Interview Anna Ternheim

28 juillet 2007
Chronique Anna Ternheim - Separation Road

L'année dernière tu as fêté ton anniversaire seule sur scène à Strasbourg avec le public. Tu as fait quoi cette année ?

Well, since the concert in Strasbourg I've completed the second album, it's been released in several countries and since september I've been tourning


Je t'ai découvert un peu par hasard...en téléchargeant le premier album "Somebody Outside"(2004)...
Un mot sur le téléchargement ?

I think it's great! It has completely changed the rules of distributing music, it's like a revolution for alternative artists.


Moi ça m'a donné envie d'aller au concert et de te découvrir en live.
Tu étais donc seule sur scène avec ta guitare et ton clavier. Est- ce que c'était exceptionnel, ou tu as fais toute ta tournée comme ça ?

I tour both with a band, somtimes with a trio, sometimes all alone. I'm first of all a songwriter and the songs can take many diffirent shapes. I enjoy playing myself, it brings me closer to the audience than when I play bigger stages with a full band. On the other hand, some songs work really well with the band, it's just a diffirent experience.


"Somebody Outside" était un album assez intimiste, sur ton nouvel album "Separation road", les arrangements sont plus travaillés, plus denses. Il y a des instruments à cordes, à vents...C'est nouveau pour toi ? Comment as-tu géré ça ?

I wanted to explore new ways of arrangeing my songs, take out the turns in a way I couldnt on my first album. Working with music in the studion and playing it live are diffirent types of creation. In the studion I have the opportunety to try things that I could never do on stage, the same goes for playing live. Playing live is more direct, other things become more important, I don't think the album and the live-performance necessarily need to sound exactly the the same.


Tu as créé un album intense, sombre, planant...parfois rock, comme par exemple sur "Girl Laying down". L'instrumental m'a fait pensé à Radiohead ou Coldplay ! Des références que tu assumes, tu te sens proches de ces groupes ?

I like Radiohead and Coldplay, mainly because they write beautiful songs.


Dans la bio tu dis que des films comme Nosferatu ou Franckenstein t'ont inspiré. De quelle façon ?

Creepy athmospheres, they are bizarr, scary and funny at the same time.

Yes, I was hooked on horror movies when I started working on Seperation Road.
I don't know if that can be heard though. Inspiration comes from everywhere, you take bits and pieces here and there, you add yourself and as the work evolves you never know where you're going to end up.
That's a part I really love.


Pour en revenir à la bio, il est question d'une histoire de concert devant l'assemblée de représentants des maisons de disques à l'Ambassade britannique. Je n'ai pas compris si est une expérience positive ou négative. Peux tu nous en dire plus? Ca s'est passé en quelle année ?

It was 1.5 years ago and I felt a bit out of place playing at an embassy. But there's absolutetly nothing wrong with bizarre situations they often turn out very interesting..you never know what to expect.


Tu es actuellement en tournée, le 23 juin, tu as fait la première partie de Patti Smith à Berlin! Comment ça s'est passé ? Impressionnée ?

It was an honor opening up for her, I grew up listeing to her music!
It was a good concert


Tu avais déjà eu l'occasion de la rencontrer ?

No, it was the first time I met her!


Dans les dates de la tournée, je ne vois qu'une seule date en France! Pourquoi si peu ? Tu ne veux pas au moins revenir à Strasbourg :) ?

I have another 2 dates this summer, festivals. I really want to come back, and hopefully I will get the chance to do so this fall.

Un mot sur ce public, tu tournes dans toute l'Europe. Quel pays a le meilleur public ?

Difficult question! The countries are so diffirent. I've really appreciated to play in France, especially acoustic. The audience have been very attentive and I've had some magical moments, they've also been very patient with my french. I've just played with my band in Germany, and that has been a lot of fun. I will make an acoustic tour there this fall, that will be very interesting. One exciting part of touring is the diffirence between people in the countries and regions


Quel est ton meilleur et pire souvenir en concert ?

Oh...sorry, can't say. The worst ones are not always the ones where things go wrong, you forget words or mess up the songs....no the worst concerts are the ones without inspiration and glow. So. the best concerts I would say are the ones where the most unexpected things happen. Well, I had a concert in Paris a few weeks ago and we had alot of technical problems, that distracted me and I had to work really hard on stage.


En suède, tu as été élue révélation 2005. Tu es double disque d'or. J'imagine que tu dois remplir les plus grandes salles.

Yes, things work well in Sweden


A Strasbourg, et j'imagine ailleurs, tu as joué dans une petite salle. Ca doit faire bizarre non ?

Not at all! I've played live for such a long time, in so many diffirent kinds of places. I like the change and bigger venues doesnt always mean you give better concerts.


Questions Freezeec

Qu'est ce que tu écoutes en ce moment ? Michael Jackson "Thriller" Air "10 000 Hz legend" Emmylou Harris "stumble into grace" Des artistes suédois à nous conseiller ? Esbjörn Svensson Trio (Jazz) Jan Johansson (Jazz) José Gonzales (singer-songwriter) Peter, Bjorn, John (pop) Si tu devais être un(e) autre artiste (mort ou vivant) ? Et pourquoi ? No one, I want to be me. Dead or alive 3 films cultes ? No but 3 films I really like : Leon - Luc Besson A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick Fucking Åmål-Lucas Moodysson Une passion autre que la musique et le cinéma ? Walking