When is the musical project of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
artist Lars Pedersen.
Lars Pedersen
Lars Pedersen was born in 1961, in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. His father, Tore Pedersen, was a Norwegian musical composer. At an early age, the younger Pedersen performed with his four older sisters and older brother; they were often compared to the
Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...
and
The Partridge Family
''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...
, popular bands of the time. Being in the spotlight at a young age, Pedersen met
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
and other stars.
In the late 1970s, Pedersen played in
Hærverk, one of the first Norwegian
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
bands, and later – as the 1980s arrived – went on to form the band
The Last James. The Last James explored
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
/
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
sound, releasing three albums, ''Grape'', ''The Last James'' and ''Kindergarten''. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Pedersen was also a member of the renowned
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
/
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
/
new wave group
Holy Toy
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
, together with
Andrej D. Nebb. The band became active again in 2011.
Early releases
In 1983, Pedersen launched the one-man project Hospital Blimp, which would later become When. The debut album ''Drowning but Learning'', was released in 1987, with When's trademark collage/cut-up technique already apparent.
In 1988, When released ''Death in the Blue Lake'', inspired by Norwegian author
André Bjerke
Jarl André Bjerke (30 January 1918 – 10 January 1985) was a Norwegian writer and poet. He wrote a wide range of material: poems (both for children and adults), mystery novels (four of them under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge), essays, and arti ...
's
psychological horror
Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequent ...
novel of the same name. The album had a strong atmosphere of fear and mourning, and was quite popular in Norwegian
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
circles. An excerpt from the album's A-side was commissioned as an intro to Satyricon's ''Dark Medieval Times'' "Walk the path of sorrows". The B-side of the album is an amalgamation of ethnic music, blues harmonica, coughing, psychedelic pop and glissandi effects. Today it is almost impossible to track down a copy of the album.
''Black, White & Grey'', When's third album, conjured up images of war and urban decay. Chris Cutler (
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...
,
Art Bears
Art Bears were an England, English avant-rock Musical ensemble, group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler (percussion, texts), Fred Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, keyboards) and Dagmar Kr ...
, etc.), who contributed to the album, was also a central inspiration. The album was released on Cutler's RéR Megacorp in 1990.
1992 saw the release of ''Svartedauen'' (Norwegian for "The Black Death"), a 38-minute musical description of the ravages of the
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
in Norway around 1349. The album borrows elements from Norwegian
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, and features a host of disturbing sounds: hearses, moans of the dying, rats,
flagellants' whips and a scythe being sharpened, to name but a few.
On 1994's ''Prefab Wreckage'', When slowly started moving from the more abstract soundtracks of the earlier albums and towards a more song-oriented sound. The inner sleeve is a painting by
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, one of the album's inspirations.
In 1997, When released ''Gynt'', which according to the liner notes is a "satiric play on
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
's ''
Peer Gynt
''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed ''Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on wh ...
''. Inspired by Henrik Ibsen." As Pedersen says: "I tried to put irony into the music. There is a lot of humour in When's music, it's not bloody serious all the time."
Jester Records
After ''Gynt'', When was signed by Jester Records, newly set-up by
Kristoffer Garm Rygg
Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar.
Biography
Born in Oslo but raised ...
of
Ulver
Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album '' Bergtatt'', were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band h ...
, and the next album would mark another radical change in When's musical direction. ''Psychedelic Wunderbaum'' was indeed a psychedelic mix, with apparent inspirations from rock, noise, and cartoon music, and with lyrics taken from
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...
and
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
. Pedersen remarked:
:I fetched many grooves from old, obscure psychedelic garage bands. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time, but I thought that it might be too audacious. But as more and more artists seem to be using that method, I figured that I could do it too. I dug up the old
Farfisa organ
Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...
that I had used in Holy Toy and got Bjørn Sorknes, the old Holy Toy guitarist, with me. We worked together on the production as well. It became a sort of crossing between industrial and psychedelic rock.
The next album, ''The Lobster Boys'', was Pedersen's most pop-oriented effort so far. Many of the songs were reminiscent of The Beach Boys and/or The Beatles, but there's always something just a little "off" and odd about When's music that sets it apart from more mainstream acts. Some tracks start out as "normal" rock, but often end up in a cacophony of weird samples and madness before reaching an end. ''The Lobster Boys'' was also heavily inspired by Arabic music.
Nils Arne Øvergård and Øyvind Borgemoen joined When as full members on this recording. The trio has played several concerts, including the release party for the single "Sunshine Superhead", where they performed in bear costumes with paper-mâché guitars. The same song also got heavy radio rotation in Norway that summer.
In 2003, When released ''Pearl-Harvest'', more or less ''The Lobster Boys'' part II, but with lyrical concepts taken from ''
The Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''. Combine those fables with sampled, shambling Middle Eastern bazaar muzak, jangling exotica and electronics, and you've got When's winning formula.
When's 2004 album ''Whenever'' features a characteristic mix of Middle Eastern influences, African
tribal rhythms
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhyth ...
, as well as trademark When collages and cartoon loops. The lyrics, written by Chris Cutler, often deal with grim subject matter such as the
apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
and death.
In 2007, When released their latest album, "Trippy Happy". Bringing back a sound that hasn't been heard since the late 60s, Trippy Happy explored folky pop ballads, banjo lullabies, baroque psychedelia, and industrial cartoon surrealism.
The album was a return to the sound of The Last James, as it featured appearances by Haakon Ellingsen of the Last James on banjo, voices, and piano and Øyvind Borgemoen on accordion/piano.
On February 17, 2008, When announced the forthcoming release of their twelfth album, ''You Are Silent'', for April 28, 2008. The announcement suggests that the sound is darker and closer to ''Prefab Wreckage'' than to recent releases.
Discography
* ''
Drowning but Learning
Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...
'' (1987)
* ''
Death in the Blue Lake'' (1988)
* ''
Black White & Grey'' (1991)
* ''
The Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
'' (1992)
* ''
Prefab Wreckage'' (1994)
* ''
Gynt'' (1997)
* ''
Psychedelic Wunderbaum'' (1999)
* ''
WriterCakebox: The Unblessed World of When 1983–1998'' (2CD-compilation, 1999)
* ''
The Lobster Boys'' (2001)
* ''
Sunshine Superhead'' (cd-single, 2002)
* ''
Pearl Harvest'' (2003)
* ''
Whenever'' (2004)
* ''
Trippy Happy'' (2007)
* ''
You Are Silent'' (2008)
* ''
Homage Series Vol. 1: Sun Ra'' (2009)
* ''
Misshimmisshimmisshim'' (2011)
* ''
Whensday'' (2012)
Compilation appearances
* ReR Records Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 3
* The Eye Decay Theory, or when the garden becomes a time lapse
* ReR Records Quarterly Vol. 3 No. 3
* Ur-Rauten
* Art Bears: The Art Box
References
Interview with Lars Pedersen
External links
Jester Records' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:When
Norwegian rock music groups