Interview – Young Dreams

Young Dreams is a 12-piece musical ‘collective’ who serve up a multifaceted and supremely ear-pleasing sound described by many as ‘tropicala’ pop, which is weird considering the band are from Norway.

In September 2010 Young Dreams popped their debut single, ‘Young Dreams,’ onto their facebook page and have had music critics and discerning listeners jizzing in their pants ever since.

BBM pulled two of the collective, founder Matias Tellez and vocalist Rune Vandaskog, aside for a chat about the band as well as the general shitness of most modern pop music.

So how are you both? What have you been up to today?

Rune: We’re in Burgen – it’s really cold. We’re doing fine but it’s winter.
Matias: I overslept today. I was supposed to be in the office at 11 but I woke up at 12.30 in shock thinking, ‘woah! I overslept.’ It’s fucked up, yeah it was awful.

It couldn’t have been that bad?!

It was because I woke up, and I kind of half got out of bed at 9.30, but then somehow I ended up in bed again.

Yeah, that happens to me a lot… So, tell me, if you had to summarise Young Dreams in 3 words, what would they be?

Matias: Err, Ambitious, exploring and big. I think that’s 3 good words.
Rune: Dynamic, confusing [both laugh] but rewarding.

What do you think is new about your music?

Matias: Well it’s not really a new thing because it’s inspired by lots of old music from the 16th Century to the 20th Century. The new thing is the instrumentation – we use a lot of synthesisers [and] modern technology to record and produce the songs. You know, once in a while there kind of pops up a band or musician that wants to do something more. In the time that we’re living in, this [Young Dreams] was kind of a reaction to all the shit that’s around – the laziness in contemporary pop composing.

Ok, so what do you think is shit contemporary music – give me some examples.

Rune: You can just go into whatever chart you have, like billboard or something, and everything that’s at the top there. But that’s the good thing though; we’re not competing with that. It would be nice though, it would be a triumph to enlighten the listener, to be on one of those top lists, but it’s a long way. But you know the world is so strange these days – anything can happen.

So what type of person do you think listens to Young Dreams?

Matias: It’s difficult to say, you know, anyone can listen to it – we’re not trying to exclude anyone, we’re not mad that people listen to the singles charts, not anything like that. We just want to make something that you don’t wash your dishes or vacuum your living room to. You can listen to it just for the details, if you’re interested in that kind of stuff, or you can just listen to it because you like the beat or the synthesisers. Everyone is different basically.

Were you surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to your debut single ‘Young Dreams?’

Rune: Yes and no I guess. I mean it was Matias’ project first, so when we all got to know the music through him we were all like, “yeah, wow this is really, really good,” so we weren’t surprised that other people had that same reaction. So of course we are really glad that it’s getting recognised but we’re not surprised.
Matias: I think I agree, but at the same time I am kind of surprised because people seem to like all this music that is really bad – you know – and it’s so strange! I don’t know if people like Young Dreams for the same reasons that I like it, but it’s cool that people like it. And probably there are a lot of people like me that are a bit frustrated about what’s on the top charts, you know, and kinda’ think “wow, finally there’s someone who makes music the way I want to hear it,” and that’s really nice.

So why do you guys have 12 band members? Do you need that many people to create your sound?

Rune: Errm, no. It’s not like everyone is playing an instrument on every song but they’re still kind of contributing in other ways – lyrics and other things. So I don’t know why it’s 12 – that’s just how many we happen to be. But then, 2 of the guys just write lyrics and 2 others have other bands as well. So right now, when we’re touring and on stage it’s like 7 people, and there’s emotion all of the time. It’s like the world, you know, like the plates – the surface is moving all the time.

How do you feel about the comparisons made between you guys and The Beach Boys?

Matias: I love The Beach Boys, not all of [their] stuff, like until it snapped for Brian Wilson I guess. But you know, he had this ambition, like, you get this enormous amount of energy once in your life and it comes at a time when you just wanna’ make something that’s really great. And you kinda knew all the time that you could do it, but you never did it – and then you think, why the fuck don’t I just do it? And he [Brian Wilson] was in that situation – he wanted to do something that was different, something where he could extract the essence of your brain and intellect and everything you know about music.

Your video for Young Dreams, which has two kids running around an empty house with hammers and baseball bats, is a bit creepy. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Matias: The video was Kristoffer’s – the guy who directed it – idea and we kinda’ just gave him carte blanche to do whatever he interpreted from our music and I guess that’s what he saw – something cosy but a bit scary as well [laughs].

Can you tell us anything about your debut album due out next year?

Rune: It’s a bit more ambitious, I guess. If you took those words from the beginning of the interview, it’s all of that.
Matias: It’s got more complex structures in the songs and longer compositions – some songs are 5 minutes, some are 3, some are 11 and some are 8. You know, you’ve got some pocket symphonies.

Wow – sounds good. So finally – and most importantly – what did you both have for breakfast this morning?

Rune: [laughs] I had some pie which I made yesterday – that’s really British.

Yeah it is! What kind of pie?
Rune: Spinach and Feta.
Matias: He made it himself – like the crust and everything – and it’s really good! I had this thing that I made the other day when I didn’t have anything else to put on my toast – its toast with creamy cheese, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and this chilli oil my mother makes.

Yum – you guys do breakfast well! Anyway, thanks for speaking to us – enjoy lunch!

Thanks, bye!

Check out the video for Young Dreams’ single ‘Young Dreams’ here:

By Rebecca Jones
Twitter: @RebeccaEJones