• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Mar 16, 2015 By Melody Lau Web Exclusive

Amason are playing Under the Radar’s official nighttime SXSW showcase at Central Presbyterian Church this Saturday, March 21, at midnight. Here’s an introduction to the band.

Name: Amason

Members: Amanda Bergman, Gustav Ejstes, Pontus Winnberg, Nils Tornqvist, Petter Winnberg

Where: Sweden, where the band is part of the growing INGRID artist collective and record label, which also promotes other well-known such as Swedes, Lykke Li; Peter, Bjorn & John; and Andrew Wyatt.

Foundation and Formation: This new Swedish band features some of the country’s most seasoned vets. Having performed in other bands such as Miike Snow, Dungen, Idiot Wind, and Little Majorette, the members of Amason spent years building connections with each other, from Petter Winnberg attending jazz school with Tornqvist as teenagers to Pontus Winnberg contacting Bergman via MySpace to express his interest in working with her. Needless to say, this band has been a long time coming, a puzzle waiting to be put together.

At the end of 2012, the five finally began carving out some time to write and record together. “Over the past two years, we’ve been slowly figuring out how to find time for this,” Pontus Winnberg explains. “Finally, I think we all understood that we wanted to do this and it’s a lot of fun, actually.”

Although the process had been gradual and the band took their time forming songs and ideas, there was a sense of urgency when they booked a string of shows before even completing a release. “We kind of learned things the hard way,” Winnberg muses. “It was a bit of an alarm and we were all like, ‘Okay, there’s a lot of potential here, but maybe we should rehearse at least once before playing a show.’ And we did, and it became so much better. The first show was still very chaotic, though!”

As the band slowly formed their material, an amalgamation of influences ranging from jazz-infused pianos to folk melodies and even ‘80s synth-pop, the band have asserted their no-pressure ways of writing and recording. “One of our strengths is that, up until now, we haven’t thought that much about the future,” Winnberg says. “It’s still very natural and easy for us to make music and we’ll just have to see what happens after this.”

Reference Points: Stylistically, don’t look to each member’s previous projects as a reference point. Amason’s sound bears little resemblance to Miike Snow or Dungen; perhaps the closest we get is the migration of Bergman’s soaring voice and poetic songwriting from her solo work as Idiot Wind to being stationed front and center in Amason’s varied sound. Highly recommended to fans of Feist, Of Monsters and Men, and Hall & Oates.

Sound and Vision:

Releases: Amason’s debut album, Sky City, is out now via Fairfax Recordings/INGRID.

Links:

www.amasonband.com

www.facebook.com/amasonband

www.soundcloud.com/amasonband

www.twitter.com/amasonband

[Amason are playing Under the Radar’s official nighttime SXSW showcase at Central Presbyterian Church this Saturday, March 21. Pick up or download the forthcoming next issue of Under the Radar to read more from our interview with Amason.]