News Ditt Inre: ‘A Good Song Is Always A Good Song, No Matter What Language’

Mystery adds fuel to the magic of a good song. Be it a hidden identity or in the case of Ditt Inre, a series of sweet songs sung in a language you’re unfamiliar with, you find yourself shunning shallow preconceptions, instead enjoying the music for what it is. On debut EP ‘En värld i brand’, the Stockholm-based duo produce majestic pop music, with sax sections and lonesome guitar riffs seeping out of the vast layers of dreamy synthetics. Every second of a Ditt Inre song brings a surprise and when combining this with the native Swedish tongue, you find yourself in an alien environment; one that you’re completely willing to bask in. DIY spoke to Hampus Klint and Einar Andersson about their first work, due out on Cascine on 29th May. DIY have the pleasure of giving you an exclusive play of the EP’s title-track, below our interview with the band.

Your EP title translates as ‘A World On Fire’ in English - is this is relation to anything in particular; a time or place?
Our lyrics are often about social interactions and relations. They tend to lean towards nostalgia. En Värld I Brand refers to the feeling of having someone special who completely understands you, someone you are willing to do anything for. A feeling of endless possibilities in a weird kind of way.

You’re based in Stockholm, is there a scene to speak of - do bands in the city support each other and collaborate?
There are a few other bands in Stockholm that are into the same genre as us, but so far we haven’t really done any collaborative work. When we play live we sometimes involve friends to back us up on stage. Both of us grew up making music in one way or another and we have definitely always listened to a lot of music.

Have either of you worked in previous projects before? Did Ditt Inre start as a friendship before evolving into a musical project?
Einar was part of the techno duo Dmitry Fyodorov a few years ago and Hampus played in several punk and indie bands when he was younger. We used to work at the same company and became good friends. We had very similar interests and ideas in terms of music and one night, when we were just hanging out, we started working on what would become our track Jorden. We realized it had potential so we started a band and Ditt Inre was born. Einar is probably more of a technician and Hampus the emotionalist.

How did you come to work with Cascine? A couple of their acts - Shine 2009, Jensen Sportag - have a similar style of music to you.
We got a lot of attention with ‘Jorden’ and decided to make a video for it with a talented friend who is a film maker. It got posted on a lot of blogs and that’s when Cascine found us.
Yep, they have some really good stuff.

Do you have any outside influences - literary/art?
We are very much into art, film and fashion. Hampus used to study in Holland and is still very into the mindset of conceptual art and design when you add a value to something quite ordinary where the story becomes equally important as the object itself. He is also a big fan of belgian fashion, especially Raf Simons and Ann Demeulemeester.

Even though the language is alien to these ears, the music feels emotional and melancholic. Would you agree that there’s both a certain sadness and a certain joy to your songs?
That is very true. We feel that a good song is always a good song, no matter what language. It becomes more of an instrument and a feeling if you don’t know the language.

You describe your music as being ‘one foot in the future and the other part in the grave’ - which elements of your music would you define as futuristic? What will the future of music sound like?
Even though we are inspired a lot by music and the sound of bands that were active ten or twenty years ago or even older, we still look forward and try to create something new and unique while transcending genres. The future? Hopefully people will stop using those annoying super saw synths on every song. It feels like probably 80 percent of the billboard music currently has it to some degree. It’s like the 21st century version of the electric guitar.



Ditt Inre’s new EP ‘En värld i brand’ will be released on 29th May via Casine.