First of all, how has life been recently? Has Norway’s lockdown impacted on you, and if so, in what way? Hi Sam. Norway took this thing seriously quite early on, and managed to very strict rules in �me for us to take control over the situa�on… thanx to our people listening to the government advice. Generally, this affected everyone’s life, and in different ways. I needed to get used to working from home and not being with other people at all, which had its challenges but in all fairness also its bonuses. I have had much more �me to use for stuff that I normally would want to do, but not have �me for. For example listening a lot to music. Me and bass player Stein Roger (which has been extremely produc�ve this period, and also made an en�re solo album) managed, through email and telephone, and eventually mee�ng up in his demo studio, to make an en�re new 10 minute Green Carna�on song. Not sure if we would have managed without the COVID-situa�on, to be honest. Your latest album, Leaves of Yesteryear, is described by the label as par�ally a retrospec�ve. What was the thinking behind that? I have described it as a “tribute” to the band’s past, present and future, so there is definitely a level of retrospect here, yes. In our first period we were constantly searching for new sounds and new inspira�ons, from album to album, meaning all our albums sound very different from one another. S�ll, there are very “typical Green Carna�on moments” on all these albums. We wanted to bring these elements together in one album, but also developing them into something that would sound familiar to our fans, but with a fresh twist. One of the tracks that has been redone for the new album is My Dark Reflec�ons of Life and Death. As someone who suffers from depression, I feel a deep connec�on to this song. Is it difficult to write something so intense? I think it felt very natural for Tchort to write this song in 1999/2000. Having recently lost his first daughter. But these are very heavy emo�ons to deal with, which is never easy. Actually he con�nued this thought on Light of Day, Day of Darkness, so in many ways My Dark Reflec�ons of Life and Death is a very important song for the Green Carna�on legacy. We think it is a very important song, being the heavy and long centre-piece on the album. The albumwould most certainly not be complete without that one on it.
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