Barrens: "We need to be really fucking careful with how we use AI and DYI ethics help on that mindset"

When a sound is very dear to you and has also gone through an undeniable period of calm, the obvious thing to do is try to discover every well-hidden corner where it still lives. That is how I came to know the Swedish Barrens, who, after an impressive number of bands in which their members have been involved (and, in most cases, continue to be involved), eventually found themselves forming this post-metal outfit. While all three members were part of Scraps Of Tape, who went on hiatus (we will find out why below), Johan G Winther, Kenneth Jansson and Markku Hilden (you may know him from the early records of Cult Of Luna) decided to move forward with the formation of Barrens. Just last year, they found their fourth member in Robert Wegner.

Following the release of the excellent "Penumbra" in 2019, Barrens took their time, let the quarantine pass and released the excellent "Corpse Lights" just last year. Their appearance at Arctangent Festival was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, although those of you further north may have caught them last spring in Thessaloniki alongside AFLMSMP and Altar of The Stag. As expected, I found myself talking to two Swedes with a deep love for hardcore punk, and we shared our mutual adoration for Fall of Efrafa, our passion for post-metal and our hatred of the meaningless use of artificial intelligence. All of this alongside the DIY culture that nurtured them and still runs through everything they do, as we tried to help Johan relax, having already come down from the stage after appearing there with his other band, Blessings. Read what Barrens have to say and you won't regret it, because their post-metal is simply magical.

I'm sitting here with Barrens at Arctangent Festival a little bit before their show. So how do you feel guys? Are you ready? I see you both look very happy.

K: I'm super stoked. A little bit nervous now because it's just an hour till we enter the stage. I feel good.

J: I did one show already today. (with Blessings)

We felt like "Corpse Lights" being this... The guidance. Something that could both guide and lure you into something terrible

I'll try my best to tell you silly things to forget about it. Recently you have blessed us with a new album called "Corpse Lights", which has a rather of a grim background as its story. So where did you get the inspiration to go towards this way with the new album?

J: We felt the title could explain many different facets of both the music and the work around the music and the themes that we have been working with. Working with relationships and our relationship to the music we make and to each other. So we felt like "Corpse Lights" being this... The guidance. Something that could both guide and lure you into something terrible was a fitting description of a theme for the album. It had a lot of different meanings for us. It's also a very beautiful phrase. I think it kind of catches you a little bit off guard. If you don't know what it is, you want to find out what it is. If you know what it is...

This happened to me, I went ahead and researched what it is. And there are two words that kind of contradict each other. The previous album, "Penumbra", had its own dark perspective. I know what it means because there's another album from a greek band that had the same time, so I find it out this way (look for Sevengill and their "Penumbra"). Do you consider the new album a continuation from "Penumbra" in the theme or like two separate worlds? Because I can find connections.

K: It's not for sure the separated thing. When we started this band, it started when me and Johan we were touring with our other band (Scaps Of Tape) in China and during that tour we had Markku our drummer so we started the band in that time and the album "Penumbra" just came to us super fast. We have rehearsed maybe four or five times before we entered the studio and then we had it. So in some way "Corpse Lights" is our work from that time in 2019 till today. Ιn some way there's a lot of similarities. Back when we recorded "Penumbra" we weren't a band in many ways. But today we are a band that has done so many things together. So we have become more of a union than we were in 2018-2019.

J: This is a little bit more of a collaborative effort writing-wise than the first one.

Scraps Of Tape still exist, but it's very inactive

Yeah, it makes sense now. You first met and then you burst out some music and then you worked for it for a long time. Okay, that was actually my next question because you had all participation in Scraps Of Tape. So what made you close up this chapter and start Barrens?

J: It wasn't really up to us. There were some certain members of the band that they wanted to have a break.

K: So we haven't actually quit. Scraps Of Tape still exist, but it's very inactive.

J: So we still wanted to keep going and they wanted a break. We decided instead of keep doing Scraps Of Tape with just us, which we didn’t want, we started Barrens. So, we'll see. Never say never about Scraps Of Tape, it might happen.

Okay, that's interesting to hear. You've been around Europe pretty much this summer. How has this experience been? You've also been to Thessaloniki in Greece as we talked about before with AFLMSMP and Altar Of The Stag.

K: We toured in March and April together with a band from Bucharest. And that was... I met AFLMSMP. They were super nice guys. And we, with Scraps Of Tape, we tour a lot in Europe, but never that much in the eastern part of Europe. So this spring was a lot of new experiences in the eastern part of Europe.

J: We really wanted to do the eastern part of Europe. like many countries we haven't been to. There's a lot of bands touring Europe but not that often that these smaller bands go east. We come from punk and DIY backgrounds, still reading about early Black Flag touring everywhere playing everywhere. Still I think that's as cool now as it was back then.

So you were playing in hardcore band or just listeners? Both, like coming from punk. I mean, you're coming from Sweden, it makes total sense.

J: Yeah, so all of the guys in the band come from various punk and hardcore backgrounds. But especially I think the scene, the DIY scene and the punk scene, hardcore scene taught us the value of doing it yourself, but like not expecting it to become huge.

K: Taught us to be in a community.

J: Yeah, it's the road to somewhere that counts, is as much of a cliche but it's still... true!

Actually the Balkans have a great squatting and DIY culture so you might find this very interesting to explore.

J: We met a lot of great people this spring and they played at some fantastic places so we're really happy we did it.

I don't want to say AI is 100% bad, but we need to be really fucking careful with how we use AI. It's a tool and it can easily become our master if we use it wrong

What do you keep from the DIY culture in the way that you work with Barrens, which is a little bit more, you know, you have some more conventional approaches to how you work.

J: We do our own artwork, like fuck AI! We work in some videos. Work with ideas. We don't like, I don't want to say AI is 100% bad, but we need to be really fucking careful with how we use AI. It's a tool and it can easily become our master if we use it wrong. The simplest way we keep the DIY culture alive in Barrens is to indeed do things ourselves. We do our own designs. We do our layouts as much as possible or if we can't do it, we work with someone we know. It's just simple things like that, we've booked a lot of our own tours and yeah we drive ourselves to the shows!

Okay so last but not least, I am kind of feeling that there was a few years gap that post rock and post metal were slowing down in the production of new bands and albums but the past let’s say, two or three years there's an explosion of new things so how do you feel about it and do you have any recommendations of new amazing bands?

K: For us at least, the pandemic had a big influence on our work. So I think that it feels like an eternity since the pandemic, but it had a huge impact on the whole culture and the cultural scene. I think that what you’re describing is a reaction from that. There's a lot of new bands coming out now.

J: I also think every genre or sub-genre or whatever, it is goes through ups and downs and during the downs… it's actually not downs, it's just during those more inactive parts. There's people behind the scenes at those times, working on the next thing and I think it's a like post-rock and post-metal and heavier music is still one of the most fertile grounds of being able to push sound to new pathways, especially at a place like Arctangent you get to see that there's so many different types of bands but they still have a common red thread. And I think that's really cool about the genre. I'm really stoked about being a small part of that. I would recommend Norna. It's a band from Sweden, I think they're fucking amazing. They're playing at the Pelagic Fest next weekend in Maasticht. One of the members used to be in a Swedish band called Breach (yeas, those Breach), which is one of the most important bands for me ever. So I think they got two albums out and they are super amazing.

K: I would recommend This Gift is a Curse. It's super good.

Mind-blowing band, I really loved their latest album!

J: Yeah, super good. They're good friends also. We've toured with Blessings that I play in as well, several times. They're fantastic. Great guys and type of people who they're working within what used to be a very narrow like music style, black metal and they're pushing it. They're doing their own thing they're really pushing it.

It's got this crust element that Fall Of Efrafa have…

J: Yes, and I love Fall Of Efrafa..

Yeah me too I'm dying for anything Alex does.

J: I was texting with Mikey from Fall Of Efrafa this morning cause he couldn't make it down to the festival. They're old friends and they're fantastic.

Our time is up but this has been great guys. Let’s meet again in a couple of hours, what do you have to say before your show?

J: Come join us! We can’t wait!

PS: Read more about Barrens’ performance in Arctangent festival here, those guys know how to post…