INTERVIEW: Kasper Bjorke

For me, a Monday night usually means a casual post-work session of The Sims and maybe, if I’m lucky, a few hours on Sidereel trying to find an unbroken link to an episode of Revenge. I am not what you would call “an interesting person” (unless you were saying it in a patronizing tone of voice).

But you know who is interesting? KASPER BJORKE, Danish DJ and producer of sweet Eighties-influenced tunes. And, for reasons I don’t yet understand, Rachael (former benevolent dictator of contributors-cum-contributor herself), allowed me the opportunity of representing Purple Sneakers for a cheeky Monday night phone chat with the man himself.

Kasper has been making music for almost as long as I’ve been alive and has experience standing behind the desk – as Head of A&R for independent label Fake Diamond – and in front of it, as a member of Danish hit-makers Filur and in his current position as an solo artist and producer. If there were a man who could tell you about the depths and multi-facets of the music industry and its complexities, Kasper would be him. There are, however, more pressing things that must be addressed before we can dive into the grittier stuff.

After Kasper answers the phone we exchange pleasantries and introductions – during which time I’m tripping balls and sweating nervousness through my very pores – and then we leap into the fray with my first, well-researched question.

“Here in Australia, we tend to associate Denmark primarily with Princess Mary”, I tell him, setting myself up for an interview full of hard-hitting questions on meaningful topics, “so what’s the one thing that you think that we should know about Denmark not related to Princess Mary?”

Kasper, to his credit, doesn’t even hesitate. “Oh wow,” he says. “Maybe the food? I mean, if you’re into great restaurants, you should come here for the food.”

“The food?” I could be willing to travel anywhere for awesome food. Luckily, Kasper elaborates:

“Yeah, I mean we have, uh – I don’t know if you follow Michelin guides but we have quite a lot [of Michelin star restaurants] compared to the size of our country and we also have the world’s best restaurant, called Noma … [Copenhagen] is a very small city but it feels like a very big city.”

With the really important stuff out of the way, I feel comfortable commencing the interview proper. “We’ll get into the legitimate questions now,” I assure Kasper, and ask him about his new album, Fool, which was released on the 1^st of April. I’m intrigued by Fool, because it’s referred to consistently as a concept album – and it is; two halves of a coin, a side full of songs about empathy and longing with gorgeous vocals and a softer touch, and a second side, packed with psychedelic, experimental sounds – but lacks the continuous story development traditionally attached to the idea of a “concept” album. What I want to understand is how that concept came to Kasper as he was putting Fool together.

“I had this feeling about the songs with Jacob – the vocal songs – and the instrumental songs that I was doing and they didn’t really…they couldn’t really go together that well. I kind of felt they represented two different moods and ideas, so I decided to take that and use that as advantage,” he explains, “and bring it even more forward by separating them. So it was, in that sense, very thought-out as a concept.”

Kasper’s passion for his art is evident; his tone is paternal as he describes the process of compiling Fool. Kasper has released two other albums as a solo artist, and I ask him how the process differed this time.

“I think I decided in the beginning that I wanted to try and make it even more focused on the sound of the album – on the production – and I wanted to use less instruments and less featured singers and try to…discover the sound that I was making on the last album even more.

"I also tried to do it faster. Sometimes you can overproduce a song by, you know, picking out little bits and pieces that nobody else can hear, but in the end it becomes a little bit overproduced and sounds almost too good.” He hesitates for a moment. “I wanted to let something grow by coincidence and not think too much about it, and it’s really hard to do that when you’re sitting alone in a studio all day, and you kind of freak out after a while so…I mean, it took me like a year to make this album where, the last two, I maybe spent a year and a half or two years making them.”

Being the owner of a big mouth and inquisitive mind that I am – and intrigued by Kasper’s talk of aversion to over-production amidst an industry notorious for chasing perfection at the expense of realism, particularly amongst the ranks of DJ’s – I go back to that moment of hesitation from before. “When you talk about the overproducing, it, um, kind of starts to lose its humanity. Is that what you meant?” I hedge.

“It just has to sound like – When you’re working in a computer, everything becomes very organized in a way; when you’re in a band and everybody’s playing their instrument at the same time, it kind of has this natural flow. I wanted to try and have the same flow in the music that I make.”

Kasper went about this by holding jam sessions with musicians and assembling his music from that. This, he says, allowed him to get that ‘live’ feeling from it. “I left in the little pieces of noise,” he adds. “You know; a croaking chair in the background - whatever. Everything is kind of loose in that way, and I like that.”

'Lose Yourself to Jenny' is the first single from the album, a video for which was premiered exclusively on the Interview website in March. It is, in no uncertain terms, everything you would expect of the track itself and more. Jenny, the titular babe in John Lennon sunglasses and a dress of humpy red fabric, is pictured primping and posing by the Seine, hair like a cloud of fairy floss around her face. It smacks of the late Eighties and early Nineties – right down to the grainy, oversaturated film – and it’s an aesthetic that seems to be consistent throughout all of the aesthetic aspects of Kasper’s work, from his website to his album covers. I’ve read that Kasper is particularly invested in the look of his album art, and from our conversation so far it seems to be a deep thought process behind everything he does. I can’t help but ask if the references to that time period are done by accident or purpose.

“I think the music that I make in myself is based around that sound, so I guess I’m influenced.”

This descends into a discussion of the influence that the time period has had on him as an artist and producer.

“I grew up in the Eighties, the Nineties and, uh, some of my favourite bands of all time are from that period – I mean, from the disco-punk scene of New York… even stuff like Joy Divison and Talking Heads, all these live-but-still-kind-of-dancey bands. And I’m a big fan of synthesizers and [they] give this kind of 80’s feel.”

When he’s finished, Kasper takes a moment before adding: “It’s not that I see myself as an ‘80’s sound producer’, but my music is influenced by that time period.”

Kasper’s been working in the music industry for almost as long as I’ve been alive, and for much of that time has been adhering to strict, exhaustive touring schedules. Since embarking on a career of solo music, this has meant travelling across the world as a DJ and playing at some of the world’s most recognized and best venues. 2012 will see this schedule slow down, with Kasper spending more time at home working on his projects. It’s also seen him begin a radio show [4/4] and leave his position as Head of A&R at Danish record label Fake Diamond.

“As you grow older, you need to think more about how you spend your time.” He tells me. “When you’re really, really busy, all you think about is how to get more time, and you can’t, so you need to move around stuff and say no to a lot of things to free time to do something you want to do.

"Heavy touring had to go, and I’m really happy about that, so now I just focus on gigs that I want to do, because it’s clubs I want to play, or places I’ve played before and liked, or countries I’ve never been to and really want to go to…I have more of a goal in what I want to do [now] and that goes for my projects in the studio. I really want to make this EP project with my friend and have it released sometime this year or next year and that’s focusing me.”

Most interesting is Kasper’s discussion of his time at Fake Diamond. It’s rare that you’ll get such a unique perspective from someone who’s worked behind the desk and in front of it. “I’m never going to be in A&R again,” Kasper says. “I’m an artist at heart so it’s hard to defend the record label’s opinion at all means… There’s too much business in it.” In particular, Kasper talks about the sad need for labels to exploit the artists they promise to protect.

“You can start out with the best intentions, but eventually bills are going to need to be paid and you’re going to have to exploit the artists in some way.”

It strikes me that it must be difficult, being an artist at heart, yet working to pigeonhole other artists for the greatest gain. Even still, Kasper is moving into management, with intentions to start his own management company sometime in the year. Currently he works with Trentemoller and Reptile Youth. It seems Kasper has an eye for talent, and this is only supported by his discovery and development of international phenomenon Oh Land – who, to this day, remains one of his friends.

As the interview begins to wind up, I can’t help but ask a question that’s been in the back of mind since I began researching for my interview with Kasper. Anyone who knows me knows that ‘Doctor Jones’ by Aqua was (and truthfully still is) my jam and apparently Kasper worked with Aqua on their new album. When I bring it up, he laughs and explains that his friends got him involved in the project. Surprisingly, Kasper talks about how much he enjoyed working with such pop act hell-bent on churning out hit after hit: “It was a great experience.”

With the interview over, Kasper and I trade small talk about his cat before parting ways, but the entire experience leaves me assured that Kasper Bjorke is one of the most fascinating artists I’ve ever had the good fortune to chat with and, more importantly, one of the most fascinating DJs currently producing music.

Words by Cheryl Billman

For more (and to follow Kasper’s blog), visit his website.