Good afternoon, thank you so much for answering these questions. How's everything going with the New Zealand vs. Sweden match?
Mike: Haha it’s going great thank you! Thanks for having us for the interview!
1. You started around 2014. What led you to create the band? Why did you choose the name Sojourner, and what does it refer to?
Mike: Emilio contacted me because he liked my doom band at the time, Lysithea, and we decided we’d take a shot at a band together. It was originally going to be a doom band, but eventually morphed into a band exploring our shared love of atmospheric black metal. With the name, we had an exceptionally long short-list of titles we liked, but Sojourner was one of Emilio’s suggestions actually.
2. After a start where you released three albums in just four years, a much darker period followed, with the release of an EP, a split album, and the imminent new album. Beyond the addition of Heike and the return of Mike, what else happened with Sojourner that led you to take this relative break? How did the band cope with this period of relative inactivity? Could it be related to the adjustment period for the new members?
Mike: Yeah we were on a nice roll where we were releasing an album every two years, and that was a good schedule. From my side, I was so immersed in the band and had been writing and recording and planning for years without a break, and once we hit 2019 I had some major life changes which I don’t need to get into the details of, but I hit a wall pretty hard and then the whole pandemic happened which cancelled so many plans. That was the break point, so I took some time off for a few years until I felt ready to return and continue the band from a place where I was passionate about it again. It really had nothing to do with the new members though, because ultimately Emilio and I have always been at the wheel of the band so it was more where we were at in our lives that dictated us needing to take some time.
3. You'll soon be releasing your fourth full-length album, "Getaways." What was the songwriting and recording process like for this new album? How do you think Sojourner's sound has evolved between your last two releases? What brands of instruments did you use in the process?
Mike: The songwriting process is the same as always in that I work on writing and recording the songs first and foremost, but this time I got Emilio and Heike in on the songs during the writing process as opposed to how we used to do it where I’d give Emilio a mostly finished song to work with. It’s much more inspiring to me to have vocals be a more direct part of the pre-production process, so we’ve really got it dialled in now. I think our sound has evolved a lot on this release, it’s taken our style to the next logical and more mature stage, we have 12 years of history as a band behind us now and that experience definitely informs the way that we approach things. Brand-wise, for guitars I tend to use my Ibanez RGD71ALMS 7-string in Drop F# with Fishman Fluence pickups, so our standard 6-string tuning of C# Standard with a low F# that I’ve utilized a lot more from Premonitions onward, and a lot of it was also recorded on my 6-string E-II Eclipse DB in C# Standard with EMG 60 and 81 pickups. I also use my 7-string Solar T2.7FBB in Drop F# with Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups quite, particularly for layering, and me and Heike’s shared Fender Player Strat with really nice Pure Vintage ‘59 single-coils for clean sections. The bass was tracked in my studio by Mike Wilson on our studio Solar AB2.5C 5-string bass. Guitar and bass tones were pretty much all my Quad Cortex, though quite late in the production I was lucky enough to be able to reamp the rhythm guitars through a friend’s Mesa Trem-o-Verb that I only just found out he owned…the original rhythm tone I had dialled in was a Trem-o-Verb but getting to reamp through the real thing based on my QC tone was amazing. For vocals, Emilio used a Shure SM7B, and we recorded Heike’s vocals on our usual mix of a Shure SM7B and a Neumann TLM103. There were a lot more synths and keys and backing instruments used of course, but that could become a much, much longer answer.
4. "Getaways" unfolds as an album full of nuances and contrasts, where Emilio and Haike's vocals stand out as a completely differentiating element, giving that underlying black metal sound—which can be dark, cold, melancholic, ambient, and atmospheric—a much more personal and expansive dimension in terms of sensations and nuances. How would you describe the sound of "Getaways"? What inspired you to compose the album? What role did Haike's vocal abilities and contributions play in the final direction the album took?
Mike: Once we knew we’d bring Heike in it gave us a whole new dimension and palette to work with that we’d never had access to before, so it definitely helped to know we weren’t being held back and we could achieve everything we had imagined with the sound. Regarding the sound, I would say it’s darker and more aggressive than previous Sojourner albums, and I leaned a lot more into the gothic and doom side of things that had always been part of what we do but was more in the background. It wasn’t intentionally darker and sadder, but I think I resonated more with this kind of sound simply because the world feels much darker than it did back when we started the band. Also it’s been a pretty rough time for Heike and I trying to get all this visa stuff sorted, and some of that bleed into the creation of the songs for sure. In terms of what inspired the composition of the album, it was mostly just being excited to do Sojourner again…to explore this world and a sound that, for a while there, looked like we may never do again.
5. Your lyrics have always been related to nature and fantasy; however, for the new album, fantasy themes seem to take center stage. What can you tell us about the themes of the new album? What themes inspired you, and which ones did you decide to explore? Do the vocals adapt to the music, or vice versa?
Mike: I think this album still has plenty of Emilio’s personal lyrics mixed with a lot of fantasy themes. We definitely dialled down the nature themes a bit for this, but I just think that’s been so thoroughly explored in the genre that you can definitely end up retreading too much of the same old ground if you’re not careful. A lot of times the songs are inspired by one thing, and Emiliot takes his own inspiration to add to the lyrics. The Road Ahead has lyrics written by Heike, and they’re a truly beautiful addition to the album. We wanted this album to be a little bit of escapism as well, something that you can put on and spend a little while immersed in other worlds. Of course the lyrics are written to both be relevant to the fantasy themes and relatable on a more personal level, Emilio and Heike always pays attention to that. The lyrics are typically always adapted to the music once it’s done, either written after or adapted heavily to make sense within the musical structure.
6. Mike Lamb continues to oversee the entire production, mixing, mastering, and recording process, with various aspects handled between Sweden and New Zealand. How did you develop this whole process? Will you continue to handle this aspect yourselves in the future?
Mike: Since the beginning I’ve recorded every single note on every album, apart from the final drums, bass, and vocals. I’m really particular when it comes to the finer details. We’re really happy with finally being able to dial in the exact sounds we always wanted for the albums, so I think this is how we’ll continue to approach things. I love what Gabriele did on Empires of Ash and Oystein and Dan Swano did on The Shadowed Road and Premonitions, but now we’re in a spot where we can oversee the full process and we’re very DIY in the way we approach our bands and music, so this suits us perfectly.
7. The new album will be released by Avatgarde Music. How did the idea of working together on the album's release come about and materialize?
Mike: We’ve worked with Avantgarde since the start, with one small foray to Napalm Records for a release and an EP. Roberto and Andrea are like family to us, they’re the prime example of a label that treats their artists amazingly.
8. Your new singer, Heike, designed the album artwork through her own design studio. Isn't it great to keep everything in-house and have her design talent? Is there a certain parallel with your previous album covers? Was this intentional or did it happen by chance?
Mike: Absolutely! We have a very nice pipeline with me and Heike’s other bands Remina and Light Field Reverie, so we carried it across to this. I’m always super involved in the album covers, so we spent a long time nailing this one down, and Heike did the most amazing job of taking the concept through to the final work! I wanted this cover to parallel the first two albums with the castle, but I want it to be an evolution of the concept in a much darker and more ominous direction. Heike captured that better than I could have ever imagined.
9. You've been around for a few years now, and atmospheric black metal has evolved in different directions, from a classic style to extremes. Do you consider yourselves a leading force in the genre? What similar bands would you recommend?
Mike: I definitely wouldn’t say a leading force, I think we have our spot in the genre and I’m proud of what we’ve done, but I never thought of us as one of the “big dogs” or anything. We’re just one of many bands who are all doing beautiful things with the genre. If we’re going to ignore some of the classics such as Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room (which I guess aren’t strictly atmospheric black) and bands like Caladan Brood and Summoning, then some of my personal favorites are bands such as Taur-Im-Duinath, Mesarthim, Labyrinthus Stellarum, Tjaktjadálvve, Vorga, Nechochwen, Stormkeep, Domhain, Suldusk, Havukruunu, The Morningside, Sivyj Yar, Alcest, Grima…there are way too many to mention, and some of those are only very peripherally atmospheric black metal, but you get the idea and I still missed so many I know I’m going to regret.
10. What dates do you have confirmed for the live presentation of the new album? What can your fans expect from one of your concerts?
Mike: We played at Ar’ Vran Fest in France and headlined a release show in Milan over the last couple of weeks, and those went great minus some sound issues. When it comes to our concerts, there’s a lot we’d love to do to really make them more immersive, but we also just like to have a good time and create less of a ‘moody’ experience and more of a classic high-energy live band show. We’re a bit rusty after 6 years, but we’ve got two absolutely phenomenal new live members in Matt Bell on guitar and Francesco Del Vecchio on bass, and they’ve injected a whole new life and energy into the band. I can’t wait till we can play more together!
11. How did you get started in music? What were the first concerts you attended? What were the first albums you bought? What event in your lives led you to want to become musicians?
Mike: I got started as a kid who just loved metal, I was introduced to it by my older brother when I was very young and then I just wanted to immerse myself into everything about metal. My first two major concerts outside of some local New Zealand bands were A Perfect Circle and Opeth. Those absolutely blew me away and help solidify that this was what I wanted to do with my life. My first albums in the more extreme side of metal were Agalloch’s Pale Folklore, Dimmu Borgir’s Death Cult Armageddon, Cradle of Filth’s Midian, Tristania’s Widow’s Weeds & Beyond the Veil, and Theater of Tragedy’s self-titled. Those were some of my really formative records, among others of course, but those albums made a huge impression on me early on. It was my first exploration deeper into metal by myself without anyone guiding me, just taking random CDs and listening to them in the CD store to decide what to buy, and there was something exciting about that back when you had to buy an album and truly deep dive into it.
12. Which album represents the essence of black metal for you? What are the latest albums you've bought?
Mike: That’s tricky, there are so many amazing bands I could mention, but I’m going to go with Agalloch. Some people argue they’re not even “real” black metal, but to me they are the pinnacle of what I want to achieve with atmospheric black metal and they are the most pure form of the embodiment of the spirit of nature in music. The latest albums I’ve bought have been very not-metal for the most part, sorry to disappoint you, but they’ve all been amazing and are Exploring Birdsong - Every House We Built, Traitrs - Possessor, Archspire - Too Fast to Die, Loathe - A Stranger to You, Warning - Rituals of Shame, Purity Ring’s self-titled, and A. A. Williams - Solstice. There are a few black metal albums I’ve been meaning to get around to, but I tend to listen to less black metal when I’m working on it myself, I just don’t like to overload myself on the genre and have too much similar stuff seep into my writing unintentionally.
13. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit. If you'd like to add anything for Sojourner fans, this is the place. I hope you enjoy the questions.
Mike: Thank you so much for taking the time to interview us! We really appreciate every single person out there that has taken the time to support us directly or indirectly, you’re all amazing. Finally, thank you for the questions, these were a lot more interesting than most run-of-the-mill questions we get!
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