In this interview, we delve into the creative journey behind the band's second album, exploring themes of time, loss, and hope, while balancing synth-pop vocals with rock elements.
1.
Congratulations on the release of your second album! After a hiatus, what
inspired the band to come back together and create new music?
Thank you. The long break wasn't planned. We started working on this album
right after the debut "Offroad" was released in 2013. But unforseen
circumstances in Andy's and my life forced us to stop while being in the middle
of pre-production. About 2 years ago we were finally able to continue where we
stopped.
2. Sven, as the songwriter and vocalist, could you tell us about the themes
and inspirations behind the tracks on your new album?
The new album is all about Time. In our lives we often think of "What
if...?". We sometimes want to make things unhappen, turn back time. The
album plays with this ideas and wishes but also the consequences. Even if I
could erase the bad things from the past, I would also give up the good things.
Every small event leads to another. So the conclusion is: make the best of what
you have and own your mistakes. An exception is the song "Redeem Me
(finally)". It's a remake of a 2019 song that I released without Andy. It
means alot to me, so I wanted it to be included on "Time Catcher".
It's about dealing with depression.
3. Andy, you handled both production and instrumentation for this album. How
did you approach the arrangement and production process to capture the essence
of the band's sound?
Sven always tends to put too many samples and tracks in the demos. He
doesn't approach from a sound engineers point of view, and that's OK. I never
had to convince him that a sample doesn't fit with another frequency. He's
composer, I'll do the engineering. I don't mess with the order or names of the
songs. I listen to the demos and then I try to add my own style to it.
Sometimes i recreate the original sounds, but most of the time it's something
new. Of course the essence of our sound is the mix between the Synth-Pop driven
demo and the final rockier version. That's nothing new in this genre, but we
try to keep both elements.
4. The album explores themes of time, loss, hope, and love. How did these
themes influence the overall mood and direction of the album?
The order of the tracks is not random. The first track "Rise" takes
the listeners slowly on this trip. The themes change slightly but all tracks
lead to the grand final with "Patience". As a final conclusion it
gives the advice to not lose hope and faith, similar to "Trust", the
last track on our first album. The album reflects the dark sides of time or
love. Time, Love, Hope and Loss can cause pain, and that's the focus.
5. Your music is described as a blend of synth-pop vocals with dominant
guitars and hard-hitting drums. How do you navigate between these different
musical elements to create a cohesive sound?
The Demos are usually very electronic. I do the composing only with samples and
virtual instruments. The structure of the tracks is very "classic".
Andy replaces drums and guitars with real instruments that he plays. Sometimes
the songs change a lot, sometimes he stays close to my demos. We always want to
have 50% of each genre, but that's not always possible. I always try to create
a catchy melody and the vocals follows it, in contrast to the drums and
guitars. "Farewell" for example was planned to be a bitter-sweet
song. An easy almost happy melody with dark and sad lyrics. It didn't worked
out exactly as planned. In the end the song became much darker than intended.
6. "Redeem Me (finally)" and "Find Me" were released as
pre-release singles, with "Redeem Me (finally)" tackling the topic of
mental illness. Can you delve into the message behind these tracks and why they
were chosen as singles?
As mentioned earlier, Redeem Me was written in 2019. I was in rehab at that
time, suffering from depression myself. I wanted to put all my feelings and
thoughts in a small album that I wrote and produced during that time only
having a Notebook and a microphone with me. Redeem Me wants to give a voice to
all out there suffering the same way. It's message is:"You're not alone. I
can understand how you feel. Keep on fighting!"
Find Me was the last song I wrote and I wanted to give it a little
"Mainstream" touch. It's a song about the deep love for someone. A
Love that is stronger than time and space even if the other person is gone.
Both songs seemed to fit perfectly as pre-release singles because of their mood
and speed.
7. Sven, your vocals often carry a synth-pop vibe, while the music leans
towards a rockier sound. How do you balance these contrasting elements in your
performance?
I'm not a professional singer, so I avoid to do many experiments with my voice.
My performance often reminds listeners to the style of "Depeche
Mode", who are my idols. I liked the idea of combining the soft Synth-Pop
style with the Rock/Punk sound that Andy prefers. So while still sounding very
soft I drift into the minor scale, and that makes it sound less "Pop"
8. Andy, as the producer, what were some of the challenges you faced while
working on this album, and how did you overcome them?
When we started again in the early 2020s we had to decide what tracks that were
already pre-produced we want to keep. Sven and I had some different favorites,
so it was a compromise. In the end we were happy with the choice. Also, the way
I wanted to record and mix the album changed alot since 2013. So it took a
while to figure out that it would be better to start from scratch than keeping
the early recordings.
9. The album release coincides with Sven's 50th birthday. How does it feel to mark this milestone with the release of your music, and does it add any significance to the album for you personally?
It was a nice coincidence. When we realized that a 2023 release became most unlikely, I encouraged Andy to finish the mastering in January 2024 for a possible release on my birthday in February. It was close, but he finally did it! It had no special impact on the album since all tracks were finished months before. But it felt good to celebrate both events on the same day. There are so many young musicians and artists out there. And I started making music in my late 30s and just did 2 albums in 14 years. This event also stands for: it doesn't matter how old you are. You can start making music at every age.
10. Can you share any memorable moments or experiences from the recording or production process of this album?
Recording the vocals in 2 days was challenging. But since we live about 600km away from each other, it's not possible to have a lot of sessions together.
At some points while being in the process of mixing the tracks we had a few computer crashes. So that threw us back a few weeks.
11. How do you envision your music evolving in the future, and are there any new directions or experiments you'd like to explore?
Unfortunately it's unlikely that we will have another album released soon. Andy is busy producing other bands and with his main profession. But I will start writing new songs as soon as I get the inspiration. Maybe I'm doing another "51 Miles Away Solo Release" like in 2019. We always want to be open to all genres, not only the ones we are comfortable with. I would love to do a collaboration with other artists from other genres or do a remix or have a remix of our songs done. Finally, I'd love to perform live one day.
12. Finally, what message do you hope listeners take away from your new album, and what do you hope they feel or experience when they listen to your music?
The themes and mood of our songs is always a little dark. We want to deliver the message: Face your fears but never lose hope and faith. As a Songwriter I would love if listeners also care about the lyrics, not only the sound. I hope our songs will mark special events in someone's life.
51 Miles Away (@51_miles_away) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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