“I think back when I lived in the city, I was rather pissed off all the time, you know… You seeing human degeneration, everyone focusing on their iPhones and shit, I fucking hate phones.”

Momentum are hosting their next party this Saturday, this time welcoming Norwegian artist Andre Bratten to Dublin for a special live show. It’s the first time Andre has performed in Ireland, with Santos/Reevs and Jus Damien on support.

Santos from Momentum caught up with Andre for a quick chat ahead of the performance.

We see there are two driving forces in your music, on one hand a detailed atmospheric melodic size, on the other hand, a darker techno side. How do you balance both?

Well I’m not sure, but I guess it’s just a natural thing, when I get tired of the melodic stuff I do the energy stuff. It’s probably just to balance it out In a way, and the mood I’m in.

It really depends on the time of the day too, when it’s late or early morning and I’m sleep deprived… It’s just not me deciding anymore.

What’s your approach to playing Live? Do you work with a very clear framework and set of samples in mind, or prefer to leave room for decisions to be made on stage. How important is the improvisation element to you?

Yeah. I like to have some frames, but I also like to roam away from it, so it’s like 50 per cent planned and 50 per cent just me twiddling with knobs.

Improvisation is a very damaged word, it’s very free-jazz, but like to have some idea and at the same time leave room for fun.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Is it more important you see and surrounds you or is it something more abstract, intangible?

I get these questions all the time, it’s difficult to answer them, when I read other interviews I find the answers to be rather narcissistic, it’s kind of a narcism boosting question… Haha. To be honest I don’t really know, it could be an episode of Downton Abbey, or you know my dog doing funny stuff, a walk, doing normal stuff.

I just moved out of the city and the place where I live now has this hum, I read about it on the web, it is a phenomenon, like a drone, 36hz or something. It’s actually called “The Hum”. Funnily enough I make more droning stuff now, so you know…

But I can say that nature sounds is something I really enjoy and always find stuff that like that inspiring. Like standing between trees in the wind, and the density between the two trees are different, it’s like standing between an awesome phase shifter thing. It’s like distance, binaural panning, and the pitching is all over the place.

A lot of Irish artists cite the landscape and culture of their country as massively influential. Norway is such a beautiful place, does that ring true for you?

Oh yeah, I think back when I lived in the city, I was rather pissed off all the time, you know? It’s not a big difference between riding a bus and buying shelves at Ikea. You seeing human degeneration, everyone focusing on their iPhones and shit, I fucking hate phones.

And you know the conversations around you, I’m not doing well to filter sounds out, it’s something in my nature like a processor that are working on shit all the time, so you know… Nature and being alone is very important to me, and I guess for us that are born and raised in something different than concrete and shit has a different patching in their minds. So yeah, it has a massive influence on me.

Tickets here for Andre Bratten’s live show in The Grand Social this Saturday.