Morten Veland gets it on with the mermaids on Sirenia’s new album ‘Perils of the Deep Blue’.
This is the third album you’ve recorded with Ailyn now, which is kind of a record for Sirenia. Do you feel that you’ve found your definitive singer now with her?
Yeah, she broke the record when she recorded the previous album. Haha. She is the only singer to record more than one album with Sirenia. It just felt right with Ailyn from the very start, she fits perfectly into the band, both on a musical level and social as well. We are all very satisfied with the situation and we feel that we have been growing a lot with the last album.
You would think it’s a bit of a given for a band called Sirenia to feature a mermaid on the cover, yet this is the first time actually. How did you get your hands on the Anne Stokes painting?
I came across the cover artwork on the internet and I immidiately thought that it would be a perfect cover for our new album. Yeah, I think it is just perfect for us. The bandname, albumtitle and cover artwork is all matching up perfectly. In the past the coverartwork always came after the album was finished, this time the cover came first. I am very happy that Anne Stokes gave us the permission to use her artwork.
Were you looking for something with mermaids because of the album title or did it work the other way around?
I actually came up with the album title after we decided on the cover artwork. So this is actually the first time we did it in this way. I think that we broke the normal pattern and did a lot of stuff in a different way on this album. This has opened up my mind in different ways, and I feel that we have been able to make an album that is quite unique and different compared to our previous works and also compared to other bands out there.
The song”Ditt endelikt” is quite a remarkable song. It feels very poppy and stands out with the male lead vocals. If someone told me this was the Norwegian entry for Eurovision, I would have probably believed them. It’s also the first time you’ve written a song which is not in English I think?
I also think that it is a remarkable song, and it is one of my favorites on the album. This is the first time that we have recorded in norwegian, and I think that the result turned out quite stunning. The singer Joakim Næss also did a great job on his performance for this track. It is a very catchy and atmospheric song with a really powerful metal sound to it.
Last time I saw you was on a small festival in Limburg last summer. Even though the atmosphere was nice, it would be great to actually see you backed up with a full choir and such to fully experience the symphonic vibe of the compositions. Ever plan to do something like that?
Yeah, it has always been like a dream of mine to make a show with a full choir, but financially it is not possible to make it happen. The times in the music scene are going from hard to harder, these days it is even difficult to set up a show due to the economic crisis. But it is important to keep dreaming, maybe I will realise this dream in my next life. Haha.
Are you still planning to do anything new for your side project Mortemia?
I have some songs and some new ideas for Mortemia lying around. But I do not know when I will do something with them. I do not have any plans at the moment, but if I get some available time on my hands I might put together a new album for Mortemia. Sirenia will always be my main priority musically.
