Ghost Cult last caught up with In Solitude at the start of the cycle for Sister (Metal Blade) when Gottfrid Åhman spoke about the musical developments and progressions that led to the critically acclaimed release. Closing up the circle, frontman Pelle Åhman opens up about introspection and the fundamental heart of the band…
“We were surprised how people have really taken us seriously and tried to grasp what we do. You can call it maturing but it feels like coming home to our roots. It is a very primal thing.” The lanky figure of In Solitude front man Pelle Åhman is sitting next to me wearing a Darkthrone long sleeve. He looks very much like a typical early twenty-something heavy metal fan. Yet spend any time in his company and you will quickly become aware that this tall, softly spoken Swede is anything but ‘typical’. “I love Gospel and Blues music as it is very simple. People singing these repetitive lyrics and clapping their hands on songs like ‘Jesus Make My Dying Bed’. They remind me of certain mantras in eastern religions. That dark and brooding form of prayer is very inspirational. These primitive forms of music have the same appeal to me as acts like Darkthrone.”
As the scent of incense sticks and pungent aroma of hash fills the air of the venue’s backstage area, talk turns to the band’s third album Sister (Metal Blade), a record which has brought many to lavish attention on the quartet. Influenced by the blues, country and the occult rock masters, Sister is a very mature record for such a young band. Åhman mused thoughtfully on its conception: “My family have a cabin north of Uppsala where I go to relax and write. It is very isolated. You can’t get any phone signal up there. I go there for the same reason the swami sit in caves and my uncle goes to fish; for refuge from this world. People need to have those places where they have peace and forgiveness. You are truly able to start over because you cannot be bombarded with information the way you are when are in a big city. When I go up there it is like I get baptised.”
Seeking sanctuary in isolation may be nothing new but in an age where everyone is posting an update online regarding what they, eat, drink and think all in the public domain it is hard not to admire this young man’s steadfast resistance to the status quo. “You can be introspective and get a sense of how things are,” Pelle muses. “People have lost that now. Social media allows people to present a false sense of who they are. Look at the way people update their status on Facebook! They feel they need to be seen and heard all the time when they aren’t doing much at all. People have become frightened of introspection. They see it as a negative thing but we heartily embrace it. When I am at home I love to get away from all of this. You cannot check your email at our cabin. I enjoy meeting people and seeing different places when I am on tour but when it all stops I may not come back!”
The stylistic shift Sister took from its more overtly metallic predecessor The World. The Flesh. The Devil. (Metal Blade) may have been surprising to some but for Pelle, this was a natural part of the band’s evolution. “The World. The Flesh. The Devil. is a good album but not long after it we realised how we could define our sound. In retrospect I think we were looking for a certain atmosphere with that record which really came to life on Sister. How next album will take shape yet is unclear but we have begun piecing the fragments together”.
Despite their tender years, In Solitude have already been a unit in one form or another for over a decade. So many acts come together later in life that we forget there are still a few prodigious talents which were reared together. The Åhman brothers on vocals and guitar may be the main driving force behind the group’s creative process, but Pelle is insistent that it is the collective which makes In Solitude what they are. “We definitely have a gang mentality. We played together since we were eleven. Our drummer and I have been friends since we were very young. Our parents knew each other before we were born! I think we all found our identity in this group. We constantly spend time together walking in the woods but when we write we all disappear to our own corner and bring ideas back to the group. When I look at my life from afar it is strange to see how we have developed. It is a very natural and creative place for all of us. We replaced Mattias (Gustavsson, bass) the last time which worked because we did not understand each other to the degree we do now. I think if we were to lose a member of this band then it would cease to exist as we need each other for this to work.”
Speaking to Åhman, his unwavering conviction and commitment to this tight knit unit couldn’t be any more apparent. Conjuring up romantic notions of walking in the woods of Sweden side by side with his brothers in arms, Åhman does at no point sound trite or sentimental when it comes to discussion of In Solitude and their craft. Talk then turns to the inspiration for the opening track from Sister, ‘He Comes’. On the face of it this is another proclamation of Lucifer’s power but once again there is more to it than meets the eye. “Gottfrid had written this song with just a tambourine and acoustic guitar. It was going to be a big electric rock song at some point but it had an energy about it all its own. The lyrics were a poem I had written. The song really concerns all of us (in the band) – we wrote the song with me playing one note on piano and the guys were playing percussion on their guitar cases. The Devil inspires me more than ever before! He is the one that stands upon the threshold of things. My vocabulary has evolved but his influence is more important than ever!”
ROSS BAKER