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Published on Thursday, 17 December 2015 15:08
Interview with: Jari Lindholm
Conducted by: T.V.
Enshine, the Swedish/French collaboration between Swedish musician Jari Lindholm, known from before as a member of Slumber and AtomA, now also in Exgenesis and Seas Of Years, and French vocalist Sébastien Pierre (Fractal Gates, Inborn Suffering, Cold Insight), hits the lovers of melodic doom/death/gothic metal this October with their second full lenght masterpiece named Singularity. Album was released through the respected underground label Rain Without End Records/Naturmacht Productions (you can read the review over HERE). This is already the second interview we did with friendly Jari and if you are interested what he told us a couple of years ago about their debut album you are invited to read the interview at this location. This time Jari and Sébastien made an album that is more than just a decent successor to their magnificient debut and a solid continuation of the story that started with Origin in 2013. Singularity is a very strong album, full of magnificient melodies, mind blowing guitar lines, dark ambiances and dynamic vocals. This time the two hired a very special guest to play the drums, nobody else but Marduk's drummer Fredrik Widigs. Please read the interview I did with Jari and I'm sure you'll get a much deeper insight into their new great creation, Singularity.
T.V.: Hi Jari! Of course my first question will be about your new album Singularity and how are you satisfied with it?
Jari: Hi Tomaz! Overall I am satisfied with it and I think we managed to achieve what we set out to do with it. However as with every album I ever worked on I always get a slightly ambivalent or disconnected feeling after any release and quickly stop reflecting over it, and move on to the next project at hand. Now is the time for others to evaluate, enjoy, or judge the results.
T.V.: I know that you fulfill your musical tendencies with other projects, like are Exgenesis and Seas Of Years, but still, I found Singularity more than anything just a decent continuation of Origin. I wonder where are in your opinion the main differences between two albums?
Jari: I think it´s a little more agressive, and I also think there are more different moods between the songs. It was written in other locations, during different life situations and as such they both have very different associations to me.
T.V.: Can you tell me a bit more about those different life situations and different associations?
Jari: Sure, well one difference is that this album was mainly written in France, as I travelled there to write together with Sébastien on a few occasions, as where the first album was written mainly at the place where I used to live at that time. The location has a big impact on what kind of feeling you get and what the outcome will be. Having done that was one of the reasons that I chose to record the bass on Gotland, an island outside Sweden, as it has always been an inspirational place for me, and somewhere to get away from everyday life. The writing sessions in France took place both in Paris and south France and I think that both locations imparted and the moods of the time and place imparted different characteristics on the songs. Apart from that, we were both living and working in new places during the making of these two albums, as well as during the period of writing for Singularity. Every change in life adds something new or different to the outcome of the music, I believe.
T.V.: So, the recording process wasn't anything like the first time and I wonder what are the main differencies if compared to the first album?
Jari: Certainly it was different both writing and recording, we wrote much more together as a team and I quite enjoyed it. Another big difference in the recording process is that I didn´t participate myself in the drum recording but left that entirely to Fredrik, which was a new approach to me. But I must say I liked doing it that way as then there are some surprises and not everything turns out completely predictable for myself also. But a lot of the production work itself I did alone, just as with the first album, for good and bad, but I think when it comes to certain stages of it, especially mixing, I require a certain amount of isolation to get it done properly and really be able to focus on the details.
T.V.: Ok, I see and it's understandable. Now, if Origin's thematics were based around the beginning of life cycle, Singularity must be talking about more complex forms of life and creations?
Jari: Sort of. There are many ways to interpret this and I like to leave it a little bit open, also the songs on both albums have different individual themes which stray outside of the overall concepts. But in my mind the "life cycle" concept could be a reference to a single entity or person, yourself, or the universe, etc. Or to describe the musical evolution, the choice is yours.
T.V.: There was a strong connection between the album cover artwork and thematics on Origin, and now I wonder what kind of a connection is this time on this regard? Jari: I think it is similar in both cases, there is an overall theme, and this theme is binding the albums together, and still showcases individual approaches to each song.
T.V.: Your guitar playing style already became a true trademark inside the genre and many metalheads consider it as really unique. How do you feel about becoming almost a real guitar hero for many young guitarists? Jari: Thanks! I don´t know about guitar hero, I usually associate that with someone who is able to play really technical or fast stuff, which is not me at all. But I do think I have a certain way of using chords and creating riffs which is somewhat untypical for metal guitarists.
T.V.: It depends who is the listener... But if browsing through different reviews, forums and comments, I belive that for many fans of more melodic and atmospheric metal you are kind of a guitar hero, it's not everything in being just technical or fast. Don't you think that you achived just that, kind of a bridge between melodeath, post-metal and gothic/dark stuff?Jari: Well, I´m certainly honoured if that is the case! And certainly I do mix those elements which you mention. I think of myself as a songwriter primarily and as a guitarist on second place. The guitar just happens to be a tool I use for turning the musical ideas from brainwaves to soundwaves.
T.V.: And who are the guitarist that inspired and influenced you the most?Jari: I would mention Carmelo Orlando from
Novembre as a big influence... then
David Gilmour as well,... there are plenty but those are just first two off the top of my head.
T.V.: Let's return to Singularity... Beside Sébastien and yourself, who were the other musicians who contributed to this album?Jari: There were fewer musicians involved this time, besides the two of us we had Fredrik Widigs contributing with the drums, he has been playing with a lot of different bands and done a lot of session work, mostly known for being the drummer in
Marduk.
T.V.: And how did you got in touch with Fredrik? I believe that you must be satisfied with his job on Singularity...Jari: I found an add where he was offering session drumming and I liked what I heard in his reference videos and got in touch with him soon after. Indeed, I think it turned out killer!
T.V.: You haven't done any real video clip for any of Enshine's track yet, can we expect something in that regard this time?Jari: I´m not sure if we will make a proper music video in the near future. It seems we are more eager to write and record new music rather than shot videos, but I certainly don´t rule it out.
T.V.: If I have to choose I would say that my favorite tracks on the album are "Adrift" and "In Our Mind". Can you give me a little bit of an insight into those two?Jari: Those would be the two songs on the album where we added clean vocals. We wrote them in a bit more dynamic manner, I´m not sure if it was intentional or not when we started them out, but the arrangement sort of called for the vocals to be done that way, with clean vocals in the verses and growls in the choruses. Also both of the songs have an ending solo. So they have a few things in common. We added clean vocals with both of our voices this time around, in both of these songs, which is a new addition for us.
T.V.: And if you'll have to choose your favorite track from Singularity, which one would it be and why?Jari: That´s difficult! I like "Dual Existence" because it´s kind of a "classic"
Enshine style song, I like very much also "The Final Trance", because I think the drums turned out especially cool there, then "Apex" has a special personal meaning to me, they all add up to whole anyway and I think it´s more difficult to tear this album down to individual pieces compared to the first album because it needs to be seen as a whole.
T.V.: Just like Origin also Singularity is released by Rain Without End Records. So, I believe that you must be pretty satisfied with their job they did so far for Enshine?Jari: Yes, I have good contact with Robert who runs the label, it´s small and personal and I like this way of working. We also have some creative freedom which is crucial to me and was not always the case when working with bigger labels.
T.V.: It's pretty obvious that you tend to have kind of a succession with your albums, and I wonder if you've already thought about the thematics for the next one? 
Jari: We have some ideas in our minds, yes, but nothing very definitive yet. It was the case with
Singularity also, we had some different ideas for how it was supposed to follow the trail from
Origin but it kept changing and evolving until it was finally finished. I expect it will be the case next time also, so I can´t really reveal anything yet.
T.V.: In the first interview we did a couple of years ago you said that you hope that Enshine will be playing live someday. Any news regarding that matter? And if you'll be playing live, how will the live line-up look like?Jari: I still hope to but currently it seems I will be occupied recording and gigging with
Seas Of Years for at least the first half of the coming year. So depending on how things turn out after that period I might start looking for live musicians for
Enshine, it is something that would take a lot of preparations certainly.
T.V.: I certainly hope to see Enshine on stage anytime soon! There are so many releases coming out almost every day, and most of them sink into oblivion very soon. But it seems that Enshine find a recipe to be interesting and sought-after act for many different types of listeners. Even without making any kind of pompous promotion. Tell me, or can you give an advise how to reach this kind of status?Jari: Yes it´s right, we don´t have any big promotion machinery at all. Mostly I guess it is thanks to word of mouth simply, and having been part of some albums in the past which have gained notoriety. But also I think that we always try to craft a quality product with a lot of attention to detail and the real music lovers who are still around recognize that.
T.V.: Can you tell me what's going on with other projects and bands of yours, I think of Exgenesis and Seas Of Years. Anything new in the making?Jari: Yeah, as I mentioned before we are recording some new stuff with
Seas Of Years and planning some gigs for the spring so that will be my main focus for a while. We have planned another release for
Exgenesis also, most likely a full-length but it is in a very early stage yet.
T.V.: Ok Jari, I think that's everything from my side. Thank you very much for taking your time with this interview and for all your interesting answers, I believe that our readers got a deeper insight into Enshine. Is there anything that you would like to add at the end of this interview?Jari: Thanks for another cool interview, always a pleasure!
Enshine links: Facebook, Bandcamp
