Today, we sat down with Free Carmen to discuss their inspiration to write music, heroes, and much more. Be sure to check out their latest music on Spotify below after the interview!
Interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your
surroundings?
That’s exactly what it is! In Finland the amount of light during the day goes from one extreme to another. That’s something that affects the whole nation and its behaviour. And as I’ve been growing older it’s been interesting to follow the pattern that goes on year after year. The darkest period from the end of October to the end of February can get really dark at times. Especially if it’s a bad winter in terms of snow, like the one we are living in right now. These themes are what the Solstice albums are about.
Many songs from these two albums are about nature which is something that I could ”endlessly” write about. I also like to use it to write about other subjects such as love. Sometimes the line between ”is it a love song or a statement about the state of some forest” is very flickering.
Another subject that’s much present is war. Two major conflicts began while writing these songs, one of which was the war between Ukraine and our eastern neighbour Russia. That affected me and the whole country a lot. As long as I remember the fear of Russia has kind of been there, but nothing like this. The song Couldn’t Reign My Head is from the period when Russia invaded Ukraine and I was in shock that in the 2020s there can still be a war in Europe where men go and shoot each other in the field. And when the war in Gaza started and all of the footage started to flood over me, I simply had to write about it. Keep Your Eyes Closed which is a song from the first album, came to me when I saw a video of a little boy injured and covered in dust after a bomb explosion in Gaza
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
From early on it was mostly different types of rock music.
Is there someone you looked up to as a hero?
I had a long period when all I listened to was the bands that Slash was in. After that came an intense Dave Grohl phase. So the usual teenage rock gods. A little later on there was two to three years when I only listened to Tom Petty.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing today?
I’d probably be a teacher.
What can you tell us about your most recent release ‘Solstice II’?
Solstice II is the second part of our double album concept. If you listen to them one after another, the concept becomes clearer. So the point is that Solstice I starts from the moment of the summer solstice (the longest day of the year). The feeling gets darker song by song, bringing us closer to the darkest day of the year. Solstice II starts where Solstice I left us, from the moment of the winter solstice. The first album has a song called I, and the second has a song called II. Those songs represent the moments of autumn equinox and spring equinox when the sun shifts from one hemisphere to the other. As I said earlier the themes of the albums are very present for us because we live in Finland. During midsummer, the sun doesn’t set at all, whereas in the winter it rarely comes out. For example, between the first nine days of December this year, there was only six minutes of sunshine.
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create
music?
I think that the most important thing is to forget about all the ”right” ways to do it or how someone says you’re supposed to do it. As long as you can stand behind your own music and it feels right, it will find its audience. Also, during the process of creating, leave social media out of it.
Music:
