Northern Project (Ten Questions with...) Exclusive interview
Northern Project is Finn Kverno and Lars Hansem from Norway. Under this name, tracks have been released on labels such as Future Sound Of Egypt, We Are Trance, Abora Recordings, Resonate Records, Diverted Recordings, Molekular Sounds, Elpida Music, Drizzly Music and others. The gentlemen shared some information about their thoughts on Trance music. I invite you to an interview conducted exclusively for Visions Of Trance.
1. What is trance music to you?
Trance music is what we live and breathe everyday right now. The reason we love it so much is the energy it can bring along with the pure emotions of melodic elements. That’s why it has always been so unique and close to us.
2. How do you perceive the state of the current trance music scene?
It’s got a lot of diversity right now. The times we live in is unique where everyone can easily express themselves through music and there are new talents sending out music every day. We think that is great! The scene as a whole is quite divided, with the big heavy hitters who started in the late 90’s or early 2000’s still focused on their passion for the music and there’s some newcomers that are more oriented on the visual part.
3. What are your goals in producing trance music?
To us, making music is a process of expressing our feelings. Producing music can sometimes almost be like our own therapy session when going through hard times ourselves so the goal must be to be able to express those feelings onto the listener in a good way through our music so others can enjoy the fruits of our labor.
4. Who was your inspiration to start producing trance music?
Vincent De Moor, Ferry Corsten, Tiesto and Armin amongst many others.
5. Which song are you most proud of and why?
Our first breakthrough was ‘In the Darkness’, which was our first track to get ASOT support so that was a huge highlight, and it really gave us a taste for more. ‘Not Going Back’ is also a track we value highly as it was featured on the prestigious In Search of Sunrise 20 compilation and because of the emotions it reflects.
6. Will your future releases be collaborations with other artists? Are you more into solo productions?
We are always open to new collaborations if the idea is good or if we hear an artist that has a certain sound to add that will make the collab interesting, but sometimes we stumble upon ideas we want to keep for ourselves.
7. What inspires you to create trance music?
Daily life in general, maybe a snippet you hear or another song, an emotion you feel etc. Anything can be inspirational as long as you’re in the mood for it.
8. What hardware and software do you use to create trance music?
We use FL-Studio with software synths.
9. How do you perceive the influence of social media on the career development of a trance artist?
Can’t live without it today. Everybody is online either creating and posting, or following a creator or musician, but it has become a big jungle of noise to be honest. For us it’s a way to get our music out there to hopefully reach someone who happens to like our music and grow that way, and a way to communicate with other producers.
10. Finally, what would you like to say to your fans?
Thank you! When we started out on this journey our goal was to express our own emotions. Knowing that someone else likes our music means a lot to us and it really inspires us to keep on this journey!