Getting to Know… Solnedgang | Interview 🎤

In the 369^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from instrumental, one-man Solnedgang.

“I(Jon) create immersive, atmospheric, yet melodic guitar-based instrumental music in the post-rock/metal realm.” Intriguing, 🎙 Solnedgang! The Norwegian musician, based in London, adds, “I try to avoid the cliches of the post-rock genre as much as possible.” Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on Solnedgang’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Solnedgang: Interview No. 369! 

For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Solnedgang distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Solnedgang is a one-man band, and I (Jon) create immersive, atmospheric, yet melodic guitar-based instrumental music in the post-rock/metal realm. I don’t know how distinct or unique my sound is, but I draw influence from a vast number of sources, and listen to all kinds of music, so hopefully the combination is something that’s not too familiar – I try to avoid the cliches of the post-rock genre as much as possible.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Solnedgang form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

I’m originally from Norway, but I’ve been based in London since 2009. After playing guitar and creating music just for fun for years, I found myself playing less and less. I wanted to get back into it and for some reason I thought buying a new guitar would be best way to do this. Amazingly it worked, and I got right back into it, though I have developed the unfortunate habit of constantly buying new guitars… I didn’t really have a vision or any goals apart from putting some music out there to see if anyone liked it. It seems a few people like the first single, 🎵 “Nornir”, and I’ve had some amazing feedback so that’s nice.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

To be honest they haven’t changed much. My goal now is just to put out my debut album, see if people like it and take it from there.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

That could be a very long list, but I’ll try to keep it brief. The ones that are probably most obvious are post-rock bands like Mono and Explosions in the Sky, but The Cure has probably had the most influence on my guitar playing. I think Robert Smith is a very underrated guitar player, and I love the way he can ‘say’ so much with essentially fairly simple guitar lines – that’s something I try to do as well. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd would be another guitar player with a similar knack for crafting simple, but very moving guitar pieces. Being from Norway, there’s obviously a bit of a Black Metal influence as well, and I listen to a lot of other metal sub-genres too.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

I don’t play live with Solnedgang, so no stories there unfortunately, but in a previous band we played this house party/festival thing, and we played just one song (it was very long!) with an ultrasound video projected on the wall behind us. Afterwards someone came up to us and said he ‘felt like he was back in the womb’. I think he meant it as a compliment!

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

There’s a song that will be on the album called 🎵 “Lament” that I wrote after my cousin and uncle both passed away within a couple of days of each other (totally unrelated incidents) and I sat down to write something to deal with my grief basically, so that’s very special to me. I haven’t quite finished it yet, but there is a demo version of it on Bandcamp.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

It’s not that exciting, but I’m a full-time graphic designer so let me know if you need a logo or something! You can see a small selection of my work here: www.jagdesign.no

Closing out, what is Solnedgang currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

At the moment I’m just working on the album. It’s mostly finished, but there are still some bits to record. All going well it should be out by the end of the year, hopefully in 2-3 months, and I’ll put out another single before the album drops so look out for that. I’ve also got a very limited run of t-shirts available on solnedgang.bandcamp.com

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Getting to Know… Solnedgang: Interview No. 369 [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Solnedgang; Tumisu via Pixabay]