Kerani has just released her new album called Arctic Sunrise. Here is an interview with the artist. The album is now available on CD Baby, iTunes, eMusic and the artist’s Facebook MusicStore. Amazon and the other shops will follow shortly.
BT Fasmer: The theme for your new album, Arctic Sunrise, is quite different than most albums. Tell us about it and give us some insight in why you chose this topic.
Kerani: After the success of “Norway”, I felt that I should write songs that are inspired by the unknown world of ice, i.e. North and South Pole. This is probably unusual for an artist who is primarily known for writing new age music. Few people know that I also compose music for documentaries and short-film. Last year, just before the release of “Norway”, I worked on a soundtrack assignment for the Dutch Scientific Research Institute who had made a documentary about their research station on the Antarctic. I loved it so much, that I decided to take the idea one step further and create “Arctic Sunrise”.
BT: Do you think you work differently with music when you are inspired by true events? Perhaps this makes it more visual in a way?
Kerani: Definitely! The perfect example on this album is “Far Away from Home”.
In order to create the perfect atmosphere, I did a lot of research and watched several documentaries when I learned about the true story of Captain Robert F. Scott who lead the Antarctic expedition in 1912. Of course, I knew about this event from my high school history lessons, but it never moved me as much as it did now. I found old photographs, I read and reread excerpts of his diary and the whole story came to life in front of my eyes.
With “Far Away from Home”, I tried to recount Cpt. Scott’s journey from his departure in New Zealand until his death on the South Pole. I hope that the listeners will agree with me that it has become a very visual piece.
BT: When listening to your music I sense inspiration from Vangelis – which goes well with the album’s historical theme. What are your musical inspirations?
Kerani: Both my parents loved classical music very much. As a child, I found it natural to listen to great composers like Mozart, Liszt, Schumann, etc. It wasn’t until 1978, when Jean-Michel Jarre released Equinox that I discovered synthesizer music. Around the same time, also Vangelis emerged. I was astonished at his ability to create elaborate symphonic themes using modern technology. Then, there was ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) who were basically the first rock band to use classical string sections in their music. That was absolutely fascinating and original! And last but not least, the great Mike Oldfield … for a million reasons.
BT: Tell us about the process behind the album. Have you done the mixing and mastering yourself?
Kerani: Partially, yes. I did all the recordings myself and made a rough, preliminary mix. All in all, it took me about four months to write and mix the songs. In January, I gave all the track files to my partner, Arno Op den Camp, who is a fantastic sound engineer (together we own Kerani Music Studios in Stein, a town in the south of the Netherlands). This is always a crucial moment in our collaboration as we discuss the final orchestration. At a certain point, we decided to work with live musicians instead of sampled instruments on some of the tracks as it would give the album a whole organic feel. Arno mastered the album and also designed the cover and booklet.
5. Are you working on any new material, or will you now focus 100 % on promoting this album?
At this moment, the promotion of “Arctic Sunrise” gets my full attention. But of course a composer’s brain never rests. I do have new ideas in the pipeline but I will tell about it to the world in due course.
To learn more about this artist and listen to clips, visit Kerani.nl.