Name: Synne Sanden
Nationality: Norwegian
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer
Recent release: Synne Sanden's Unfold is out February 17th 2023 via Nordic Records.

If you enjoyed this interview with Synne Sanden and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, and Facebook. We also recommend our earlier Synne Sanden interview about Sexuality, Intimacy and Real Feminism.



What were the key emotions that were at the heart of the songs on Unfold?

I see the album as a journey from constructive anger, sorrow, shame, and towards hope, healing and the feeling of vitality. It's a journey through the emotional consequences of disrespectful sexuality, to the nourishing feelings from healthy intimacy.

To me the record is both light and dark, vulnerable and aggressive, and the songs are all very much connected. It's definitely a concept album, where each song plays a role, like each piece in a puzzle is essential for the puzzle to be a complete picture.

With a project as personal and concrete as this one, did the songs come out almost instantly – or was it conversely a case of hard work?

To me an idea for a song can shape quickly, but from the first sketch of the song, to the finished result, is usually, and on Unfold as well, a long journey for me. I often change a song many times until I feel satisfied.

On Unfold, it took time as well, to finish the songs, but it didn't feel like hard work. It felt very natural, like they were pushing through my veins, and to finish them took time, but it didn't feel like hard work. To produce them and mix them though, that felt like hard work.

I always finish writing my songs before I go to the studio to record and produce them, so for me to make an album is a long and complicated journey.

I could imagine that the lyrics were particularly important for Unfold. How did you approach writing them?

Yes, the lyrics for Unfold are a very, very important part of the songs. The lyrics are always important for me, and the main source of inspiration for the melodies, arrangements, mix and visuals.

In collaborations and other projects the lyrics come later in the process, but in my solo project I always start with the lyrics. I have tried to start with the music sometimes in my solo project, but it doesn't feel as right as to start with the lyrics. I feel the whole concept comes from the topics I'm writing about, and lyrics are always the seed.

So when I wrote Unfold I knew quite early that I wanted to write about sexuality and intimacy, because that was something that was difficult for me at the time I started writing the album. So I knew I wrote out of the need to process my difficult emotions around my damaging sexual experiences.

In the writing and healing process it became very clear to me that it was as important for me to write about what good and healthy sexuality is, that this is something I think is important both for myself and others to be conscious about.

Unfold, the way I understood it, was intended as a therapeutic project. How did that work out in practise? Did you, in writing, truly work through your issues – and maybe understand things you didn`t before?

To write Unfold has definitely been a therapeutic project, and to record / produce it as well.

I often cried when I wrote the lyrics, so writing the lyrics gave me a lot of release. I often felt that I understood what I was going through, on a much deeper level, when I saw my emotions in letters, black on white. To write Unfold released me from the difficult emotions, but it also gave me more awareness around why good and nourishing sexuality is so important. It also gave me the hope that I needed to get a healthy sexuality again.

I found it interesting that you have always enjoyed working with artists from the world of jazz – from Bugge Wesseltoft and Mathias Eick to Siv Øyunn Kjenstad and now, Lars Horntveth. What draws you to this world and these collaborations – especially since, to me, the results don`t actually have obvious and direct sonic references to jazz?

I knew from very early when I started composing music that I didn't want my music to be jazz, but when I started singing I was singing jazz and listened a lot to different kinds of jazz, and Bugge has always been one of my favorites.

[Read our Bugge Wesseltoft interview]
[Read our Bugge Wesseltoft interview about Improvisation]

So, even though I don't want my songs to be jazz, I have always been inspired by some kinds of jazz and by particular jazz musicians. I have also always loved to improvise.

To me Lars Horntveth is more a pop producer inspired by jazz, but I have never thought of him as a typical jazz musician. I love his contribution to Jaga Jazzist and The National Bank, and the production he has done on Susanne Sundfør's records, so that's why I wanted to collaborate with him. My first real music crush was Anja Garbarek and Susanna & The Magical Orchestra, and that's not jazz music to me, but definitely jazz inspired.

I have always been most inspired by music that is not traditional jazz, but pop or rock or electronic music that have hints of jazz.

I could imagine that, for a project like Unfold, the choice of the right producer isn`t just motivated by musical considerations, but also because of a certain sensitivity towards the underlying topics. Were there discussions around the themes with Lars? What role do outside producers take in your creative process in general?

I definitely see your point, but I didn't know Lars personally, we just met through music before, and I never talked with him about the topics before I asked him to produce the album. I just knew, from what he had been making and producing before, that I wanted his unique musical touch on the songs. I sent him the lyrics and demos before we started recording, so he could read them. I always write the songs and rehearse with my band before I start collaborating with producers.

To me the soundscape is so connected to the lyrics and the songs themselves, so I have learned that it's very important for me to take part in the whole production process. I could never just give my songs to a producer and not take part of the recording and production process. So the producers have a role, definitely, but I have very clear ideas about the sound, so it can be difficult for me to collaborate with producers, if we don't agree on the direction, and that also happens sometimes.

I have now decided that I want to produce my next album by myself. I still want to have my musicians to play on it, but to be the producer. I may have others to be co-producers, but I now feel very drawn to be in more control. I haven't compromised on Unfold, but I have such clear ideas about the sound for my next album as well, and feel that discussions are just distracting and demotivating, so it feels very right for me to produce my next album.

There are so many talented producers, and Lars Horntveth is definitely one of them, but now I feel ready to produce myself, and it's not always just about what sounds good, but what feels and sounds right to me, and I know what sounds right to me.

Tell me a bit about the recording sessions, please.

The recording sessions for Unfold were sometimes very challenging, and sometimes very fun. I love recording other instruments, when it feels right for the song. When we record other instruments I don't get as nervous as I can get when I'm recording vocals, so it feels more chill and I feel more like a producer than a performer, which is nice in the studio.

I love performing live, and that's very nourishing to me, but recording vocals in the studio makes me so analytic and it's very hard for me to get satisfied with my own vocals. The singing part can be very freeing and nice, but to sit and choose take and listen to it over and over before it is mixed, that's difficult for my very self-critical brain.

I sometimes use one whole take of my vocals, and sometimes not. I don't want my vocals to be too polished, I want to have a nerve, but still sound good, and that's a hard balance.

What do you personally draw from writing and pre-producing at home, versus entering a bigger studio like PhatCat, for example?

I always write at home, in my own studio-space, or when traveling. I have never tried writing in a big studio, I need a lot of time and space and silence to write, so I think it wouldn't work for me to write in a professional studio, I would just think about the time and money running out.

After I have been writing the songs and rehearsing with my band, I always get into professional studios though. I find it really nice to record with good microphones and a good sound technician, and in rooms made for recording, to make the sound as nuanced and dynamic as possible, because this has been important to me.

This process in a professional studio is mostly important because I usually have recorded my band, and then we are several musicians playing at the same time, and need separate rooms, where we can record everyone at the same time.

Sometimes we have just recorded drums in a studio, and then we have recorded the rest at home – and in smaller studios. On Unfold we had five days with the band in Velvet Recordings, and then I spent some days in Lars Horntveth's studio. After this, me and my boyfriend Kim Reenskaug (Wow Sailor) went some weeks to a cabin and different places, and this was definitely my favorite part of the recording process.

[Read our Kim Reenskaug aka Wow Sailor interview]

We started each day with swimming in the ocean and drinking ceremonial cacao surrounded by trees, before started the recording days. I must say I prefer to record in places that are quiet, and where I don't need to think about time so much.

This fall me and my man bought a big house on the countryside. Next to the house we have a smaller building, where we each have a studio-space. These are very minimalistic equipped at the moment, but we want to have lots of instruments there and a few good microphones, and I want to write, record and produce the whole next album in that house. I think that to have a lot of time and flexibility, and to see the woods and our garden while recording will make the process really sweet.

I want to have rituals every morning I'm going to write, record or produce, and swim in the ocean, go into the sauna (that we will build in the spring), or walk in the woods before going into my studio-space. I can really feel that those kinds of activities can be very meditative and give me focus for my session. I'm really looking forward to making my next record in our little studio-house, and I'm pretty sure I want to produce my next records there.

I want the process to be smoother, without stress, and with less thinking around logistics and money. I also love collaborating with my boyfriend, and he's my new drummer, technician and co-producer now. So I'm looking forward to sharing the whole journey of recording my next album with him.

“Firewood” is one of the most hard-hitting songs off Unfold, and it`s one of the most electronic sounding ones. What was the road from demo to the finished song like for this one?

Yes. "Firewood" is one of the most electronic and hard-hitting songs.

I made the song first, and recorded a demo with just vocals and rhodes, on click, then my boyfriend Kim made beats for it. He brought his drum machines and computer to my home, and we sat together and figured out the beat. At that point we just had fun with the beats, and tried to find the right sound, but to me the beats felt so right and important for the song, so we brought it into the final production and mix.

I recorded the song with my band and producer Lars Horntveth, and we put the beats on it, from the demo, adjusted them a bit, and then put on layers with synths. I collaborated a lot with Kim and Peter Estdahl on this one. They added the beats and most of the synth layers, and this was one of the hardest songs to produce and mix, because I wanted a very electronic sound for this, which was so far away from the band-sound.

It was a lot of work to finish it, and to get the right vibe for it, but in the end I felt satisfied.

Both your last two albums were born in dark places. But they both resulted in remarkable art. As hurtful as the times leading up to them were - are you thankful for them, looking back? How much do you feel that great art is born from bad experiences?

Thank you so much for your beautiful words. I often feel that my best songs come from my bad experiences, and artists in general are often inspired to create when there's pain, so a lot of art is created from pain, definitely. But I try and think it's important to also create from hope, release, healing and what gives light, as well.

I think that there's more music and art that inspires me, that comes from pain, but there's also a lot of music and art that I don't think comes from pain, that inspires me and nourishes me.