Q&A with Yndling
We have been big fans of the Norwegian singer, songwriter, and producer Silje Espevik, aka Yndling, since we saw her on stage at the New Colossus Festival 2023. She is now getting ready to release her debut full-length album and has so far put out a string of beautifully dreamy singles. Silje was so nice to answer a few questions about her work and album.
Listen to Yndling’s new single, “Never as Easy,” a collaboration with the Mexican band Petite Amie, and learn more about Silje and her vision in our Q&A.
Tell us a bit about how you started writing music. Do you remember when you thought “I wanna do this!?”
oh that’s such a good question. I played piano as a child, and used to like make small instrumental things and stuff, but I didn’t start with writing proper songs until later on when I picked up the guitar and started dabbeling in GarageBand. It kind of just accumulated into a point where I realized it wasn’t enough to keep as a hobby and I wanted to release music and try properly as an artist.
How do you write and produce your songs? At what point does your frequent collaborator Adrian Sandberg of MARBLES come in?
It really depends, sometimes I’ve written full songs just on the guitar and then make a demo, or i make a song as I go in Logic. I like to write by myself, and then I’ll bring in a producer later on when the lyrics and melody and stuff is all there. Until now, I’ve solely worked with Adrian as you mention, I first contacted him after seeing his band MARBLES live and thinking that whoever produced their music was someone I’d like to work with too and that turned out to be him hehe. He’s worked with me since then and I’m so grateful for his contribution to my sound, our influences are a bit different, which I think have been a very important part in bringing in something unique in Yndling’s overall sound.
Your new album is called Mood Booster (out on August 2 via Spirit Goth). Sometimes, it feels like we all could use a good mood booster. Is that maybe a goal for your music, to leave people in a better mood?
Hehe I absolutely agree that we all could use a good mood booster these days. However my music isn’t quite in the happiness category to be honest. the title track Mood Booster is actually about the state of being too emotionally dependent in a relationship, platonic or romantic, to the point were you suppress your needs to please others. It’s a thin line to walk, balancing your needs and others, and I’m sure most people have experienced being on both sides of an interaction like that – both demanding too much and giving to much. It can also be a defence strategy and is a tendency I have myself, when it’s too much to deal with my own issues I submerge myself in other people’s problems to feel better even when it’s too much to handle – I try to be everybodys “mood booster” if that makes sense.
I hope, one day, we can visit Oslo. Do you have recommendations on how we could connect with the amazing music scene there?
Ohh that would be so cool if you did! I think Oslo is a great place to visit during festival season, and to take in music at festivals such as Øya, or even more underground with emerging artists like Bylarm, I think you’d really love that!
We saw you playing live in New York City with two bandmates, which was fantastic! For an upcoming, bigger tour, what would be your ideal setup?
Thank you, and thanks a lot for coming to our show! I really really appreciated that. I think the ideal setup for me is a full band, at the moment that means 4 people – drummer, bassist, then I play guitar/synth/vocals which I kinda switch up with the forth member also on guitar/synth/samples. I think for a complete setup I’d love one on just synth so that we’d always have two guitarists hehe, so a five piece band would be idea. I also have so much more fun things we could do with visuals and the scene show if I had a bit more of a budget, so I hope that lays somewhere in the future!
After the album release, what comes next for Yndling?
I’m always working on new music, so that’ll be coming for sure! Other than that I’m working hard to play more live, and my biggest project/dream for the next year or so is to try to plan a bigger international tour. So if anyone wants to work with me with regards to booking or just helping me and my project grow, please get in touch!
Thank you, Silje, for your time and the insightful answers. We cannot wait to listen to Mood Boster in its entirety.
