A North Sea Special: An Interview

A couple of days ago I discovered, quite by accident, the music of The North Sea. One of the songs in that post, "Ferns Pressed in Paper", a beautifully delicate piece, has since become very popular on the Hype Machine and made me curious about the unique individual behind it. Thankfully, he was willing to answer a few questions and reveal a little of the mystery around him.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about you and your creative process.

A. "My name is Brad Rose. Most people probably know me as the person who runs the Foxy Digitalis webzine and Digitalis label. The North Sea is my solo guise and I also play in Ajilvsga (w/ Nathan Young) and Altar Eagle (w/ my wife, Eden), and also have started a new label/blog called Dial Square Tapes. My creative process is hard to pin down or describe... basically, I get sounds in my head and attempt to recreate them using whatever means I have at my disposal".

Q. You've started as more folk oriented and evolved in this new direction. What made you change course and what does it mean for you?

A. "The change happened about two years ago, right after I released my last album on Type Records. I felt at the time that I'd sort of reached my nexus with folk/acoustic-based music; that I'd exhausted the ideas I had and was beginning to feel stagnant and that the music was becoming stale. It was also around this time that Ajilvsga became to take on my prominence in my life, and as it is primarily based around darker sounds, electronics, and noise, it played a big role in the switch I made with The North Sea. I'm still finding my way through this approach and these ideas and it's been inspiring and frustrating in the best possible ways, and I feel like I've grown exponentially as an artist because of it".

Q. Other than the material in last.fm, where can people get your work?

A. "Digitalis is always the best place to come (www.digitalisindustries.com). I release a fair bit of my own stuff, but I always get copies of releases on other labels and have them available as well. People can just drop me a line and I'll steer them in the right direction".

Q. What do you think of the music industry? How does the indie artist relate to it?

A. "Oh, I don't know. I try not to think about the music industry if I can help it. I think that things have certainly changed over the past 5-10 years - the internet has evened the playing field and those who don't adapt and find new ways to get their music out and about are doomed. In 2009, I'm having more fun than ever..."

I can only add that 2009 was made better for me and other thanks to the music of The North Sea.

The North Sea - European Champions {MP3} (from the now out-of-print TOTAL FOOTBALL double cassette)
The North Sea - Ferns Prssed in Paper {MP3}

The North Sea Stream

The waves crash ashore, a car beeps on the street; you pause and look, then move on. Life seems like some eternal flow of things, thoughts and feelings, a soundtrack of existence. In such a flow of sounds reminiscent of the works of Michael Brook and Brian Eno, super busy man Brad Rose, under the moniker of The North Sea, weaves his own stream of consciousness.

Originally folk oriented, The North Sea is continually evolving, currently dealing with experimental and ambient phases of music. In addition, Rose founded and edits an indie label and an online experimental music journal that reaches to the ends of the world (and sound) called Foxy Digitalis.

Check out the North Sea on MySpace for additional tracks and updates. Grab the online edition of Foxy Digitalis for the latest on experimental music across the world.

The North Sea - Ferns Pressed In Paper {MP3}
The North Sea - Embroidered Copper {MP3}