Wojtek Krasowski: How did you start writing music?
Johann Johannsson: I've been writing music probably since I was about 14-15. I started playing my parents' home organ when I was about 9 and then I studied trombone and piano. I soon began improvising little tunes and chords.
WK: What was your childhood like?
JJ: Very happy. It was a sheltered and very protective environment. When my family moved to France when I was 7 my life changed a bit and I became more introverted. I started spending more time on my own, reading and constructing fantasy worlds. When I returned to Iceland my friends said I'd changed. I think I matured a lot and developed a quite melancholy disposition. I went from smiling to somber in 3 years. Perhaps all teenagers are like that. I was only very quietly rebellious though. There were no big dramas.
WK: What inspired you to do your entire new album based on IBM Computers?
JJ: The story of how my father and his colleagues at IBM programmed music on this ancient computer and how they decided to preserve it on tape as a document of this machine's "life" and "work" was very interesting to me. It suggested a lot of different themes and associations, thematical, philosophical etc. That was very fascinating to me and pertinent to a lot of things I was thinking about at the time. I've always been very interested in the relationship between machines and humans and the philosophical and moral implications of artificial intelligence. How we define humanity and how we relate to our artificial creations, how much "humanity" we give them.. I'm interested in the emotional bond that people develop for their machines and what this implies. The piece's origins are covered in detail in the essay I wrote which is on the album web-site www.ausersmanual.com
WK: I want to ask you about 4AD Label. When you moved there, were you going to have full artistic control over the music and art direction?
JJ: Of course, the label basically let me do what I wanted within a certain budget. They suggested using V23 to design to cover and I've always been a fan of their work, so I was very happy with working with them. I've always loved 4AD, they really have a defined aesthetic as a label, both musically and design-wise, very much like my old label Touch, and I'm happy to be working with them.
WK: What are your plans for the future?
JJ: I'm touring quite a bit in the next few months. I will record a new album this year. I have a lot of material written and it's slowly taking shape. I've got some collaborations coming up, one with Laetitia Sadier, from the group Stereolab. We will do a concert with new material together in Iceland. I'm also doing some work with the Italian group Larsen. My other project, Apparat Organ Quartet, will most likely record a new album this year as well.
WK: Do you prefer making music or playing it out to an audience?
JJ: I enjoy both. They are very different things. I think it's necessary to play music for an audience to get a reaction. I'm playing a lot of the new stuff on tour and it's really great to get feedback from an audience before you record. Live, we use visuals, which I collaborate on with my friend Magnus Helgasson. I'm interested in how this adds another layer to the music and I'm interested in the types of juxtapositions and counterpoint that's possible between the music and visuals.
WK: What do you exactly get from the music?
JJ: I get a lot of pleasure from playing and writing. Seeing a project take shape is a great joy. It's one of the things that make life worth living, frankly.
WK: All of your solo albums have had such a distinct sound and feel to them have you consciously tried to make each one it's own little world or has it been a natural progression of sound to you?
JJ: It's been a fairly natural process, although the album Dis is more a by-product. I made music for this film and suddenly there was enough material for an album, so I made one, but it was still a very natural thing to do. I do like records that are self-contained worlds, little universes you an sink into, like novels. I try to do that with each record, simply because those are the kind of records I love myself.
WK: What kind of music inspired you early on? What music inspires you now?
JJ: In my teens it was Jesus and Mary Chain, Suicide, Stooges, Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can, Neu. I also loved The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen.. Cocteau Twins, Birthday Party. I still love all that music. Now, I listen to a lot of electronic music from the 50's and 60's, Xenakis, Parmeggiani, Tod Dockstadter, Raymond Scott. I love Baroque music, Purcell, Zelenka, Haendel, Buxtehude. I love Beethoven and Shostakovich. I like 70's progressive rock and synthesizer music from the 70's. I love Alvin Lucier and The Hafler Trio. I listen to a lot of film music. I love Italian film music from the 70's, mainly the horror stuff. I like some newer bands, like Final Fantasy and Sunn O))). Also Boris from Japan. One of the musicians I've met that I've been most impressed by recently has been the harpist and singer Baby Dee.
WK: Where would you like to play where you haven't played yet?
JJ: Poland! I've never been and I would love to go. I'm a big fan of Polish music, Gorecki, Wojciech Kilar, Penderecki, Preisner.
WK: Tell something about Iceland.
JJ: Iceland is a very young country. It's not full of tradition like a lot of European countries, in a way it's more like the US. It's a strength, but it can be a weakness too. We don't really have a strong musical tradition, so things feel very open, it's like there a no rules in a way. We have an old and deep literary tradition, but in terms of the other art forms, the scene is quite young. It's also a place
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