Norway’s futuristic loop specialist Aiming for Enrike have always pushed their sound into new places, with exploration itself being one of the key qualities of them sounding so ahead. The moment they’re comfortable, they develop a different direction, but duo’s telepathic knack for dynamic quality control is what really sets them apart.
Duos tend to have this edge on a lot of bands when you think about it – Lightning Bolt, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Battles, and Live 23/24 Vol. 1 was more than enough proof that Aiming for Enrike weren’t fooling around. The duo conjures these sounds from scratch, aka silence, and soon enough we reckon you’ll be seeing them on that same short list of hallowed math rock two-pieces.
The first volume of Live 23/24 had some of our favorite songs from their career sounding even better, and as the name of the LP implied, it was just the beginning – Live 23/24 Vol. 2 is arriving this October – check out the video for “Feel No Threat / Absent Lovers” below:
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Seeing the performance really helps give a sense of how their subtle cues work off of each other – when to slow down, when to crash out, etc. But even still, we had questions, and we’re honored to present a few questions and answers with Aiming For Enrike below:
FB: It’s been over ten years since the first EP dropped back in 2012 – to you, does it feel like more or less time has passed?
S: Covid made time not make sense anymore so i would say both yes and no. The first time
we played together as a duo was some time in 2010 or 2011, so it’s been about 15 years.
When I think of all the music we have made and places we have been it makes sense that it
has been 15 years. It at least feels like something we have been doing for a long time. It’s
basically the only musical constant that I have had since my early 20s until now. It’s always
just been there and for that I’m very grateful.
FB:When you were first starting out, what did math rock mean to you? Is there a lot of
math rock in Oslo?
S: My first encounter with the word math being used to describe music was with some
Norwegian math hardcore/screamo bands like Kaospilot and Manhattan Skyline and then
later international bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Meshuggah. I listened to
American Football a lot but I just called it emo which of course is not wrong either. I also
listened to bands like Mew, The Mars Volta, Shellac and Fanthomas who all have some
interesting timesignature stuff happening but no talk of math. I think the first time I heard the
name math rock was when someone talked about bands like Three Trapped Tigers and
Girraffes? Girraffes! which made me realise that we kind of belonged in that genre too. That
may have been a couple of years into doing Aiming for Enrike.
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FB: Who were some of the first artists to inspire the Aiming for Enrike sound? What are
some newer ones?
S: In the beginning we were inspired by bands like Hella, Battles, Monolithic, Lightning Bolt
and Zu. Much of the idea was about playing really positive happy music really fast, loud and
complicated which I think creates a very special kind of frantic energy.
Lately we have listened to and talked about artists like Jan Jellinek, Burial, Four Tet, Max
Cooper, Nils Frahm, Richardo Villalobos. Basically stuff that’s more on the electronic side of
things. One artist for me that’s always been an inspiration in Aiming for Enrike is Mr Oizo. His album
Moustache was pretty mind blowing to me when I first heard it as a teenager and it still really
holds up.
FB: Since 2020 it seems like the band has been focusing on bigger, more cinematic
and ambient sounds, and it also feels very natural. Is this shift intentional?
S: I think the ambient side to our last record Empty Airports reflects how we were feeling
during the lockdowns and it also is very inspired by the type of music that we listened to
during that period. Life slowed down and so did our music. On this live record however, most
of the Empty Airports songs have a way more energetic and sometimes clubby feel to them.
It made more sense to do it like that when we played the music in front of actual people.
We usually make songs and play them live for a year or so before we record them so Empty
Airports is our first record where the music did not have the chance to grow in front of an
audience.
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FB: How do you know when you’ve created a loop that you know you want to keep for a song?
S: We make 95% of all our songs by playing together and recording what we do. We usually
agree about when something sounds and feels good, so that part is pretty easy. The primary
idea usually comes out of some improvising and then we just keep working on that idea until
we have something that sounds like a song. After that we usually bring it into our live set and
from there the songs tend to keep on growing.
FB: What are some of the biggest challenges of working with loops in a live setting?
S: There is a certain pressure for me to get it “right” and “perfect” within the first 10-20
seconds of a song since a loop usually lays the foundation for what’s going to happen for the
next 5-10 minutes. But since we have done this for such a long time we rarely even think
about it anymore. The thing we have learned over the years is how to mask our mistakes
well. And also to just take our time to fix or rerecord something if it goes wrong. I also think
that the fact that something could go wrong makes the live experience more exciting for both
us and the audience.
T: The sound on the stage/in ear is also super important. It is very hard to play along with the
loops if the monitor sound is a bit off. If for example the kick is too loud and interfering with
the bassline. With a muddy mix its harder to separate stuff. With a good mix its easier to
hear the rhythm in everything that is going on. If there is something rhythmically off with the
loop I just listen and try and play along which can be interesting and unique. It used to
happen more in the past.
FB: How did you decide what tracks would appear on the upcoming live record?
S: We had loads of multitrack recordings of our touring in 2023/24 so I just made a rough
mix of all of it and we just listened through it and made notes on when stuff was good or
maybe different in some good and interesting way. It also helped the standing of the
recording if we had good memories of the show. After that it was just a matter of narrowing it
down. We managed to narrow it down to two full length records.
T: We played one special show in Trondheim, Norway. We improvised a long dance set for
almost 3 hours. We played a lot of our tunes but with a more open approach. Some stuff
turned out really good and we wanted to include that on the album.
FB: What’s next for Aiming for Enrike?
T: These days we are working on a new studio album. We have already recorded about 50%
of it. We are very excited about the music. It feels like a natural progression for the band.
Playing the Empty Airports songs live for a while made us better at using synths, the drum
machine and midi. I think that the increased confidence with these instruments has shaped
the way we have been making music. The new music is not nearly as ambient as Empty Airports but more direct and punchy. Some songs have a very claustrophobic, confused and dark mood, but we also have some very nice dancy songs with a more uplifting energy. Definitely influenced by a lot of electronic music both songwriting wise and sonically.