Soen was formed by Martin Lopez and Joel Ekelöf back in 2010. Since then, the Swedish metal act have never shied away from exploration and analysis of self or society, both as musicians and expressionists. The band have recently released their new album Memorial, and we had a chance to have a chat with guitarist Cody Ford from the band. Have a look at the interesting conversation below:
Can you tell us how Soen was formed? Why pick this name? Is there a story behind it?
Soen was formed by Martin and Kim in 2004. Kim knew Joel and thought he might be a good fit on vocals for the band and yeah, the rest is history. The story behind the name is that Martin’s friend’s child had a really nice name that was similar to Soen, they switched a letter around and that’s all there is to it. The idea was to have a name that didn’t really mean anything, just simply a word – something to make you ask, “okay, what’s this?” and check it out for yourself without having any preconceptions about what the music might sound like.
How excited are you for the new album, Memorial? How long did it take to write the album?
We’re very excited! There’s a good energy in the band right now, I think we’re all really proud of this one. I’ve been spinning it a lot with my family, and they’re already obsessed with it so it’s a good sign!
In terms of the writing process, we always start around the time we release the previous album…so in this case, IMPERIAL. The writing stages really picked up in the summer of 2022. It’s always festival season around that time of year, so we’re typically playing shows on the weekends and having downtime during the week. We spent almost all of that downtime writing before we got on tour. During the tour, we kept working on the album whenever we had the time or energy, and we pretty much had all the demos done by the end of it. So we got home mid-December and started recording straight away. It was an intense two months of working every day on the record, we really wanted to have things wrapped up by the time we went on our Latin American tour in mid-February. During that tour is when we started to get the mixes and the excitement grew from there.
Watch the official video of the title track “Memorial” on YouTube:
Can you tell us a little about the themes and sounds you have explored in Memorial? How different is it from your earlier releases?
We wanted to make this record our heaviest yet. Massive guitar sounds with really melodious guitar parts. There are lots of solos and even some shred-y ones which haven’t really featured on a Soen album before. I think we expanded our palette in a sense that there are songs that are just straight-up metal, there is a ballad that has a guest vocalist (which we haven’t done before) and another ballad that is very much a different flavor of ballad than maybe people are used to. There are also songs that sound more like classic Soen, so I think there’s something for everyone on the record…it’s a really cool blend of emotions.
Can you share your experience of making the music video of “Unbreakable”? Any special memory from that time?
The whole day was a dream, really. From the hotel we woke up in the show we played later that day. The last time we had played in Conception there was a film crew that filmed our show and did a killer job. We thought, “Hey, next time we’re there let’s get these guys again and shoot a music video.” A few hours before the show we filmed the video, and then the film crew filmed the actual show and blended it together. The magic is that the Chilean crowds are some of the best we’ve played for… like, Chile might just be the Soen capital of the world. What I love is that there are some fans we’ve already gotten to know quite well from just a few trips there. Some of them greet us at the hotel everytime and give us gifts and they’re just such wonderful people. Seeing them with their eyes lit up in the crowd is just such a great feeling. That night was one the most memorable gigs we’ve ever played.
Let’s talk about the artwork of Memorial, what is the theme behind it?
Of course it can have many interpretations. For me, it signifies the toxicity of the outside world juxtaposed with the power of love and unity.
Lastly, who inspires your music and sound? What are your near-term and long term plans?
For inspiration I think we’re just all walking antennas trying to pick up on whatever inspiration we can get. It can be the world around us, literally any type of music, or our own personal lives. You can find inspiration in the most mundane things if you look at them in the right light.
As for our plans, we plan to take MEMORIAL across Europe, North America and Latin America and hopefully play some places we’ve never played before. We’re going to continue writing in the meantime and just see where all of it takes us….we’re enjoying the ride!
Get the new album Memorial here.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Saffer
