CARMEN ELISE ESPANAES
SAVN, WILL TELL US HIS SECRETS!
By Darkzen
After a long time, ex The Sins Of Thy Beloved, Stig Johansen and Anders Thue, formed a new band with the name Savn. To that end they recruited Carmen Elise Espenaes, Liv Kristine's sister and a muse to us all.
Our beautiful and talented friend Carmen Elise Espanaes singer of Midnattsol and now with his band Savn! She will tell us a little of your album, and many other things! for all of you!
So go!
Hi! Carmen! How are you??
Thank you very much for this new opportunity!
Carmen: You`re welcome, it`s my pleasure! J
Tell us my friend, what has happened, you were doing all this time?
Carmen: I have had a busy time with lots of great events! First of all I`ve got an adorable daughter, so now I`m a mum J As you know, we have also written and released the first album of SAVN, hope you like it!! J Besides working on a full-time basis, we have also been writing songs for Midnattsol,even though the song writing process for the forth album has lasted longer than the other ones. So I haven`t been bored at all hehe!! ;)
With this great surprise of your new band, I was impressed, as this project start?
Carmen: Yes, I was surprised too when Stig contacted me ca 1,5 year ago and wanted me to do guest vocals on one of their songs they were going to record in studio as a demo. I didn`t plan to sing in a new band or anything, but when I got to hear the first songs of SAVN, I was really blown away, I just had to say yes! I wrote the refrain like out of the blue and a couple of weeks later I recorded it in studio. I was super nervous, because I didn`t know if they liked my melody or the way of singing it, but fortunately they did. They asked me after a while if I would like to sing on more songs, and finally to be a permanent member of the band, because we worked so well together and had lots of fun. That was the beginning of a new musical journey for me, which has been amazing so far J
Who is the creator or creators of the new band?
Carmen: Stig, our guitarist and “growler” (he also plays bass and the drums) found SAVN some years ago. His former band TSOTB hadn`t been active during many years, and time was up to start a new musical chapter in his life. He began writing some basic guitar lines, the first ideas of SAVN. Then Anders joined him and they continued the song writing process together.
Tell us a little about the band members?
Carmen: SAVN is a little harmonic band, only consisting of three people: Stig Johansen, Anders Thue and I J The two boys played in TSOTB together and are good friends. I also knew them before I joined SAVN, but now we have become close friends. They are some of the nicest people I know – so lovely, funny and down-to-earth! We have huge fun together and laugh all the time. Some jokes have already become part of our vocabulary ;)
Which means Savn name?
Carmen: Because of all the years of silence at the music front with his former band, Stigfelt a kind of deprivation of music. He didn`t feel like himself anymore and neededto start making music again. That`s the reason why he decided to found a band called SAVN, which means deprivation as well as longing/desire for. You can see this meaning behind the band name at the cover as well, where the nature has overgrown a piano, because it hasn`t been used for such a long time. I`ve discovered it and am ready to make music again.
Its kind will be similar to Midnattsol? Folk will have both and they both will have to Goth?
Carmen: It has elements from Midnattsol, like the folk touch you mention, and of course my voice, but at the same time I think the music in the two bands have many differences. One big difference is that in Midnattsol the guitars play a very important role and we have lots of guitar solos. In SAVN the piano and the fiddles are in focus instead and play a huge role in our music. Additionally, we use real string instruments in SAVN like violins, cello and fiddles – which is the first time ever for me, it was a great new experience! You could also say that the song structure is more complex in Midnattsol.
The album will have some surprise special? as some duet? Some participation from some other singer?
Carmen: Yes, we have two very special guest singers on the album, both of them in a duet with me: my sister Liv Kristine from Leaves Eyes and Michelle from the german band End of Green. It means a lot to me that Liv wanted to sing on “I Am Free”, because it is the first time she is singing on one of my records. I had this melody in my head how she should sing, and she sang it 100% how I wanted it– only much better, she did a fantastic job! The same thing happened with the vocal lines from Michelle. When I listened to “The Demons In Me”, it came to my mind that it would be great to have a version with clean male vocals as well. I am a big fan of End of Green, and then we thought about Michelle, his voice is so emotional and melancholic. The result was just magical and so beautiful, we got Goosebumps the first time I heard the duet in the end of the song. But we have also other guest musicians on our debut album like the famed Lingua Mortis Orchestra on ‘Sorrowful’ and ‘Lengselens Hånd’ directed and recorded by composer and Rage guitarist Victor Smolski, the fiddle players Dag Bjørkedal and Lillian Hodne and the cello-player Christoph Kutzer. All in all we are forever grateful for the awesome job all the guest musicians did, the album wouldn`t be the same without any of them!!
You can tell us of their debut album?
Carmen: Our first album contains a good portion metal and rock, with elements of goth and folk in between. Beautiful melodies from string instruments and piano are often to be heard, and there is a lot of melancholy. I think fans from different music areas will enjoy our songs, because we have got feedback from different kind of people that they like SAVN, that`s so cool! The best way for the listeners to get an impression of the album, is to give it a listen themselves though J
When it comes to the lyrics, all the songs are about “savn” (deprivation, longing for, desire) in some way: missing someone, death, being lonely, losing hope, lost love and being stuck with negative thoughts, to mention some of them, and all are based on experiences or thoughts from Stig`s, Anders`and my life. I think many people can relate to the songs in one way or another, and I hope that it can give them hope or the feeling of not being alone with one`s thoughts and feelings.
The disc will be atmospheric, the songs will have continuity and be the seal of your new band, with a unique style?
Carmen: Yes, so far the feedback we`ve got in general has been that we have a unique style because of the focus on piano and fiddles instead of solo guitars combined with the other elements that I`ve mentioned above. We`ve also heard that the songs are atmospheric and melancolic. All in all, we are so happy for the positive response that our first album has got, thank you to everyone out there supporting us!
What a surprise we have our beautiful friend Carmen Elise Espanaes to is year??? Midnattsol both as to Savn?
Carmen: Yes, I love both my bands and both of them are my priorities. It`s busy of course, but I can`t let go of any of them!! You see, music and singing are my life, and the music of SAVN and Midnattsol gives me very much. Right now we are writing songs for our forth album in Midnattsol and we have also began writing some new songs in SAVN as well. Stig comes up with new ideas all the time, it`s so exciting to see the new songs getting created J
Thank you very much!! by these words my friend! a hug!
Carmen: Thank YOU for this great interview and the support! J We really hope that you like the album, and that our new songs will give you something special!! If you want to pre-listen to our songs, go to Soundcloud
You can order the album on most online retailers such as Amazon, EMP-Online, Play.com and merchandise in our official webstore: http://www.backstreet-merch.com/stores/savn
Check out our first music video for the song “Hang On” at
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