Posted on February 22, 2009 - by Mark Zonda

Norwegian Good

The first time I heard of “Soda Fountain Rag” was probably from some niche indie-zine. One day I was talking of recent music discoveries with a friend of mine (Alessandro from Le Man Avec Le Lunettes) when he told me:”Soda Fountain Rag is a very good one! I’m in love with her song recently. Watch out ’cause she’s gonna play in your town”.

Since then I had the chance to be entrateined by one of the most genious and underrated indie-pop writers of nowaday’s scene. It took years, ep, CD-R and many live shows, but finally I was lucky enough to have a little interview with young lady Ragnhild Hogstad Jordah (cut’n'paste c’est d’oblige when you’re dealing with norhtern names)

Mark Zonda: How did your passion for writing music started to grow on you? Do you recall the first song you ever wrote?

Ragnhild: The first SFR-song I wrote was called The Catcher. In my opinion one of the weirder SFR-songs. I recorded it over again in Italy last year, so it will be on the next record. I don’t remember how I started writing music really. Back in school we were doing composition (I was in the music department of the school), and then I was mainly making a lot of noise incorporating the twelve-tone technique and stuff like that. After a while I got very bored with that, and after a period of “alternative” rock I started making pop songs. Pop is more fun and more unlimited.

Mark Zonda: I think that you’ve got an unique skill for catching the gist of the nature of pop tunes in their most naked form. A song from Soda Fountain Rag would be a great song if performed quite by any musician. Is there any particular state or condition that helps you to write song, or is it just random talent?

Ragnhild: Thanks! I think I have written SFR songs in just about any mood that exists, except deep sorrow. Anger, happiness, depression and boredom all work fine. The best starting point is to have either a clearly defined subject of the song, a piece of the lyrics, or some riff or melody to work with. For me the lyrics are really important, and I generally care more for the songs that have (for me) meaningful lyrics.

Mark Zonda: Which artists would you like to cover a song of yours, and which songs?

Ragnhild: I would like to hear the Manics do “Go!” – with a real guitar hero solo by Bradfield!

Mark Zonda: I really missed the dog. It was a surprise when you introduced Ludvig to the fandom via pics and lyrics. What’s the story behind him?

Ragnhild: I miss the dog too, and I think about him every day. Ludvig was owned by the singer in Herr Nilsson and his wife. Me and Anders were the dog-sitters, and we would go for long walks with him in the streets of Bergen. Sometimes he was sleeping over at my house for weekends. Anders and Ludvig played a lot of football in our garden. Ludvig brought a sense of purpose in dark moments, and tons of happy moments.

Mark Zonda: The strangest and unespected things I heard from you is that you can play violin and you back up Herr Nilsson live shows. Why is that artist so little known abroad? Can you introduce us to his music?

Ragnhild: Herr Nilsson is a really great band to be a part of. I don’t know if it’s inappropriate to brag about a band you’re in, but I think Herr Nilsson should be far bigger than it is. Terje (the singer) writes all the songs, and he is by far Norway’s best songwriter. We’re recording a new album this spring, and I think it’ll be great – both that it will be a great album and that it will be a lot of fun to spend some time in a studio again. I love studios. The first Herr Nilsson album is available for downloading from its space myspace. com/downloadimnoelvis

Soda Fountain Rag – “Walking with my angel”

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