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I
t turns out it’s not ironic – Wästberg’s
fascination with the world extends
past his eclectic musical interests
(John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, D’Angelo
and J Dilla are a few he mentions during
our Skype call) and into every crevice
of artistry. He’s what you might call
‘enamoured’ with the world. “The fat
guy! The big guy! Yeah, that picture is
beautiful!” he enthuses in his heavy
Swedish accent, and adds with a laugh,
“I just wanted him for his looks, not for
his abilities. But the paintings are just
beautiful. And there’s so many of them!
That nobody sees...”
That little sadness behind the beauty is
present all over Wästberg’s debut album
as sir Was,
Digging A Tunnel
. When we get
to discussing the video for single
Revoke
– a stunning track with a fluttering shuffle
beat, stomp-climbing staccato piano way
down in the bass register, and Wästberg’s
voice somehow going from pleading
to resigned to resolved with almost no
discernable change of tone – his theory
surfaces.
The clip features a young man
(Wästberg) working in a pub, washing
the dishes, serving food, and pouring
beers, for a mainly older clientele. “I’ve
been walking past that pub many, many
times,” he says of the Gothenburg haunt.
“I walk past and think ‘Wow, that place
is a beautiful place. It’s so classic, you
know, but still it’s so rare. Always when
I see these pubs that are kind of empty,
you don’t know how they manage. It just
raised some questions. People are sitting,
kind of lonely, but maybe talking a bit, and
there’s no music, it’s completely silent, but
there’s a TV on with very low volume, local
news. Not much happening. But I think it’s
universal, it’s not typical Swedish, or any
other countries. People come in with their
life stories: what have they been through?
I don’t know. That’s what’s so interesting.
In a way, it’s so much about yourself – “
We’re cut off abruptly as Skype crashes.
A few minutes later he’s back: “I was
saying: It’s like life itself. One second it’s
great, like we had our great conversation
here, I felt like I was really telling you the
core of the film, and then of course it’s
like
click!
Where the f-ck! And it breaks
down. And I like that with the video –
what we were aiming for is the double,
the complexity of life.”
Only a couple of the instruments on
the album are not played by Wästberg
himself. One of them is the harmonica,
which stretches throughout stand-out
cut
Bomping
, and you can hear Wästberg
enquire at the track’s beginning: “Can
you play some more?” That question was
addressed to a man who was sitting in an
alley, “jamming for himself”, somewhere
in the States, whomWästberg came
across while walking back to Jose
Gonzales’ tour bus. (Gonzales, also from
Gothenburg, is one of several musicians
who has enjoyed Wästberg’s participation
as a saxophonist in his touring band.)
“It was like in a movie, and I was like
‘Wow! This is beautiful!’ He asked me do
you have any weed, but I didn’t, but we
struck up a conversation, ‘Where are you
from, is it OK if I record something?’ My
iPhone – the very iPhone I am talking to
you through – is filled with hundreds and
hundreds of voice memos; that’s why I
don’t have any space for pictures.”
Amongst all those mysterious memos
(listen for the birds on
Falcon
; Wästberg
says they’re from a Parisian “zoo shop”
[pet store]) and the fluid but surprising way
he chooses his instrumentation, Wästberg
says it is difficult to know when a song is
done. “That’s the question, right? That’s
the big question for art making! When is
the belly of Heinrich the Sixth… Seventh…
Eighth? When is his belly perfect? When
is his
beard
perfect, full enough? The only
thing I can do is try to listen to my gut
feeling. If I have a good day, it’s easier to
know. When I’m focused, I know.
This
is
it, that’s the way it should be,” he says
with a click of his fingers. “Then someone
else likes it, and suddenly you are calling
me from Australia. Fantastic! We can talk
with some philosophers and psychologists
for five years, but we still wouldn’t know
the formula.”
That’s the question, right?
That’s the big question
for art making! When
is the belly of Heinrich
the Sixth… Seventh…
Eighth? When is his
belly perfect? When is
his
beard
perfect, full
enough? The only thing I
can do is try to listen to
my gut feeling.
Digging A Tunnel
is out now via Inertia,
on both CD and vinyl.