We are a Swedish/Norwegian art and music duo called Lerin / Hystad. Simon is a Swedish multi instrumentalist and
Bettina brings the noise from Norway using various synths and electronics. We make music based on field-recordings
combined with ambient soundscapes, drone, jazz and electronic music. We also make sound installations, video art
and collages. Sometimes we also use our video art as backdrops during our live performances.
When and how did you start to create the music as duo of Lerin / Hystad?
We have collaborated as artists since 2010 but we started to make improvised music together in 2012. We were
working on a book about Damo Suzuki from CAN and we travelled with Damo in Europe and Japan writing about his
project "Damo Suzuki's Network" and recorded his concerts. We decided to do a concert together with Damo Suzuki in
Stockholm where we sampled parts of previous Damo concerts and improvised new music on top of the samples. This
concert together with our book about Damo Suzuki came out as a vinyl box-set on a German label called Clouds Hill.
That was the start of the music duo Lerin / Hystad.
What inspires you to create music?
We are mainly inspired by the sounds around us. We work a lot with field-recordings, our first album Mount Buzhou
was based on recordings of Chinese folk music recorded in Chongqing and Kunming and our new album Amaterasu is
based on recordings from arcade halls and subway stations in Tokyo and Osaka. We are interested in trying to
capture the spirit of a place through it's sounds.
How did you make the latest album "Amaterasu"?
Amaterasu was based on recordings we did in Tokyo and Osaka in 2013. We used zoom-recorders and recorded sounds in
arcade halls, pachinko machines, traffic, subway-stations etc. It is quite interesting to work with sounds from a
country where you don't understand the language, when we sampled people speaking on the subway in Osaka we did not
know what they were saying. And when you don't understand the language you instead start to listen to the musical
qualities of it and that was how we decided which samples to use. The melodies and the music came quite natural
inspired by the the field-recordings.
Why did you choose "Amaterasu" for the album title?
We read the story about the sun god Amaterasu, and how she hid inside a cave depriving the world of her light. In
order to get her to come out of the cave the other gods threw a party outside luring her out with music and noise.
We thought that was a fascinating story and a good concept for an album.
You will come to Japan very soon! How do you feel about "Japan"?
We love coming to Japan, this is the second time we perform here as Lerin / Hystad. And we have been here before
together with Damo Suzuki and in 2010 we also stayed 3 months as "Artists in Residence" at Kyoto Art Center. Japan
has a very interesting music scene and it is great how the live houses usually put on shows with 4 or 5 bands
performing together. It is a great way to discover new music. We are also frantic record collectors and Japanese
record stores are great!
Do you have some Japanese favorite artists?
Yes, we are inspired by a lot of Japanese music. Especially the Japanese noise music scene, Merzbow, Keiji Haino,
KK Null, Ruins, Melt Banana, Atsuhiro Ito etc. We are also big fans of The Boredoms on this tour Bettina will be
playing on a home-made synthesizer and contact microphones inspired by the electronics used by Yamantaka Eye.
Earlier this summer we performed together with The Boredoms in London, 88 cymbal players, 5 drumkits and 8
guitars, it was quite crazy. We also love the band Bo Ningen and Japanese free-jazz players like Kaoru Abe and
Yosuke Yamashita.
Could you tell me some recommend artists in Norway or Sweden?
There are a lot of great jazzbands and players in Norway and Sweden at the moment. Mats Gustafsson is a Swedish
saxophone player who has a lot of interesting projects. One of them is called Fire! Orchestra, a big band free
jazz orchestra who makes amazing music. He also have another band called The Thing which are also great. Most of
his projects are really interesting. The Norwegian band Jaga Jazzist are also great. In Sweden there was also an
interesting progrock, jazz scene in the 1970's. Some of our favorite bands of that time are Algarnas Tradgard and
Samla Mammas Manna.
Please let me know near future plan after Japan tour.
After Japan tour we will go to China and perform 8 concerts. This will be our first tour in China so that will be
very interesting. Then we go home to Norway and play some concerts and art exhibitions and then we will finish our
third album.
Please give a message to Japanese fans!
Bring earplugs and a smiling face! We are looking forward to seeing you again!
INTERVIEW in September 2015
TRANSLATED by Naoko Yamada
TEXT by Masato Hoshino