Peter Andersson (Raison d'être): "I follow my intuition"

My music interest began long time ago, probably the first time I heard music, like ABBA and Elvis Presley. It made an impact one me. Then I was lost in for example Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream for a while and discovered more and more bands, mostly in the industrial fields. I just had a wish to be pop star but I was not really interested in pop music anymore at the time when I really could start do music, so I found myself one day doing music on a cheap keyboard, it sounded like shit. After a few years of practices and with new equipment I could almost enjoy what I was doing. I started Raison d'être and did found a kind of own style. That's the way, almost.

 

The latest album I am working on is always the most interesting, because it's here and now. I don't compare my stuff with my old stuff. Everything I have been doing has at least once been the most interesting  thing I have done. The same goes for the best album. Some albums are just collection albums or live albums so I don't really count them in, but if talking studio albums they all have been the best at the time of their creation. They are products of their time and I not very keen to look back to judge myself with new perspectives.  On the other hand, I am a perfectionist and I know that later work is better produced than the older ones, so, almost naturally, I believe the later works being better than the older ones, but that's purely from a technically point of view.

 

 

I believe that anything I have experienced and are experiencing at this very moment may be an influence  source. Nothing can be seen as isolated matters so I can never tell a specific inspiration source for a certain thing, it's a blend of several obvious or not so obvious sources. And if I mention a list of 10 things there are 100 more things that should be on the list, and I may not even write the most important ones. With this said, I make a little list anyway:

 

Music I have listen on (and sometimes still do) (mostly the bands/artists early period) –  Dead Can Dance, SPK, Lustmord, Delerium, Robert Rich, Cranes, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Brian Eno, Cranioclast / Core, Stina Nordenstam, Organum, Philip Glass… just to name a few.  I don't really listen to much new music, and today I listen to much less music than for 10-25 years ago.

 

Film: Films of Tarkovsky, Lynch, Greenaway, von Trier, Jodorowsky, Carl Johan de Geer, Roy Andersson....

 

Books, unfortunately I don't have time to read. I don't remember when I did and what I did read last time. Not much fiction, it's almost always been more or less philosophical books.

 

 

 

God is nothing to me. I don't believe, I'm not religious. God for other people is in my view mostly and only a fixed idea than can make people insane. I don't like dogmatic systems. I believe  in my self and the realization of my inner self, that's my quest. I have mostly a scientific  look on the world but in my imagination I have often a spiritual view of things (a spirituality which has nothing to do with a God). I must say that I am interested in religion but just from an external / studying point of view and I am much more interested in primitive religions than the big ones. 

 

 

I think Raison d'être is the best, for me it's the best. I don't believe being the first making “dark ambient” pieces. I think it's even possible to go back 50 years to find something that could be classified as dark ambient today. I must say I am not very interested interested in classifying music. I just do music and then other people put it in different categories. I follow my intuition not any classes. 

 

 

It's going up and down. I don't believe  mankind can make good to earth, we are destroying ourselves. There are far to much people on earth and with far to wrong way of living. We are slaves under our own system. The end will always come, sooner or later. Right now I hope some sexy nude aliens will destroy our civilization (whatever that is) by making too hot porno movies which they force us to watch until we die all die. 

 

 

No plans for other project, but one never know. Many of my projects is not really active anymore, I will most probably only work as Raison d'être, Atomine Elektrine, Bocksholm and Peter Andersson. I have so little time left over for music compared to 15 years ago so I need to focus on stuff. 

 

The main concept for all my project is self-realization and a process called individuation (from C.G.Jung) which will end in a fully understanding of myself reaching completeness as a human being. All the different projects is only different entrances to the same purpose.

 

 

I think there is so much crap in today's music, no matter which style, it's difficult to find the good ones amongst all the shit. Still, there are good bands / artists worth every attention, just need to be found. I don't listen very much to music anymore. I need all the time to create music, and that's much more important for me.

 

I haven't been able to performe for a while, like 2 years, so it will be nice to be back again. A big project I am working on is an archival project: I will save as much as I can of everything I have created from the early 90's until today into a big archive bank. All my projects /albums/ tracks. And I try to save each track in a multitrack format so I can for instance control single instruments in case I want to make a re-mix or something. It's very difficult to find all the sounds / instruments from my earliest period but I have almost recovered  and saved everything done from 2000 until today. Unfortunately some tunes are gone forever because of corrupt back-up media or no back-up at all, especially material from the first 10 years (but all tracks do exsist as a 2 channel recording anyway). 

 

If everything goes well with above project I will do re-mixes of the first 3 albums of Raison d'être and then they will be released as a 3CD box, I hope this year because Raison d'être is celebrating 20 years.