Johann Johannsson

“I am a trombone player, and that was my first instrument.”

“If you look at my career, you'll find that the same record doesn't show up more than once. I try to challenge myself with every project.”

“That's one of the hardest parts of putting together an album - finding that concept, that unifying idea. Especially as I write mostly in instrumental music, the idea of having a central concept that unifies the music is very important to me.”

“There are some stunning visual moments in 'Arrival' that are out of this world, but it's all on the earth, and it's about an academic, a woman that is dealing with a personal tragedy, but there's a circular view of time that makes things more complicated.”

“In my solo work on my own albums, I have used voice synthesizers and vocoders quite a lot in connection with orchestral instruments.”

“With 'The Theory of Everything,' it seems that people really like the voice I've found with the music, which is great. But I may not do that again. Every project is different.”

“One very early influence was reading about John Cage's experience in an anechoic room where the only sound you are left with is the high-pitched drone of your nervous system.”

“I think melancholy is kind of a misunderstood emotion. I don't think it's necessarily an unpleasant or bad emotion.”

“I love 'Treasure.' It's one of my favourite albums.”

“A lot of my music tends to combine electronics and orchestra.”

“'Orphee' is, for me, about changes: about moving to a new city, leaving behind an old life in Copenhagen, and building a new one in Berlin - about the death of old relationships and the birth of new ones.”

“Even when I was studying piano, I always preferred to play around with my own improvisations rather than do my studies. So I've always been interested in writing music from a very early age.”

“I believe that things can be expressed very powerfully through simplicity.”

“Always really good audiences in Belgium.”

“I'm fascinated by the ruins and remains of industrialisation.”

“Cheap electronics are not built to be repaired. They're just used and then discarded.”

“I'm far from casual. I'm a huge fan of 'Blade Runner.'”

“I had three older sisters whose record collections I borrowed, so I was listening to The Velvet Underground as well as Bach and brass band music.”

“Brass has a very distinctive sound. It's delicate but powerful, but it's also melancholic and plaintive.”

“Brass bands are part of my upbringing. Brass band records were among the first records I listened to.”