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Rating: I contacted the Swedish musician Anders Brostrom. Born and residing in Stockholm, after the end of his experience with Amaxa at the end of 2015 and a spiritual journey to Zimbabwe on Domboshawa mountain, Anders relaunched his artistic career as a musician from scratch, giving his new project the name of this magical place from which he drew new lifeblood and inspiration.
Conceived as a solo project, Domboshawa is something Anders works on freely from any scheme and conditioning and that soon, according to what he tells us, could evolve into something different with the collaboration of a drummer (Stefan Jakobsson from Snowy Dunes).
After releasing a first cassette album in 2016 ("Dark Lights") for the Swedish label Ljudkassett!, Anders connected with the world of Drone Rock Records of Brighton, UK.
Practically, the label has become a bit like his second home.
Last year, he released his first LP on Drone Rock Records ("Minds Electrix"), followed by the release last March of his latest LP "Bejond Zero".
However, it seems that for now, it is not over yet.
Aside from the scheduling of this new project and collaboration I mentioned earlier, a double LP release is expected soon, with the retrieval of "Vibrations", an album released only in digital format in late 2017, which should be printed as a unique piece with "Bejond Zero".
Considering the golden moment, a kind of renaissance, of Swedish psychedelia, we talked about this and much more in this pleasant and brief interview I present to you below.
Enjoy the reading.
1. Hi Anders. It is a real pleasure to have this chat and a great opportunity to know a bit more about you and your music. Let's start with what I believe has been a central theme in the development of your project. You say you were deeply impressed by a trip to Domboshawa, which is (correct me if I'm wrong) a mountain in Zimbabwe not far from the city of Harare (once known as Salisbury). Can you tell us something about this trip? I know nothing about it, but was it something spiritual just for you, or is the mountain generally considered to have some mystical significance?
AB. Hi Emiliano!
Let's proceed in order.
As you say, Domboshawa is a mountain near the city of Harare. The mountain has an ancient history, and you can find traces of tribes and populations that lived there a very long time ago. As far as I know, it is considered a special place in Zimbabwe. Almost magical.
Anyway, it's mainly a beautiful place and an ideal spot for witch hunting, which is what we did. But I’m not sure if this kind of experience is typical or connected to any kind of spiritual search.
Surely, in my case, it had this effect too. So yes, it's an experience that I think has its deep meaning also in that direction, if we want.
2. Before this project, you were playing with Amaxa. Is this experience definitively over, or would you say you are just taking a break? Is Domboshawa an open project or something that you conceive only as your own and only yours? How do you generally work on your music? Do you plan to develop the project into a live dimension, and how do you plan to organize yourself in this case?
AB. The Amaxa is a project that can be said to be finished.
The things went as follows: we changed guitarist, and Christoffer, who plays guitar with Snowy Dunes, joined the group.
We played together for a year and had a lot of fun, but in the end, he left us (but it wasn't a true breakup) because he chose to focus solely on Snowy Dunes.
So we tried to start playing again with other guitarists, but it didn’t seem to work, and eventually, we gave up. But we all got along great, and we remain friends like always.
Domboshawa was born instead when I attended a psychedelic music festival here in Stockholm. There were White Manna, Carlton Melton... I immediately thought, "This is what I want to do!"
And my idea from the beginning was to work on this thing alone, so I could do it when and how I wanted.
It is something that I conceive in this way: with extreme freedom and without any specific commitment. There are periods when I don't play and don't record anything. It can happen for entire months. Likewise, on other occasions, I practically spend time recording in the studio every day.
So it happened that I sent my first album, "Dark Lights," to the Swedish label Ljudkasett!, which deals with cassette releases only. They liked it and released it, and this obviously pushed me to go on and record new music.
Yes, playing live is something I would like to do, but it is obviously difficult to do everything by myself. So, with the former drummer of Snowy Dunes, Stefan, we are thinking of starting a collaboration with just guitar and drums and with the help of recorded loops.
Unfortunately, we haven't started working on it yet, but we can't wait. However, I don't think it will be a continuation of the Domboshawa project, but something completely new.
3. Your latest album is titled "Bejond Zero". It was released on Drone Rock Records. They publish a lot of interesting stuff. Recently, I had a chat with Snakes Don't Belong In Alaska too: a great band and really nice guys. What can you tell us about your relationship with the label and the other bands in it, in what contacts do you have? What can you say about the album? Why did you name it "Bejond Zero"?
AB. Drone Rock Records is a fantastic label from Brighton. I was there at the beginning of the year, and we met. There was a kind of gathering with all the label's bands, besides Carlton Melton. They played there that night. So we met. And I met a lot of great people in the label's circle from every corner of England. It was a fantastic experience!
The album's title ("Bejond Zero") basically refers to the weather. We had a particularly long and cold winter in Sweden last year, so I locked myself safely in my studio and recorded the album.
4. I sincerely think your latest album is very good. Personally, I find it interesting that the three tracks sound quite distinct from each other, but there is no lack of the necessary amalgamation. Can you give a brief description of each of the three songs? I have a curiosity: some sounds reminded me of a historic band like White Heaven and the sound of Michio Kurihara. Have you ever listened to them? Is there a possibility that in the future you might introduce vocal parts in your songs?
AB. Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the album.
Well, I would say the tracks were essentially recorded all in the same way, but in the case of “Explorer,” I already had two riffs ready that I wanted to insert into the song (while usually I just improvise more or less everything, and I rarely do overdubs), while in the case of "Rod Oktober," I had some chords I liked, but mostly I focused on the drum sound.
On "Krystal Hands," I simply wanted to create what we could call a free-form psychedelia composition that was supposed to increase in intensity with the introduction of some guitar solos.
No. Honestly, I've never listened to anything by the musician you mentioned, but I will definitely check it out now. It sounds very interesting!
No. Frankly, at this moment, I don't plan to introduce any sung parts in my songs. But obviously, never say never!
5. What can you tell us about your next projects? Are you working on new material or other releases? Last question: in recent years, the world of psychedelic music has finally rediscovered musicians like Trad, Gras, and Stenar and, as a consequence, recognized the central role of Sweden in the birth and growth of the psychedelic rock genre in Europe since the late sixties. How much of all this has to do with your music? There are really a lot of good bands coming from there; is there someone with whom you have a particular feeling? In any case, how well known and popular in Sweden are experiences like Parson Sound or International Harvester? Or are they also something that is generally recognized by a few there?
AB. Well, indeed, the only news now is to expand the project with the entry of a drummer. As I told you.
But I'm truly thrilled to announce that next fall I will be releasing on vinyl again. It will be a double LP released on Drone Rock Records, and it will contain both "Bejond Zero" and the previous record ("Vibrations"). So now we are working on this thing. You know, everything about the tracklist, the packaging, the color of the vinyl pressing, etc. etc. And the artwork, of course. All of this is just fantastic.
Well, in Sweden - like in the rest of the world - it seems that now there is a bunch of people passionate about music, and this is fantastic!
Yes, Sweden has an incredible and important history for the genre; everyone knows that: there are still a lot of people buying old and new records, a bunch of stuff. And there are lots of historic bands that are still playing (well, there are others that have stopped), and despite the passing of years, they continue to play amazingly.
Thank you very much!
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