The Importance of Having Tension And Release In A Song

Joel Ekelof of SOEN, Cris Cohen

Cris Cohen: What defines this album to me and you guys (in general) are these complementary opposites. You have a lot of intense stuff. But within the same song, you will suddenly pull back. It will be stripped down to just a simple chord, simple vocals. How much of that is planned ahead of time and how much of that is what comes out through your jam sessions? 

Joel Ekelof of Soen: I would say it's planned in a sense that… it goes without saying in the band that you never put yourself as an individual musician above the song. You need to deliver what is necessary. If you have some complicated technical pattern that you want to express, then that's fine. But it has to be for the purpose of the song and the greater good. 

Sometimes when you strip it down to just a chord and vocals, that's very important for the dynamics in the music, to have that tension and release, making the music breathe in in a sense. It's not our idea. It's the oldest idea in music history of course. But I think it's necessary. 

In really mainstream music today, you take sugar and you put sugar on top. And that's not so inspiring. 

You need to have that kind of blend. It's always been like that. And it's funny today that music gets so one-sided, especially mainstream music. I think that will tire people out. Because what you want is the equilibrium, the balance between… 

Cris Cohen: Push and pull. 

Joel Ekelof: Yeah. Exactly. At least for me anyways, it makes it just as fascinating when you listen to the album the second time, the third time. There are parts that maybe you did not notice the first time that stand out more upon re-listening, because there is so much going on.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW