Name: Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh
Occupation: Guitarist, composer, improviser
Nationality: Danish
Current release: Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh's new album Pillars is out via April. Stream it here, and buy from bandcamp. 

If you enjoyed this Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, and bandcamp. 



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

For me, great music is a portal into a new world. The music that moves me the most, is music that manages to establish a universe that I can step into, be absorbed by and disappear into.

And when that happens, it can be an almost “out of body” experience and my imagination just starts working and I feel a broadening of my entire system.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

Listening on headphones is the best way for me to establish a space where I can be totally focused on the music that I’m listening to and sense the details. When listening to music that I haven’t heard before, I think that is a nice thing to be able to.

The stereo system I mostly use to listen to music that I already know well or very well - albums I have some sort of relationship to already. Or when listening to music in a more social context of course.

Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

I grew up near the sea and near the forest, and therefore the sound of wind in trees and waves takes me back to my childhood.

I guess this can be heard in some of my music - for instance the track “You”.



I guess writing music in general is a way for me to respond to the world, both the sounds that have shaped my upbringing, youth and so on - but also other senses.

Also, specific turn signals reminds me of my childhood, being in my grandparents’ cars. I always notice how turn signals sound in different cars.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Fortunately, having lived in the city for years, I have grown into a habit of not giving much attention to background noise - that being traffic noise, background music in malls/ stores or otherwise annoying stuff.

I don’t really notice it.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Sounds that take me back to specific situations in my life - and that can be all sorts of things.

I’m not a person that “collects” sounds so to speak, but I do react to certain sounds, and sometimes that can be a starting point for a composition. Because that specific sound made me think of something that made me feel a certain way.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

There’s a place in Copenhagen called Brønshøj Vandtårn, which is an old water tower remade into a music venue.

I’ve both played there myself and attended concerts there and it has pretty unique sound that place. Really amazing!

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

To me, venues and studios are like another band member in some way. The room gives something to the music, that is unique to that particular space.

I love just letting the music adapt to a room, and let the space color the music and the sound and have the room be a part of the band.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

Music is, to me, a mystical thing. It exists in the world in the same way as spells do in a fantasy universe or in a folk tale. Making music can be like shaping something - in a very abstract way.

I’ve always seen composing as a kind of destillation proces. Drawing out something from an abstract world and making it concrete in the form of a composition - which is still a quite abstract thing.

Sometimes great pieces of music can almost feel like a physical presence in the world. For example a Monk tune or a Neil Young song - it has such a strong presence, that you almost feel like you can touch it.



How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

For me it’s a variable thing. In some periods of time I need to surround myself with a lot of sound - music or talk (podcasts) and sometimes I need periods with less audible information. It changes.

I don’t really have an opinion about it on a larger scale.

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?

Again there’s definitely some sounds from nature that can take me back to certain moments in my life.

And being a quite sentimental person, that can have a big emotional impact on me.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I’m not great at taking these precautions - and I probably should. But I do prefer listening to music at a fairly low volume on headphones or speakers.

The louder volumes I save for playing or attending live shows.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

I like reading, and for me that works best in silence - or at least without any music or too much noise in the background. And I do need regular breaks from music.

When I’m in the proces of writing new music, I often don’t listen to a lot of other peoples’ music. But then I have been listening to a lot of music up to that point, so that my system is filled with new inspiration. Listening to music inspires me to make music - but I need some time where I gather and collect new inspiration which is then often followed by a period of time where I use that inspiration as fuel to create.

I also try watch a lot of movies, read books, look at paintings and stuff like that in my “inspiration phases.” I like the feeling of being filled to the brim with inspiration when I set out to compose.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

I don’t know. I’m very much a visual person myself, and certain images - from a movie or a painting for example - can shape musical ideas in my mind. Or just make me want to write music.

Again, it’s all about nourishing your imagination and that can come from all sorts of places. A musical idea doesn’t necessarily have to spring from musical inspiration.