Name: Kajsa Magnarsson
Nationality: Swedish
Occupation: Sound artist, composer, performer, curator
Current release: Kajsa Magnarsson's New Age Sound Aesthetics is out via Outerdisk.
Recommendations: I think everybody should listen to Sam Gendel. He makes a lot of great music. I would like to work with him but he seems very busy.

If you enjoyed this Kajsa Magnarsson interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, and Soundcloud.

For an interview with one of her collaborators, read our Marta Forsberg interview. We also highly recommend our previous Marta Forsberg and Kajsa Magnarsson interview about sound.



According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Very mixed. The Smiths and Lauren Hill. Ella Fitzgerald, Björk and The Knife.

I have always been interested in music an dug deep in record crates from my early teens and onwards.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

Imperfection is one of my favorite musical elements. Today you can grid things and tweak stuff into oblivion. I don’t like that. The first take is the best.

Exploration and playfulness are important. I want people to listen to my music and say ”That doesn’t seem so hard, I want to try it”

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

It’s not so important if you discover it or created  it. Music is not bound to semantics.  

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

Yeah, I would say that. At some point you step away and look at the whole picture.

I have absolutely no idea what my sound it. It changes. Not doing the same thing has not been that good for my career but I would be bored if I did the same thing all the time.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

It happens a lot that I think about accidental musical elements of nature or machines. But it happens so often that I can’t point out a specific event. :)

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I like wonkiness and polyrhythmic elements, stuff that makes my brain work a little.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

To be honest I am not that fond of playing live since I get very tense and nervous. But I am working with it. Making the music is my favorite part!

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I did that with this record. The music is based around what I think is pseudosience but I think it’s interesting how people react to it.

I get a lot of questions if I have researched the healing power of frequencies in a professional manner but I am just playing around with frequencies, instruments and sounds that are recommended by instrument makers on Etsy and on New Age websites.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

My whole life I have been trying to find balance. My friends have asked me if this album is serious or ironic. It is a bit of both. Dead serious playfullness.

I am trying to find some calm but at the same time I can’t take this mindfulness thing (that I really need) to heart. Balance is really hard on so many levels.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Some people express themself through food or cleaning or writing books or decorating or growing plants. Music is my first choice of determined expression.

Nothing is mundane. I once had a teacher that said that everything is dance (she was a dancer) and I think that to.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

I am very affected by music but I don’t have that kind of complex reactions to it. A bit jealous of you acctually. Would be cool to have that kind of reaction.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

Capitalism is destroying everything including music and art. I would like it to go away.

Music would very much benefit from the end of capitalism.