Don’t believe those who tell you spiritual pop isn’t a Genre. Marcus and Daniel (keyboardist of The Radio Dept.) captured the natural beauty essence of the south pacific Samoan Islands and translated it through breathtaking dream pop soundscapes that one can not help but think of as spiritual. Read our interview with Marcus below:

Korallreven a collaborative project, introduce yourselves..

We are Marcus and Daniel. I, Marcus, live in New York and Daniel in Stockholm, on the other side of the Gulf Stream.

…and how you came to forming the band?

Korallreven started some years ago when I, Marcus, went to Samoa. I had dreamt about going to the South Pacific since I was a child and saw a Swedish tv-series called Villervalle i Söderhavet (Villervalle in the South Pacific). It’s a pretty weird 1960 series about a young blonde boy who – yep! – goes to the South Pacific. I thought for some reason that it was quite
breathtaking.

So when I lived in Australia some years ago I discovered that you actually could go to the South Pacific and Samoa from there. I chosed Samoa because it has the best name (I mean, just say SA-MO-A and you see!) and because it’s not an island that has been transformed into one big glass encrusted shopping mall resort hotel. It’s more like a Jamaica in the South Pacific. So raw and beautiful, like another world. And one day while chillin’ under a coconut tree, I serendipitously got a feeling of how I wanted my dream pop music to be like. Spiritual like the local Samoan Catholic church
choirs, hypnotic like the breathtaking tropical nature and above all a feeling of finally reaching ”the other side”. Then, last summer, I told my dear friend Daniel about it and he is now helping me turning all those dreams into reality.

What does each bring to the band?

I think that question is as difficult as it is boring to answer. We bring in ourselves, our minds, our blood, sweat and shoegazeness and out comes something that makes us feel the pure ecstasy of what in popular terms use to be called ”life”. It’s as difficult and as easy as that.

Korallreven – The Truest Faith from Sebastian Rozenberg on Vimeo.

Korallreven is swedish for “Coral Reefs”, any relation between the name and the music?

I wanted it to be called Spiritualized, Pure Ecstasy or, simply, Nature. But all seemed to be taken. Now that the Swedish word Korallreven is very close to the Samoan word for spirituality. So I guess that this name makes sense on many different levels, you know.

Your music is an amalgamation of dreamy soudnscapes and ethereal rhythms – how do you achieve such sound? The sound can be linked to an arguably controversial currently-trendy genre called Glo-Fi or better known as Chillwave among modern bloggers – are you part of the movement? Does it bother you to be linked to it?

I don’t feel like that we are linked to any other single contemporary band or artist or what you like to call them. Not a single one. I feel more associated with a smoothie. With that said, if someone see a red thread in what we do with something that somebody else is doing I guess that this someone is thinking and breathing. And that is in itself quite special. Thinking and breathing. Don’t you think?

Your new single ‘The Truest Faith’ is out now on vinyl and will be released digitally in July via Acéphale records, Why did you choose to release it with them?

He, Acéphale-Patrik, loved us. It’s that easy. And the love was answered. I love his attitude. He is, like many North Americans, and very few Swedes, extremely enthusiastic and have one of the most beutiful minds this side of the South Pacific.

Do you think it’s important for a modern band to have a good PR company by its side?

I guess so. Or PR company? That sounds so disgustingly cynical. I think it’s fine with just having someone who take care of you and who don’t throw your stuff in other human being’s throats. That’s not nice. To be fed. Me myself haven’t liked to be fed since I was maybe three years old.

What other ways or tools do you use to gain exposure online?

Actually, I don’t have a clue. Please tell me about the tools and we could create something magical like a cathedral.

How do you measure your success and stay connected with your fans?

What success? You mean that we sold out our vinyl in a month, that our single is getting played prety frequently on Swedish Radio and that we are getting some offers from larger labels. I think there’s a difference between fun and success.

Do you think artists nowadays can survive on music sales only (i.e. records, CDs, digital)? What other options does an artist/band have to fund itself?

Oh, I’m sorry but I don’t know more than maybe selling your songs to smoothie commercials. But please don’t hesitate to show me so that I will get some more numbers before the comma on my bank account.

Daniel Tjäder being the keyboardist for Radio Dept. – How does he find time to be
involved with 2 projects simultaneously?

You will always find time for what you believe in, for what you love.

Acéphale Fairtilizer profile
Koralleven on Myspace
Koralleven website

Buy “The Truest Faith” on ITunes