LEAVES EYES Interview with Liv Kristine

XM: On behalf of xplosivemetal.com thank you for this opportunity to reconnect with Leaves Eyes and with you Liv. Congratulations on the completion and April 22nd release of your 4th album, Meredead! For those of you reading this interview, go to http://www.myspace.com/leaveseyespage/blog/542625509 to read Liv''s own translation of Meredead and some great insights to the creative process behind the lyrics!

XM: One of the things I enjoy most about you Liv is your great and abstract mind (lives and breathes concepts and ideas). While this seems like a natural asset for musicians, in my experience it's not the majority. While there are many great performance artists there are fewer creative artists who value the process over performance. Thank you for creating a new Leaves Eyes experience for us with Meredead! There are a number of 'new experiences' for the listener in Meredead; languages, and instrumentation.
Liv: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for these wonderful words! This warms my heart. The critics have been absolutely amazing so far. The live appearances we just did were very energetic with a fantastic audience! It feels like something wonderful is happening.If I am able to touch the hearts of my fans and friends with our art, I am incredibly happy!

XM: Liv, your passion for history and language is a real driver in the collective creative process. Is each project a new learning experience for you by way of the research you do? Can you share with us a story about something that you learned this time that became an inspiration or influenced for you with this project?
Liv: Every album is to me a new learning experience, even every song. I just let the music inspire me concerning the manner and the setting of my singing, my lyrics, the linguistic choice and the lyrics' themes. This time, after having composed 3-4 songs, I felt a strong urge to open up my Old-English grammar books and re-study it. There is, however, one story that I would like to share with you: At the Metal Female Voces Festival, Belgium, 2010, I met Maite Itoiz and her husband John Kelly (Elfenthal). That day our roads crossed, and I am so grateful for that. It was a magic moment. Maite and John are some of the finest, most warm-hearted, truly honest and beautiful persons I've met ever. Moreover, Maite's voice has been a great inspiration for me for a long time - she is an outstanding singer, composer and producer, and plays a number of instruments. Meeting Maite and John gave me and my husband so much inspiration, so much energy in the finishing phase of "Meredead".

XM: The incorporation of some new instrumentation is something I really love about this album. Thorsten comes to mind, can you tell us a story about Thorsten's influence on the instrumentation? (Maybe my intuition is broken and if it is of course please share a little bit about the process in deciding what choosing what new instrumentation you wanted to incorporate this time.) Was I right in experiencing less of Alex's usually hard to miss powerful vocals this time; there in a more subdued way?
Liv: Thorsten, Alexander and myself are great fans of traditional music, moreover, Thorsten plays a number of traditional string instruments. For the production of "Meredead" it was highly important to us that each song had its own "face", individuality and perfect, crystal clear sound to strengthen the emotional effect. We just let the music inspire us to add new and interesting "spices" to our music, like pipes, nyckelharpa (Swedish folk instrument), the fiddle, cello, classical orchestra or the flute. That's what makes the album that diverse and exciting as you discover a different story, different instrumental combinations, different ways of singing even in various languages in each song. Due to the number of guest musicians on this album, Alex is less present on this album. That was the decision of the three of us after having recorded all guest vocals. Alex is absolutely fine with that! You can hear much more of him on our just-released EP "Melusine" by the way!

XM: Clearly the woman on the cover of the album is a concept of a woman who is both extraordinarily beautiful, cold, and powerful. The artist, Stefan Heilemann, http://www.heilemania.de/, is an exceptional artist in his own right. Can you describe the creative process between the album, the band and Stefan in arriving at the cover he created for you?
Liv: We've known Stefan for some years already, he is also the mind behind the artwork of "Njord", and my solo album "Skintight". Stefan and Alexander (who is a fantastic painter) exchange ideas continuously. It seems like Stefan is able to read Alexander's mind somehow. Stefan is truly exceptional! He is also my favourite photographer. We are very pleased with the artwork of "Meredead" and "Melusine", too! It's funny, many people already asked me why I'm not on the album cover of both of them. I think I look too "sweet" and "angel-like" for the album. She represents both the beauty of the sea and at the same time the dangerous ocean! I think the girl on the cover is really beautiful! I am going to ask Stefan if I can meet her some day, hehe.

** If you are reading this interview go to Stefan's website to get a closer look at his both dark and comical body of work. **

XM: Leaves Eyes has continued to collaborate with natural talent in the family, this time a new collaboration with your sister, Carmen Elise Espenæs of Midnattsol. The collective beauty and talent the two of you bring to this project must be an exceptional experience for you; can you share with us a little bit about that experience this time?
Liv: I had wanted to sing a duet in Norwegian with my sister, Carmen, Midnattsol since our debut "Lovelorn"! It feels so good having her next to me. I think our voices complete each other perfectly.I am so proud of her. On stage we are truly a magic sisters' team. I just arrived from tour, and I am now looking forward to further shows and tours. In April we toured with my sister Carmen's band Midnattsol, and then in May we joined Tarja. Wow! Both tours were full of magic moments when "the ladies" get together! It was fantastic to have my sweet and lovely sister next to me on stage, singing in Norwegian dialect on "Kraakevisa" and the epic piece "Sigrlinn"! My heart was pounding, I am so proud of Carmen! She is such a sweet-heart! We will definitely sing a few songs together on the up-coming tour with Leaves' Eyes and Midnattsol. In a few days she will be here to practice. I am really looking forward to it! You bet we are helping each other out, ALWAYS! My sister is the only one with whom I can make really silly jokes in Norwegian (except from my son, who speaks Norwegian, too). Next week I will visit her in Norway!

XM: Will we see Carmen on stage with you in Toronto?!
Liv: I do not think so, as she is working as a class-teacher and school already started after the holidays in Norway when we plan to play in Toronto. Unfortunately. Watch out for up-coming US tour dates, by the way!

XM: (Liv, After our last meeting in Toronto I bought Alex's album that he collaborated with his sister on, After The Storm. It's another great outcome of the 'Leaves/Atrocity' family!)

XM: Relationship is really important for a band. Going back to the darker days at the end of your experience with Theatre of Tragedy (reference September 2011 xplosviemetal.com interview http://www.xplosivemetal.com/index.php/interviews/150-leaves-eyes-interview) is it safe to assume that the level of trust with members of the Leaves Eyes Family is something that creates greater opportunities for risk with each other and the creative process? ( I am not just referring to you and Alex, but also with Thorsten, and others in the 'family' of musicians that you have become. I know there have been some efforts at suggesting the relationship is restrictive but this album states clearly it's anything but!)
Liv: The feeling within the band and inbetween the band members has never ever been as positive, strong and inspiring as it is now since the latest line-up changes. That's utterly important for the existence and the creativity of the band. I am so so proud of my guys!
It's such a pleasure composing, recording and touring with them. We already knew Sander van der Meer and Roland Navratil long time before they joined the band. Sander replaced Matze on guitars, who quit because of family growth, whereas Roland replaced Chris Antonopoulus, who had different plans for his future. J.B. is our session player on bass, joining in after Alla Fedynitsch decided to pay more attention to her 9 to 5 job. After joining in, Sander and Roland were immediately members of the Leaves' Eyes family. They travel from Holland and Austria to stay and work at Mastersound Studio as often as possible. We often hang out at my house after work, as I love cooking spicy Indian food and baking my special "Norwegian" cakes, moreover, sharing some bottles of wine.

XM: Liv, very exciting is the new and about to be released video for the track To France! I read that you collaborated with award winning Revolver (www.revolver.se). In terms of the physical energy that goes into this type of production, can you tell us the story about this castle location and maybe something that happened, funny, spooky or challenging?
Liv: "To France" that we covered, by Mike Oldfield and Maggie Railey, is actually our promotion single. Moreover, we already shot a video for it in Sweden a while ago in a Scottish castle with Revolver/Patric Ulläeus, my favourite producer. It was my guitarist Sander's idea to cover it. I practiced "for fun" along to Maggie Railey when I was little, in front of the mirror, with a hairbrush in my hand. Her voice has always fascinated me. That morning, as we arrived at the castle, the weather was quite gloomy, with rain and wind. One hour later, as I was prepared to be filmed, standing at the old mosaic window you see in the clip, the sun rays forced themselves through the clouds, and shone through the glass! Patric, his team and myself got that fantastic moment on film and you can see in the clip! That was truly a magic moment. The whole stone-built castle was filled with warmth and light, moreover, we had sun until we left Sweden two days later, which is very untypical for Gothenburg weather in February/March!

XM: Liv, I know you are an athlete, a runner and understand the physical as part of the creative fuel. You have brought that together with the fuel of nature by building your own studio with a view of wine fields, fjords, and the forest, integrating nature to the process. How has the studio created more freedom for you? Is it available for use by other bands? If so, who has already been a client/band/label that has used your studio for recording and production?
Liv: Oh yes, other bands are very welcome to our studio. We did a great number of other bands next to our own productions. We built our own studio 2,5 years ago, close to our home. The fact that we have our own "Mastersound Studio", makes it much easier for me to plan my daily life into working hours, and family time. For me, there is a strict plan: when I work I work my a... off (I am not fond of having breaks, actually); but when my family is there, I enjoy quality time with my family, and nothing else. This is how I am able to recharge my battery. I am so lucky to have both; music and family - two dreams coming true! Apart from that I love sports, especially running, skiing, yoga...I love the sauna, the nature, reading books about Nordic and Celtic mythology, Paulo Coelho, phonetics and ancient languages...

XM: Liv, thanks so much for reconnecting with xplosivemetal.com! Congratulations on this album! Please give our best to Alex, Uncle Thorsten, Sanders and the rest of the family.
Liv: I will! Thank you for reconnecting! All the best! And to our fans and friends: Thank you so much for the great times we shared on our North-American tours, I hope there will be many more to come! Thank you for always being there for me and my band.