What are your names?
Alexandra Bråten and Jo Frøytlog

What is the band’s name?
Draumir

How did you come up with the band’s name?
“Draumir” is actually a made-up word that doesn’t exist in any language. For Norwegian speakers, “Draumir” sounds like a variant of “dreams.” Our music has been described as “dreamy,” so in that sense, it’s definitely a fitting name!

What is your genre of music?
That’s a difficult question for us to answer! We do a variant of pop music, but it doesn’t resemble the pop music dominating the charts today. Our music has been described as a unique form of “Nordic noir.” Melodic and melancholic. If any readers have a good description of our music, we welcome suggestions!

Give us a little bio about you.
We are a Norwegian band. We’ve previously released two albums and will be releasing our third in November. Throughout the spring and summer, we’ve shared a new song about once a month, and we’ll continue to do that until the whole album is out.  

What made you go into music?
We feel like we’ve always been involved in music in some way. We’re not the type of band with big visions and plans beyond making good music. Our goal is to write the best songs possible and record them in a way that captures something authentic. We do music because these processes—writing, recording, performing—are very meaningful to us. But we also do other things besides music; Alexandra makes short films and Jo is a learning researcher.

Who are your influences?
We are influenced by everything around us. If you’re thinking about other bands and musicians, we love classic craftsmanship, which we find in jazz, rock, pop, and more obscure genres. Some artists we’ve followed most of our lives are Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Mark Knopfler. But we also listen to newer things.

Are you signed?
No. We are releasing our new music on our own label.

You released your single ‘The Breeze’, tell us more about the single and the meaning behind the song.
It’s a piano-based and dark ballad about coming to terms with change and letting go of bitterness.

Describe the track in two words.
Slow and dark.

What was the writing and recording process like?
This song was actually started several years ago, but something was missing that we couldn’t quite pinpoint. After feedback from a critical friend, we reworked the chorus and opened it up more. The old chorus is actually the basis for the instrumental part towards the end of the song when we slow down and make everything darker and heavier. The recording was done live in the studio, and then we added Paul Niehaus’s steel guitar afterward.

Who did you work with on the track?
We worked with Paul Niehaus on “The Breeze.” He is a Nashville-based guitarist who has been involved in many exciting projects since the late ’80s, including other bands we like, such as Lambchop and Calexico. Paul Niehaus is a great guy and a fantastic, creative guitarist. We also have Torstein Lofthus on drums, Audun Erlien on bass, and Ture Janson on electric guitar. Phill Brown (Led Zeppelin/Beth Gibbons/Bob Marley, among others) is an English producer and engineer we’ve worked with for many years, and he mixed this song.

Can we expect a music video and if so, tell us more about the making.
We don’t plan to make a music video for this one, but we recently collaborated with Surrealism Today and Jay Gidwitz on a video for the song “Beautiful Creatures,” which will also be on our upcoming album. If you’re interested, you can read about the process and see the video here: https://surrealismtoday.com/draumirs-beautiful-creatures/

Can we expect an EP or Album and if so, can you tease us a little.
We are releasing our third album in November.

Do you have any live shows coming up?
We are currently in the planning phase for concerts, so just keep an eye on our website draumir.com or our social media for updates.

What else can we expect in 2024?
We will be doing several concerts in the second half of 2024, primarily in Norway. And we’ll release our third album in November 2024.

Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Hopefully, we’ll be doing the same thing we are today—trying to write the best songs possible and making fair recordings of them. And hopefully, we’ll be even better at it than we are today!

What quote or saying do you always stick by?
We don’t have a motto that we live by. However, we do have a fundamental belief in creating our own luck! Coincidences can be powerful, but there’s a lot one can do to place oneself in situations where coincidences can have a positive impact. We are quite mindful of such things.

When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Capo, extra guitar strings, melodica. That’s only three things, but we think we can manage well with these three!

Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok