Behind The Book Of Dreams

Recently I was proud to add The Book Of Dreams to the Whitelabrecs catalog, a collaboration between a trio of talented musicians and electronic artists. Henrik Meierkord is a regular on the label, with his previous collabs with Logic Moon and Knivtid, as well as solo output which includes last year's Proscenium. I've moved in the same circles as Marco Lucchi for many years, with his early work appearing on Webbed Hand Records, a label which released some of my earliest Ambient music experiments. And then Pawel Kobak's name goes back even further, when I used to play his Deep House EP 'Low Rider' back in my DJing days in the mid 2000s.

I happened to notice that Henrik had posted some really cool videos to his YouTube channel, of live performances with both Marco and Pawel. So this blog post became an opportunity to pull these together into an interactive experience, as I posed a few questions to go a little deeper into the videos. Now knowing that Henrik's wife Terese, an experienced film maker, shot all of these videos, it explains why there's such a raw and warm documentary thread that runs through all of the footage.

At the end of the post as always, you’ll find an embedded Bandcamp player where you can hear 'The Book Of Dreams'. Lastly, a big nod in the direction of Nkl who created the visuals to this album, including the header image you can see above. I hope you'll agree, his visual concept really brings the theme together beautifully.

Firstly, my most burning question... did you get any strange looks from passers by, wondering what you were up to? Was the session planned?

Marco: I seem to remember that nobody stopped to listen. A very hot afternoon. July in Modena can be very hot so there was very few people in the park. It was a spontaneous performance. After playing at home we decided to play in the park too. I wished I could play the Indian harmonium, but it wasn't at home... so I took the melodica instead.

How much of this performance was planned or rehearsed?

Marco: Just the musical key, nothing else so no rehearsals. I used an iPhone app with an electronic tanpura. All totally improvised.

Of course, I know two performers in the video! Could you tell us a little bit more about Dario? What's he playing and do you perform with him much in a live or studio setting?

Marco: Dario is one of my sons. He's graduated in French horn and band conducting at the Conservatory of Modena. He is 36 years old, now but 34 then. He often plays with me both live and in the studio.

I see what looks like an old Olympus field recorder in the video, and a JBL bluetooth speaker! I have both of these myself - what role did they play in this performance?

Marco: :) yes. I used the Olympus device to record the sessions - both this open air session and again at home, combining the recordings via mixer. The JBL speaker was used to amplify the sound of the tanpura app on my phone.

Could you tell us a bit about how this video which I assume is in Marco's home in Modena? When was the visit and did you have any particular purpose for the trip?

Marco: July 2023 and yes, this is my home. The Meierkord family, travelling to Italy, stayed in Modena for a couple of days. Henrik and I met on the net in around 2018. We took the occasion to meet each others in reality and hopefully to play something.

Could you tell us more about the equipment and techniques you're using Marco?

Marco: This is one of my small home studios. Here I have a bunch of keyboards, a mixer, some microphones and some acoustic instruments too (guitars, violins, flutes and a 3/4 cello that was played by Henrik). We often started from loops I already had on my JamMan or on my computer, but sometimes we just improvised. The result of these recordings can be heard here:

You're both chatting about the sounds and improvising as it appears someone is filming you both. It feels like an intimate docufilm. Could you tell us a little about the video and why you wanted to capture these sessions?

Marco: Henrik's wife Terese filmed both the home and the park sessions. He'll say more about her art...

Henrik: Terese, my wife has been making documentaries her whole adulthood and she is still making art films as documentaries. Here's her bio:

Terese Mörnvik, born 1969, is a documentary film director and photographer educated at Dramatiska Institutet. She has performed artistic research at SADA and worked as a teacher of documentary filmmaking at StDH, Stockholm University of Dramatic Arts. Recently she has also been working in the field of Visual Arts that connects art, craft and filmmaking

Were both of these videos captured on the same time? And can you tell us any stories from the visit that weren't shared in the videos?

Marco: Yes it was all shot on the same afternoon. As for stories, well, we had good pizzas and "gnocco e tigelle", a local food, with Dario and my mate, and the whole Meierkord family including their two smart boys. They visited my town (well, the only beautiful thing is the cathedral; the Duomo whick is very old). We all shared many lovely conversations and we laughed a lot. So good :)

Could you tell us about Marhia Henrik? How long has this project been running, general details about it etc?

Henrik: It's quite funny, as me and Pawel both have kids the same age. We met each other at a children's party! Here we realised that we had met each other before in the nineties in the techno/house era and had common friends. I was making a lot of music then (2020) and as Pawel played flute we started jamming and recording, and had our first album release on the Indian label subcontinental records. Since then we are still making music and doing some small live events.

Where abouts was this video recorded? Could you tell us a little more about the space?

Henrik: My wife Terese was walking around in our beautiful park Tanto in our part of the city called Södermalm. She found this beautiful garden, got the idea to film us there, left a note to the owner and he said yes! A very well organised and beautiful garden, full with gorgeous flowers like an oasis.

The music does not appear to have much electronic treatment - are you aiming for more of an acoustic Ambient sound?

Henrik: The goal is more or less to make a neoclassical approach to ambient, just using real instruments and treating them. Sometimes there is a bit of synthesizer but it's almost cooler just to use real strings and flute.

There are a few of these live performance videos and I understand a release too. Could you tell us more about the record? When was it released, do you tour etc?

Henrik: These live performances were based on all our albums, no specific record. We were thinking about releasing the recordings from my Zoom recorder, but we don't know yet. Later on, Marhia also collaborated with Rocco Saviano and Marco Lucchi on the album Venusia on Ambientologist and PAX on Imaginary North. Venusa released in 2022 has become a bit of a success on Spotify.

As for most albums we record separately, send each other files and then mix it together. However we have been thinking about doing some live stuff in the future in an isolated studio.

You and Pawel are both based in Stockholm - how long have you known and collaborated with each other?

Henrik: Well as previously said, we were in the same kind of environments in the nineties. I was participating in arranging techno events with common friends just for fun and Pawel was a busy DJ, and still is!

'Book Of Dreams' is available in a limited run of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, as well as a digital option in a range of high quality format options. You can take a listen to the album in full or buy a copy HERE!