In this week’s blog post we head into the quietly intricate world of Swedish artists Old Amica, as Ryan Watts sits down with Johan, one half of the duo, to unpack the story behind their latest Whitelabrecs release, Bländverk. Created across distance by Johan and Linus, the album finds beauty in limitation centred around piano yet stretching into tape manipulation, memory and minimalist sonic transformation. The result is a work that feels both intimate and expansive, yet rooted in simplicity but rich in emotional detail.

In this conversation, Johan reflects on the origins of Bländverk, from its conceptual beginnings alongside contrasting projects to the creative freedoms unlocked by restriction. Ryan and Johan explore the duo’s long-standing collaboration, their evolving approach to sound, and the delicate balance between technical process and personal expression. It’s a thoughtful and revealing exchange that offers a deeper look into Old Amica’s world - one shaped as much by friendship and distance as it is by sound itself.

Scroll down to read this behind-the-scenes interview, where you’ll also find photos, embedded Bandcamp players. At the bottom there's also a link where you can learn more about Old Amica.

Today we have the pleasure of chatting with Johan from the group Old Amica whose new album Bländverk just released on Whitelabrecs - Johan, thanks for taking time out of your schedule to have a chat with me!

First and foremost, the piano plays a central role across this album; what was the driving factor to have Bländverk be so piano centric?

Thanks so much, Ryan!

First off, we both have a deep love for the sound of the piano. A couple of years ago, we wanted to write a piece to celebrate Piano Day, and set ourselves the constraint of using just one piano, with no overdubs. We released Ön back then, but the piano-focused pieces kept coming.

Around the same time, we were working on our album För alltid, which came out in 2024. För alltid had a more abstract approach, with many layers, so as a kind of contrasting force we also had this “piano album” taking shape - something purposefully more minimal, built around the self-imposed restriction of only using piano. For us, restrictions often trigger creativity.

Then we shifted focus to finishing För alltid, but when we returned to Bländverk, I’d say it was already about 80% complete.

I think it’s really cool that Bländverk acted as a bit of a contrast, or come down, from the För alltid sessions - I had no idea they had any concurrence - thanks for sharing that with us!

I understand that tape loops, resampling, field recordings, and even a harmonium ultimately appear on the album; what was it about these techniques and additions that attracted you to them within your self-imposed limitations for this project?

I think tape loops and resampling were part of being creative within those self-imposed limitations - we only used the piano as the sound source for all of those loops and samples. At the same time, we wanted to keep the sonic palette limited, so each track could work with relatively few sounds and retain a minimalist character.

Field recordings often recontextualise sounds in a very significant way, and we love working with that. Sometimes I hear a sound and it immediately takes me somewhere else. I remember hearing the rustling leaves of an aspen tree and suddenly being transported to a summer day in Norrbotten while growing up. That sound actually appears on the final track, Bländverk.

Much like scents, I find it fascinating that sounds like the rustling of a specific tree’s leaves can evoke specific past memories like that. That’s amazing you not only incorporated field recordings into the project, but such personal ones like the trees on the final track.

This is your third release on Whitelabrecs, behind 2023's Fyr and 2019's Taiga; what has changed about your group and the way you both approach music from Taiga till now? Has each project seen the same level of sonic limitations that Bländverk sees?

Our albums usually come from very different starting points or vantage points, but I’d say Bländverk is definitely our most minimalistic release - perhaps alongside Drone and Hum from 2014. As I mentioned, Bländverk emerged partly as a contrast to what we were working on at the same time, and I think we’ve always enjoyed thinking conceptually and approaching records as albums, rather than just collections of tracks.

I wouldn’t say each project has had the same degree of sonic limitation that Bländverk has. This one was unusually defined by restraint. With other records, the limitations may have been more implicit, whereas here they were very deliberate and central to the process.

It's awesome that you work in such a wide spectrum of vantage points, and amidst it all found a minimal approach that led to itself becoming a full album. Personally I find albums like that seem to resonate longer with audiences than albums that are just collections of tracks, as you’ve stated.

I heard you both started Old Amica after meeting in high school, and now you both live in different parts of Europe; what has kept you both connected and creating together for so long, even at a distance?

I think fundamentally we’re friends who go way back, and having music as the connective tissue between us has been a beautiful thing. I’d almost flip the question and say it’s the music that has allowed us to stay connected for this long. No matter where we’ve been, we’ve always had music linking us together.

I’ve a few friends and music colleagues where I’d say the same thing - the music is what’s kept us together all these years; what a wonderful connection you both share!

With you both living in such historic cities, how much of your environment do you feel permeates into your music and motifs?

Oh, that’s a tough question. Obviously we’re influenced by our surroundings in one way or another, but I’d say our music tends to exist on a different frequency - it often wants to drift away from the real world rather than reflect it directly. So in that sense, not a great deal, I’d say.

That makes total sense - I too am more escapist in my works, so I love that you both are reaching for different frequencies than your cities themselves provide.

Lots of folks in the ambient community came to it by way of other musical disciplines or playing in bands across other genres; what were you both doing before this, and what brought you both into the ambient/neoclassical space?

Yeah, we definitely started in a different place genre-wise when we began 15 years ago. Even back then, when our music was more vocal-driven, we worked a lot with sound design within those songs, even if they were more traditionally structured.

At some point, we both realized that working with those sounds - without confining them to the background - was actually our favourite part of making music. So when we got the chance to score a short film in 2019, which resulted in Taiga, it felt like we finally gave ourselves permission to go all in.

Thanks for sharing that with us. I always find it fascinating how we’ve all come to Ambient music; I love that yours was from the finer details and sound designing in your previous projects, and you both ultimately sunk into it.

Going back to Bländverk, and getting a bit technical, what did you guys' equipment setups look like for these sessions? What kind of pianos were you working from? Any pedal or VST setups? Interesting recording techniques?

It was actually a pretty basic setup - it all came from the same upright piano standing next to me here in our living room. It’s pretty noisy and squeaky, but it sounds great.

For the resampling side, it was a bit more all over the place: 8-bit sampling with a Yamaha VSS-30, resampling to tape, running sounds through an SP-404, chopping piano recordings into pieces in the computer and pitching them around - plus delay and reverb, of course.

A lot of it was really about taking this very simple sound source and finding different ways of bending and recontextualising it.

I’d say you’ve worked wonders with a simpler setup, and really utilized a more Musique Concrete approach for the production, saved from being too Concrete by the source being upright piano.

With the technical items in mind, and the modifications you did with them, how much of what we hear today was recorded as we hear it, and how much was worked on, or edited in post?

I would say the album as a whole sounds pretty close to how it was recorded, acoustically. The piano in the foreground, with tape loops & samples floating around underneath.

That’s wonderful. Yes, the piano-centrism is undeniable on this record; and quite charming, might I add. I’m glad you were able to keep it close to the acoustic recording roots with the final compositions.

With a little bit of distance between you both, are you ever able to meet to do live performances, or do in-studio sessions together, or is this strictly a project at a distance with no live play in mind?

We’ve always said we’d like to play live at some point, but the practicalities haven’t really been in our favour so far. We actually haven’t met in person in years at this point, so the project has largely existed at a distance.

That said, we’ve promised our friend Paul that we’ll do it one day, and we intend to keep that promise.

I love that; accountability to drive the possibility.

In the Whitelabrecs community, we're constantly sharing new albums and artists with each other; are there any artists or albums you're particularly fond of at the moment? And any personal classic, can't-miss records you'd like to share with us?

Oh, good question. One of my favourite things in life is discovering new music, but I sadly have less time than ever to really dive into it. I still listen to an insane amount of music — though a lot of it ends up being K-pop and Eurovision, since that’s what my kids love.

I could sit on a high horse and talk about “real” music, but when I see how happy it makes them - dancing around and singing - it’s hard to deny.

That said, I do sometimes feel the need to cleanse my ears and brain after a lot of ultra-commercial pop. At the same time, I’ve probably lost a bit of momentum when it comes to going on deeper exploratory journeys - it’s easy to fall back on what you already know and love for that instant cleanse / gratification.

Still, nothing really beats discovering something new, so I try. Here are some albums I’ve been listening to a lot recently:

• Singing - Gia Margaret

• Madres - Sofia Kourtesis

• Machina/The Machines of God - The Smashing Pumpkins

• Jorden kallar - Vargkvint

• Sinister Grift - Panda Bear

• Autobahn - Kraftwerk

• Dreamstate - Kelly Lee Owens

• Boavista - Stephan Bodzin

• Oro och ältande - Småland

• Surf’s Up - The Beach Boys

A bit all over the place, but that’s kind of how I listen these days.

This is why I love asking this question of artists - I already have 5 new albums to go check out! That said, Surf’s Up is in my opinion the greatest (sorry, Pet Sounds fans) Beach Boys album from their catalog; such an incredible, palpable mood across that album, and seriously amazing cover art.

Before I let you go, any Old Amica news on the horizon? Any other releases or side projects coming out that you can divulge upon?

We have an Old Amica remix by Dött ljus coming out in a couple of weeks, and after that it’s time to start digging into new sounds again and see where that takes us.

Thanks for sharing that with us, and your time today - I can’t wait to hear the remix and see where the next project takes you two!

We hope you enjoyed this interview! To explore more about Old Amica, you can follow the links below...

Bandcamp

Instagram

Facebook

Website

'Bländverk' is available in a limited repress of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, as well as a digital options in a range of high quality formats. You can take a listen to the album in full HERE!