Last week I had the pleasure to sit down with Swedish pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Sandberg — I from my Edinburgh flat and he from his Uppsala studio — to chat about his upcoming album, Temporary Coexistence of Humans, that comes out on 1 May. Peter has released seven albums to date and his music is featured in major projects, including the TV series Stranger Things. I was interested to find out what inspired the new album and get an insight on what being a composer and musician looks like.
DAFNI: Exciting things are coming up with the release of your new album, how are you feeling about that?
PETER: I am trying to find words other than excited…I am over the moon! It is something that I have been working on for quite some time now. I am proud of it, and the concept around it is so intriguing, so it is going to be so much fun seeing how people will react to it!
DAFNI: I listened to the album and I loved it! I thought it was really grounding. What are you hoping people will get out of it when they listen to it for the first time?
PETER: I think you were spot on, that is exactly what I want people to feel listening to the music, that it is some sort of pause and that they can find themselves grounded, whether they are in the midst of something terrible or something great, but take a moment to linger and just…feel.
DAFNI: For our readers who are not familiar, how would you describe your music?
PETER: Well, it is based around piano…hopeful and sort of borderline melancholic I would guess. I really love sitting in that space between hopefulness and despair. In Nordic countries we’re known to have those melancholic sound worlds, but I feel like mine is leaning towards a bit more hope and lightness.
DAFNI: I see you are sitting in a studio, is this where you record your music?
PETER: Yes, exactly, this is the space where I created the album! It is something I build in my yard. I have a really tough commute to work of 30 seconds [we laugh]. I have a severe case of gear acquisition syndrome, so I buy gear, use it for one thing and shelf it, and then go to the next thing. That’s also a way of finding inspiration, you are constantly in the hunt for it when you are an artist or creator. I guess this applies to all arts. [He shows an instrument made from a pack of mints] This is a pack of mints that I put on a contact mic and you can play music to it and use it as a speaker. It is just a random thing that made me happy and inspired me to make music around it. I am really always onto the next thing and finding ways of developing my music. It is both my blessing and my curse because I tend to leave the things that I am currently doing really quickly. I get bored very easily.
DAFNI: You do seem very busy! I understand that you are both a multi-instrumentalist and a composer, so you do lots of things. How do you balance it all?
PETER: Yes, that is the big problem, the balance! I’ve had ADHD since I was a kid and so I have this thing of always going to the next thing, that’s why I say it is also my curse, it is really difficult to balance it all. But I have built a great team around me that helps me focus and steers me when I am starting to disappear for a while. So even though it is a struggle, I really like what I am doing!
DAFNI: To be honest I have never met a composer before, so this is a first for me. How does it work? Do you get an idea and then the challenge is to figure out a way and choose instruments to bring it to life? What does your process look like?
PETER: Yes, that’s a good question. I am first of all a piano player as I studied classical piano when growing up. Then I fell out of love with it and I started composing instead, doing production music compositions on the computer. I am fairly accomplished as a piano player but not as a composer. I have no education on it, so I am self-taught in a way, but this means I have another angle. About my process, I am basically always starting at the piano and improvising. It is interesting because it depends on the end product, if it is bespoke work or for my piano compositions. If it is for my piano compositions, I like spending as much time as possible at the piano. I hit ‘record’ on the computer and then I sit there for days. I find different themes that are interesting and can be developed. It is almost like building LEGOs. I gather those pieces and add them to my storage, and all of a sudden I have this pile of bricks that I can use to build my final piece. Then I record that and finalise it. If I am doing a proper composition with an orchestra, I browse Apple libraries where you have all those sounds and instruments. I try different soundscapes and progress from there. Then I structure it and it becomes a piece.
DAFNI: How do you know when a piece is done? Do you plan the end of a piece or does it happen?
PETER: That is a tricky one. I am fairly concise with my compositions. I don’t know if it has to do with my own attention span that is so short and that is why my music is condensed. It almost has a pop structure over it. You can create 80 per cent of a piece in a day or so, and then the 20 per cent that is left can take so long, especially the final bits. Then you are constantly questioning yourself and your decisions, you change things, and after doing that over and over again you end up with the initial version you started out with. I have experienced that so many times, and I am a real believer in going with the flow and being fairly quick about it without overanalysing.
DAFNI: So no overthinking then!
PETER: Exactly! That’s my way of working.
DAFNI: Is there a moment in your career so far when you felt that things changed?
PETER: Yes, there was this significant thing that happened where the team from Stranger Things reached out to use my music for the show. I realised that “Oh wow, people are listening to my music now!” and that I am an artist now, not just playing around anymore. It was such an honour and things really took off after that. I remember my wife and I sitting on the sofa, because we were fans of the show already, and watching this really powerful and dramatic scene that featured my piece. It was breathtaking. But I also feel where I am right now, I cross roads and reevaluate what I want to do. I just decided to honour classical music and I really like how this is developing. There are lots of things that are moving now, I am very excited about that!
DAFNI: Do you have a favourite composer that you admire?
PETER: Oh wow, I am terrible at listening to music actually, especially music in my own sphere. I am a huge admirer of Nils Frahm, Olof Arnalds, Philip Glass and Hania Rani, but I am careful when listening to music. I only allow myself to listen to their music once and then no more, because I don’t want to start unknowingly stealing ideas from their creative journeys. I try to find inspiration in things other than music, like photography or other creative ways of expressing myself.
DAFNI: You mentioned photography, so you are being creative in multiple ways.
PETER: Yes, I am always on the lookout for the next fun thing to dive into. I saw a video talking about being a generalist. You know a lot of things but you know them to a certain degree. I really resonate with that because I want to do things myself. I go into these time periods of six weeks where I am obsessed with one thing. For example, I was into sourdough, brewing beer, so many things! I love renting an excavator every summer just to do things around the garden… There is so much forward-facing energy that I need to get out, it’s all fun! But the photography thing has been going on for a while now. I need to tell you about this story. Last week I was in London and I had the day off before my flight to Sweden. I asked myself “what should I do now?” Then I realised I could just walk around the streets of London and do some street photography. There was this one gentleman, a little bit elderly. The sun was shining and it was the first week of spring. He had found the perfect spot where he was protected from the wind. People were just walking around really engulfed by what they were doing and he was just sitting there, getting in the sun. It was really beautiful and I snapped a few pictures of him. Then he saw me and invited me to sit with him. It is such a wonderful way of creating these temporary coexistences. We ended up chatting for half an hour! He was a professor from Algeria, highly educated in linguistics. He had so much wisdom. It was such a powerful and random moment that just happened. I was so inspired after that because that is really what the album is all about: those small connections, when you stop and just take a look and experience the world around you.
DAFNI: You are right, I do think that connection with strangers is lost nowadays, we are so busy running around all day and we forget to observe. I thought the album conveys exactly what you are describing.
PETER: That is so lovely to hear.
DAFNI: I am sure that lots of our readers are going to love the album, and if you ever do a concert in Edinburgh we will be happy to enjoy your music live as well!
PETER: It is a beautiful area, so I would love to travel there and play!
Image credits: Peter Sandberg