Dream-folk quartet Circumnavigate are due to release their captivating debut album, When Worlds Collide, on December 14th (2017).
The album is a collection of honest songs about finding connections, love and community with people from different backgrounds, cultures and countries. Each track on the album is filled with cinematic soundscapes akin to the likes on Sigur Rós and The Cinematic Orchestra, combined with flawless four-part harmonies throughout. Lead single Secret is a stunningly intimate folk song with lead singer Sigrid Zeiner-Gundersen’s celestial vocal carrying the song effortlessly alongside the band’s atmospheric musicianship. Warm strings sections, trumpet lines and mesmerising harmonies are blended majestically throughout the album to create something both graceful and undeniably compelling.
In this interview spotlight, we chat with Circumnavigate about influences, challenges, the latest project and more.
Full Q&A along with links and a stream of Secret below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
As we have some of our roots in Norway it would be natural to say that we love this kind of music because of the melancholic feel to it. Norway also doesn’t have a long history of contemporary pop music like the UK or US does in the sense that we could barely get a hold of The Beatles records back in the day (or before we were born) so that helped shape the Norwegian soundscape; Folk, jazz and classical has always had a major role here.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
It’s such a cliché but doing music is a need to us. We want, need and enjoy doing it. It makes us feel connected and happy and we want to push it to the public because we think music in general has a strong impact on people and we would love for our music to be a part of that impact. It goes without saying that doing so on a more professional level can make you reach more people and in return hopefully sustain your life to continue.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
We take a lot of inspiration from bands such as Cinematic Orchestra, Bon Iver, Diana Krall and Coldplay but creatively it depends. We all take inspiration from different places and a lot from each other whenever someone brings in an idea. Lyrically our inspiration comes from our lives and our friends lives and imagining how someone we don’t know might experience life or a situation.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
We wanted to create a diverse album focusing on a lyrical theme that was thoughtful and reflective. Some of the songs on the album are written for films still in production so they have been written specifically for that. Musically we wanted to create something beautiful to whoever would find it so.
What was the last song you listened to?
Sigrid – Still by The Japanese House
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl is the nicest way of listening to a song, however in the modern day I think our favourite has to be streaming due to the accessibility online.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
We absolutely love Soundcloud for its discovery and interaction potential, but we love all the music platforms out there! We are yet to try Apple Music, but we have a good relationship with Spotify.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
We know that as our music is slower and more intimate, it can be hard to be featured on the biggest radio stations or in the most popular playlists, so that would probably be the biggest challenge.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
The best place to listen to our music would probably be Soundcloud or Spotify. The best place to connect with us online is definitely Instagram and Facebook. We love connecting with everyone who likes our music – It means the world.
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
Our debut album ‘When Worlds Collide’ is due for release on the 14th December. It features a couple of songs that we’ve written for movies, most successfully a song called ‘Another 20 Seconds’, which can be heard on the trailer to ‘Almost Paris’ – the directorial debut of Domenica Cameron-Scorsese (daughter of Martin Scorsese).
