Posted on April 5, 2010 - by Mark Zonda

Northern Portrait: Stefan in the mirror

Matinée Recordings is popular for its fine and classy retro pop taste, meant to be a real delight for all indie diy listeners in love with the most romantic pages of the ’80s cassette waves. Northern Portrait it’s a good choice to represent the gist of their musical directions, that’s why we tried to ask some indications to Stefan Larsen about its band.

Mark Zonda:  Northern Portrait, how did you began to write songs and what did lead the band where it’s now

Stefan: Both Michael (who plays the drums, and has written some of the music in Northern Portrait) and I (who write most of the stuff) began writing songs when we were around fourteen. In those days we wrote some very early-Beatles inspired songs. Just before Northern Portrait was formed we had a duo called The Mirror Lounge where the music was more filmic and mainly inspired by Chris Isaak and David lynch movie soundtracks. I have been very much into indie pop for quite a few years, so I suppose that was the main background for Northern Portrait.

Mark Zonda:  Beatles Vs Smiths, who wins?

Stefan: That’s a tough one. Can’t we have them both? The thing with the Beatles is that they have written and recorded so many brilliant records and when they’re at their best, no one beats them. But then again, some of their stuff is absolutely unbearable. The Smiths on the other hand have kept an incredibly low rate of rubbish. I might actually go for a completely different option: Pulp. Their output when they were on Island Music is probably my all-time favourite music.

Mark Zonda: Didn’t Pulp and Jarvis lose touch with their fans in the end? Being loyal with fandom: how’s that relevant?

Stefan: Pulp might have lost some of their massive popularity and probably a lot of their more casual fans after the album Different Class, which was such an enormous success. But I simply cannot recommend their two last albums enough. This Is Hardcore and We Love Life are both beautiful and very rich on details and are ever growing masterpieces, in my opinion. My love for Pulp is not just a routine reply when asked about my favourite band – I’ve had musical love affairs with many different artists over the years and I have very high regards for a handful of groups, but Pulp seems to be only of those I always come back to. Jarvis Cocker’s first solo album is fabulous too. As a music fan I see absolutely no point in loyalty for loyalty’s sake. My personal taste is in constant development, and even though there are artists I probably give more chances than others before letting them slide down the list of personal favourites, I think I have quite a healthy way of seeing things.

Mark Zonda: How you came to sign for Matinée, and what’s your opinion on this label and other artists in it?

Stefan: The story with Matinée is that Jimmy who runs the label simply wrote to us after we’d only existed for a month or so and said he wanted to put out our music. That’s basically it. We are of course very happy about that – Matinée recordings is perfect for us. The other bands on the label are very inspiring; my personal favourites are The Math and Physics Club, The Siddeleys, The Electric Popgroup, Bubblegum Lemonade and Strawberry Whiplash. Oh, and then Slipslide – well, to be honest I like them all.

Mark Zonda: The cover of your works are really expressive. Are you influenced by Belle & Sebastian estetic or are you just randmo criminal art lovers?

Stefan: I really like B&S but I wouldn’t say they were the main influence on our record sleeves. For the album the basic idea came from the fact that we have two architects, one son-of-two-architects, and me who also have an interest in architecture – a nice building seemed to connect us all very nicely. And I really like the slightly eerie feeling of the very nice, almost too perfect looking villa. I think: “something must be wrong there”.

Mark Zonda: So I guess you inevitably like Architectures in Helsinky! What’s your impression on New Zeland / Australian scene?

Stefen: I’ve never been to Helsinki, unfortunately. As we’re from Denmark, Finland isn’t the first place we go holidaying. Danes seem to prefer somewhere a bit warmer. I have been to the other Scandinavian countries, though, and Finland is definitely somewhere I must go very soon. I don’t know much about the architecture in Australia/New Zealand apart from the Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s Opera house in Sidney. If you’re asking about my impressions of the music scene, I love The Lucksmiths and some of the Crowded House stuff. The Guild League are brilliant too, but if you have some suggestions, please let me know.

Mark Zonda: Your first album. Was it an tought experience to record it and release it? What your future listeners has to espect from it?

Stefan: The recording of the album was quite a long process due to a couple of circumstances; we had to get the live band working, we did quite a bit of touring last year too, and then the album is recorded on some rather primitive equipment in a bedroom, so there was a lot of learning to do to produce the sound that we wanted it to have. The balancing of the different tracks also took quite some time. But then I have to say that I’m very happy about the result, and I think I’ll leave it to the listeners to judge it. But they certainly should expect some jangly guitars.

Northern Portrait – “Murder Weapon”

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