When you’ve got songs called ‘Newspeak’ and ‘Mechajackson’ but you’re an instrumental band, the only way to keep the attention you’ve piqued is to back it up with gripping music.
Oslo duo Aiming For Enrike create not just amazingly energetic music that is based off loops, noise, funk and rock, but is also catchy. Guitarist Simen Følstad Nilsen tells us, “If you like it, you can dance to it.”
Promoting their upcoming album Las Napalmas with a four-city tour in India organised as part of Rock Street Journal’s Synthesize series, Aiming For Enrike – completed by drummer Tobias Ørnes Andersen – are bringing their restless rock to Bengaluru on October 7, performing at the Humming Tree alongside Mumbai electronic rock artist Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator.
Andersen says they had heard about music in India from fellow Norwegians Jaga Jazzist, who had performed in India in 2013. The drummer adds, “That’s our connection and we got a really good impression of the whole thing. We’ve only heard good things about playing in India.”
A quick look at live performances of songs such as ‘Marion Jones’ can tell you instantly that this is a band meant to be enjoyed best live. While Andersen holds a steady, rising beat, Nilsen is working the magic on his effects pedalboard, triggering loops and adding noise. “We never make stuff separately. We always make music together in our rehearsal space. We just start playing together and something cool happens and try to arrange that in song. We’re into pop structures of songs, so we want to make it as catchy as possible, even if it’s noisy and weird. We make it together and our albums are always recorded live,” the guitarist says.
Although music that lean on looping can run the risk of being repetitive, Aiming for Enrike seem to latch onto something fresh every time. Nilsen recalls, specifically with the new album Las Napalmas , he added a new pedal that a lot of the songs are based on. He says, “The way I built it, is just to imagine what kind of sound what I wanted and checking out different ways of getting there. I’ve been having this set-up for the last three years or so.”
The duo says in Norway right now, there's “room for everyone” in their “very eclectic scene.” While Nilsen has to return home after their India tour to resume commitments with other artists, the rest of the crew will stay back.
Andersen says, “We’re not sure yet, just hang out, have some beers. We like Indian food, so I think we’ll be fine.”
RSJ Synthesize with Aiming for Enrike and Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator takes place at the Humming Tree, Indiranagar on October 7. Entry: Rs 600 (full cover charge), tickets available on Insider.in
