDS?
- No, it's almost like with music, I know how I want to dress myself and this is the way I've been dressed all the time. But then sometimes it's like fashion is catching up on my style and I'm catching up on fashion in some way, and for some reason Eminem and Lil Wayne have started to dress like me, with skinny, black jeans and hoodies. So apparently I dress like a hiphoper now. I go for a nice confortable style, but my jeans are way too skinny to fit comfortably. I gotta buy better jeans.
YOU ARE QUITE AWARE THOUGH!
- That's more because I see things. I'm good at seeing interior and such things, but it's not like I'm interested in buying a bandanna from the 70s because it's of a certain brand, you know?
CARL'S FAVOURITE MUSIC AT THE MOMENT:
Nick Drake
Yelawolf – Pop The Trunk
Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes – Look At Me Now (absolutely mental!)
PJ Harveys nya skiva
Nick Cave
Leonard Cohen

Published: on rodeo.net, translated by Celine Jacobs