Name: Live Sollid Schulerud aka Mörmaid
Occupation: Producer, songwriter, vocalist, performer
Nationality: Norwegian
Recent release: Mörmaid's album Pearlescent Dark is out via Beat Palace.

If you enjoyed this Mörmaid interview and would like to know more about her music and upcoming live dates, visit her on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp. 

For a deeper dive, read our earlier Mörmaid interview.



Tell me about one or two of your early pieces that you're still proud of (or satisfied with) in terms of production – and why you're content with them.

In my 20s, I had a prog rock band for a few years, where I wrote all the music. For my main uni project, me and a drummer named Oskar Johnsen Rydh (who now plays in the amazing band Kalandra) wrote this big piece of music for an extended version of my band. We were 19 musicians in total, I believe - two drummers, three guitarists, strings, percussion etc.

That piece I’m still super proud of. Not just the music, which I still love, but all the organising, managing logistics, and just in general pulling it off and filling a big venue with people that came and saw it. The piece is called “Encrypted Reality” and I think it’s somewhere on YouTube.

I also would quickly like to mention the first Mörmaid EP, No Sharp Edges. I’m proud of the fact that I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed and released it myself.



And when I listen back to it now, I still don’t think it sounds half bad, which is a good sign!

When it comes to arranging, sound design, performing, composing, etc – what are currently concrete topics and aspects that interest you and where you want to improve or simply challenge yourself?

Currently I feel like I’m at a bit of a standstill. I just want to improve everything, haha!

I feel like I need to find something new that creates a spark, where I’m moving my sound forward. Maybe it means stripping it all back, maybe it means exploring elements from other genres than pop and electronic music.

The past few months I’ve mostly been focusing on the tour for my album, and so I think next year will be a time for exploring new ideas and directions.

How and for what reasons has your music set-up evolved over the years and what are currently some of the most important pieces of gear and software for you?

Ever since I was introduced to Ableton Live by a friend in 2012, my music has become increasingly more electronic. I was very much in the experimental jazz world at that time, so I started out by doing free improvisations with just voice and effects. I did this both solo and in several band constellations.

Then, gradually, the music started moving more towards written songs and production, as I learned more about this both on my own and in uni. I kept developing my live setup from one midi controller to two and then three. I got rid of the laptop and got a Mac mini so I wouldn’t have a very obvious screen on stage. I started practising opening myself up more to the audience and being less introverted.

Now I’m also working with an advanced light show that is programmed to my music, which I’ve had with me on tour, and that has been a real game changer. You never know what you’ll get at these small to medium venues, and I feel like my music benefits from a lot of visual energy and movement on stage. So that has been super fun!

I feel that up until this point, my voice has been my most important piece of “gear”. As I mentioned earlier, I use it a lot to explore new ideas in all layers of my music, and I still improvise a lot with my voice and different effects to find those ideas. Ableton is obviously also super important, and has undeniably become a part of my instrument. Although I don’t use that many stock plugins anymore - I’m a huge fan of Soundtoys, for example, and I swear on Valhalla reverbs.

I also have an OP1 synth which I love. I think it has a really special and quirky character.

You posted a photo of your quarantine studio on social media not too long ago. What were among the things you missed, what were (if any) benefits? And: How did that minimal set-up influence the results?

I’ve been through a few versions of those “quarantine studio setups”, both in Norway and in the UK countryside where I spent the second lockdown. Sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming to have a fully set up studio, actually, even though it’s also great.

From time to time I like to just sit down anywhere with my computer and headphones, and only be able to work with midi and samples. Then I might add analogue stuff or change things in the music later, but it’s kind of nice to feel a bit more low key about it in the initial exploring of ideas.

It feels less intimidating and I put less pressure and judgement on myself, which makes the ideas flow more easily.

What are examples of production tools/instruments that you bought for a specific purpose?

I guess the most important ones are the midi controllers and the Mac mini that I mentioned before. I wanted to free myself from the laptop screen, and now it’s just on a small iPad that I keep just in case something happens. But I rarely look at it while playing, which feels great.

I know my setup pretty well now, and can work with it freely with the controllers without worrying too much about pushing the wrong button.

Especially with the care for and particular quality of sound on display in many of your pieces, I find it interesting that you've not taken to modulars yet. How do you see them as tools for creativity and chance?

I’ve only really had my hands on a modular synth when I was in uni in London, and I tried it only once, which is a shame! It was so much fun and I think I could really fall in love with it. I think they are great tools, for sure.

I use a lot of LFOs when I work on synth design, I have a Prophet 12 that I really love where you can do a lot of that kind of stuff. Maybe a modular synth would be the thing that kicks me into new creative processes.

Late producer SOPHIE, whom you've mentioned as an influence I believe, said: “You have the possibility with electronic music to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?

That definitely resonates with me - I remember watching that interview on YouTube, and it felt like a little bit of a revelation. I love the fact that with electronic music, or music production, you can go anywhere you’d like, and you’re not limited by things like instrumentation. These days, anything is possible, really, which is amazing.

I do think though that we all limit ourselves sometimes, no matter what tools we use. We all have our barriers and doubts that we deal with as creatives. I certainly do, and right now I feel like I’m a bit stuck in my ways, and that I need some new impulses. I know they’re out there though, I just need to look for them!

Also, sometimes limitation is a good creative tool, too. If you sit down to create with all possibilities open, it might be hard to get something out at all. I like to make little tasks for myself, like “today I’m going to start with chords, since I started with melody last time” or “I’m gonna make a drum beat today that doesn’t include any actual drum sounds” or something like that.

That stuff helps to get the creative juices flowing.

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the production process for your debut album Pearlescent Dark, please.

It was a very long process! The oldest song I believe I started working on in 2020, and the newest one early this year. It’s been a ride with lots of ups and downs. The track list changed every week, and I left quite a few song sketches out in the end (they might turn up later though!).

I’m sometimes too nit-picky and perfectionist for my own good - so with me music always takes a lot of time. I don’t think I could be one of those producers that churn out a finished song in one day, for example. I would need time to listen back, make small changes, leave it for a while, come back to it, leave it again and so on. That’s what the process of my album was like.

The music almost lives a life of its own where I just have to let it take the time it needs to become a finished piece. Which includes a lot of hard work, of course!

“House” is one of the most intriguing pieces on the album to me – it starts off with a single sustained and modulated tone, turns into a meditative raga-like sonic poem, then explodes in a gentle supernova before ending with bubbling sound effects and a cut-off finale. How did that come together?

That one has been through a journey! Now that I think about it, I believe I made the very first version of that song in 2019. Then it was a bit more complex with weird chords and lots of field recordings and stuff around the melody.

During one of the lockdowns, I think maybe in 2021, I was playing around with a Prophet 8 that I owned at the time, and I got the drone-arpeggio-thing you hear in the finished track. I then got the idea to put the melody and lyrics of House on top of that and build it up to a climax.

The bubbling sound effects at the end is actually a baby’s heartbeat in the womb. The song is contemplating motherhood and the fear of not having what it takes. I also thought the synth drone, though more simple, was much more emotional and intense and fit the theme of the song better than the complicated chords that it initially had.

Judging by the music, I would say that you enjoy songwriting as much as designing immersive sound worlds. But there can occasionally be a conflict between the two. For you personally, do these two aspects tend to harmonise or compete with each other? What role does arranging play in this regard for the perfect balance?

For me, these two aspects are very much intertwined. I write as I produce and vice versa.

The one thing where I always procrastinate though are the lyrics. I don’t feel like I’m a naturally good lyricist, so it’s a bit of a hurdle for me to get over every time. It helps if I practice, for instance flow writing or journaling, but I don’t do that as often as I wish I did.

I guess, when I work with other artists, the balance is somewhat different. Then, there might be a song that’s already finished and needs production around it, or there might be a songwriter in the room as well so that I take on more of the pure producer role.

I enjoy that kind of work a lot as well - it’s fun to be presented with an idea or a sketch and then do your best to elevate it with sound design and production.