Part 1

Name: Peter Morén aka  Sun Years
Occupation: Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter
Nationality: Swedish
Recent release: The SunYears debut album Come Fetch My Soul! Is out via Yep Roc.

If you enjoyed this Peter Morén interview and would like to find out more about his work and current projects, visit his Instagram account or the official Instagram of Peter Bjorn And John.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I more often than not think that natural inspiration comes from a sort of spiritual place. Music is spiritual to me. And just sitting noodling on an instrument and drifting away to far away places sets chords, riffs and melodies in motion. Often also some phrases from a deeper place that you don’t yet know the meaning of and you have to uncover them in the detective work that follows. After the initial draft work sets in.

Order. Form. Content. But all the things you quote have started songs for me. Some sources like that even finish the song before you know it, like ”Last night I dreamt that I met Phil & Don” on the new SunYears-album. I dreamt it and just had to write down what I remembered.

The feelings and what happened in the dream. It was initially a lot longer. But I narrowed it down, made it a bit more poetic. And there the music came last but it felt right and easy since I wanted it to be in a roughly Everlys sort of style. So it was all meant to be I guess!

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

When I start writing for a new project or record I usually initially don’t know that I’m doing just that. But when I have 4-5 songs I like I start writing more with a project in mind and those initial songs inform the direction for what comes after. What might be missing for the album to feel complete; stylistically or in sentiment for example.

I do write ”albums”, it's just how my brain works. That doesn’t mean that songs can’t lie around for 5-10 years or longer before they find their album and proper song-mates. So I guess I do visualize a whole; a sound and feel. And the older I get I actually find I can make it happen; with the right musicians, studioteam and ideas.

Still in the studio I go very much on instinct and experiment after the first draft of the arrangement is set. Overdubs and such are very much hit and miss, spur of the moment. But I usually find a few things I like arrangement-wise on some track or other that finds its way to more songs. An album needs some sort of thread to make it an album and also for you to be able to finish it, some sort of dogma, lyric wise or instrument-wise.

”These quiet tunes” was done almost like a starting point for the album, experimenting and playing all the instruments myself, playing around with overdubs and sounds. Then I brought a lot of those sounds into the other songs but using the band.



”Day to day way” is sort of a twin-song to ”These quiet tunes” but done more live.



Playing everything myself takes too long and I’m too impatient. But it can be great to do a song like that to try things out and frame the project somehow.

The best thing is when you just write continually, when you're in that headspace where you just move on and don’t dwell on it too much. Then the songs connect by themselves anyway, it just becomes a natural progression and a songwriting diary. And the ”feel” or concept of the album doesn’t have to be an afterthought or constructed.
 
Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Research is a constant thing, you pick things up while working with other people on other projects and then bring that into your own work. Experience. Also you can learn about how you DON’T want to work.

I don’t do demos anymore, I used to a bit but I just work more on the basic form of the song by myself with memos.

And when I’m satisfied with that skeleton I try to rehearse with the band before going into the studio and everyone can arrange together around my vision. A lot of the songs on the new record were done like that. We found something precious in the rehearsal space.

Like ”Slipping Away”. That's basically just a trio-live performance and we added some texture in percussion and an acoustic guitar. Sometimes though I go in raw and just see what happens when we press record. The Dylan-way. The backbone of ”Come Fetch My Soul” (the track) was done more like that.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I noodle on guitar daily almost so it's more about when something strikes me that I like that I have to capture on my phone.

A good example is that little intro and verse to "Wordy", things like that come up all the time just from noodling.



And with "Two Birds Mid-Flight" I had to accept that it was better as an instrumental idea and there was no need for words.



I love guitar instrumentals and always have but it's just recently I've had the urge to write them myself. I have tons of ideas and little riffs lying around. As well as lines or lyrical ideas written down here and there. Things that unexpectedly pop up when I do something completely different like running in the woods, riding on the subway, doing laundry or eating lunch.

My mind is constantly working like that, I search for stuff to write about and want to be ready to grab it when it comes. It's just something I can’t turn off. Sometimes I wish I could. It can make me easily distracted and absentminded.

The hard part is more finishing stuff. Assemble loose ideas to finished songs. But that's also the most satisfying part. A good day is when you’ve finished a song. Even when you know it's not your best. A great day is when you love it!

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I don't have a set form for working with lyrics. All this applies. I know writers who say that the lyric is always the foremost thing for them. Others who say it's mainly about the music and the lyrics just shouldn't get in the way or distract from the feeling in the music.

I honestly have to say I regard them both as equally important and they do work in tandem. But sometimes I write music to a lyrical idea I've already have and other times the music is mostly there and I will work out the lyrics later. Often though I do have some lyrics that come at the same time as the tune.

Like the first draft of "Granddad's song" I sang "when you're leaving ..." and then "bla bla bla" something. Then also the part "I have been so blessed ..."etc came almost fully formed by itself. After that somehow I felt it was about my granddad who recently had passed and I could deliberately write with him in mind.

So there is often a spiritual connection there from the start. Something in the music that sets up the lyric. Or I have a title I start with. That has happened too many times. Some songs write themselves subconsciously. Like the title track "Come Fetch My Soul!"

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Again there's no set answer here. Whatever works for that specific song works.

Some songs need a story. Others need a clear mind and a distinct emotional weight. Other songs benefit from a more "poetic" stream of consciousness-world. Neither is better or worse. As long as it feels good in the gut and you feel connected to it. Even if it just rhymes and feels funky and doesn't make sense at all. That is not a crime and it can still be spiritual. Maybe even more so!

But of course it helps the process when you know what you're writing about. Like the song about the Everly's, "Grandad's Song" again and indeed the song I wrote with Kathryn Williams and Ren Harvieu "Wake Up!" There we set up a scene of someone getting fucked up mentally from talent-contests and the like but obviously it's a bigger, more general story than that. Just dreams getting shattered and finding your place in the world and being content with that. Very hard and a constant battle, wherever you are in life.



Writing with others I really do think a clear goal to where you're heading with the subject is pretty crucial. The more muddled "feel"-based songs work better when you write in private.

I have written many lyrics I in retrospect for different reasons would call "bad" so I am trying to get better. And I'm working on that connection. That I can stand behind the song 200%. That's my goal. And that's also what makes a good lyric for me. Not the message or the meter or the execution. Everything is subordinate to the connection.

Even if you're writing a character study that is not about yourself per se you're still writing it from the perspective of where you are right now in life. Obviously you constantly change and it's hard to stand by lyrics you wrote twenty years ago.

But in that sense it helps that I also like doing covers and that singing has a lot to do with acting. It's about projecting the feeling of the song and inhabiting the song. Whoever wrote it.  Still some songs age badly in the mouth.

I also deliberately work on rhyming less. Just to throw myself off sometimes. Sometimes I work on condensing the lyrics and other times I work on expanding. Again all from song to song. What it needs.