Daniel Ögren: Nordic Psychedelia & Global Beats

(This transcript has been edited for clarity.)

LP: In getting familiar with you and your music and trying to learn a little bit about your background, I saw you make many references in other conversations to how music has always been part of your life. What does that mean? Were you born into a family of musicians? Was music important in your household? Can you talk about your early experiences and introductions to music?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, music has always been a big part of my life and my family, but in an ordinary way. Like, my mom worked as a piano teacher, and my father played keyboards. He had a fretless bass at home because he wanted to sound like Jaco Pastorius. So, he played the bass and guitars, and there was lots of music at home. Until I was five years old, I was the only child and spent a lot of time at home. So, I played piano and violin, listened to music a lot, and played music as well.

LP: What was some of the first music you heard other than your parents playing? What music came into your home? Rock, pop, jazz?

Daniel Ögren: Fusion, American West Coast Fusion, Gino Vannelli, Larry Carlton, Bill Champlin, Robben Ford, Pat Metheny. And also pop from the radio.

LP: It's interesting to hear you talk about the types of instruments that were around and some of that specific music that you were exposed to.

Something else, in listening to the records that you've put out under your name and in the various projects you've been associated with, is a sound that is unique to the time we live in. You've had access to music from various cultures and places that, in a previous time, may have been harder to access. Does that make sense to you?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, it's so true. I love YouTube. Also, since I grew up listening to lots of different genres, I knew about all kinds of music. But it's very true that because of platforms like YouTube, it's possible to discover lots of different music that you haven't heard before. I really love old music, and it's all there. Kind people all over the world put out recordings.

LP: You mentioned old music and its accessibility through platforms like YouTube. Can you give examples of some old music that has influenced you recently?

Daniel Ögren: Well, there's this one genre I really love called Tropicalia from Brazil. It's from the late '60s and early '70s. Artists like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Os Mutantes. They mixed rock, folk, and Brazilian music in a very interesting way. It's something that I've discovered recently and has influenced my music a lot.

LP: That's fascinating. It seems like your music takes a little bit from everywhere. You have a very eclectic taste. How do you decide what influences to bring into your music, and how do you blend them so seamlessly?

Daniel Ögren: I think it's about not thinking too much about genres or labels. I play and record what feels right. Sometimes, I start with a folk melody and then add some electronic elements or vice versa. It's more about the feeling of the music rather than sticking to a specific genre.

LP: Speaking of your recording process, can you talk a bit about how you approach the production of your albums? Are there certain techniques or philosophies that guide your work in the studio?

Daniel Ögren: I like to keep things simple. I record a lot at home and use a minimal setup—just a few microphones, a good preamp, and my instruments. I believe that limitations can be beneficial because they force you to be creative with what you have. Also, I try to record as much live as possible to capture the feeling and spontaneity of the music.

LP: You've worked not only on your own music but also as a producer and musician for other artists. How does your approach change when you're working on someone else's music?

Daniel Ögren: When I work with other artists, I try to understand their vision for the music and help them achieve it. It's not about what I would do if it were my song but rather about finding the best way to bring their ideas to life. Communication is key, and so is being open to experimentation and collaboration.

LP: Your collaborations have spanned a wide range of genres and artists. Do you have any memorable projects or experiences that stand out?

Daniel Ögren: Working with Dina Ögan was really special. We had a great connection, and the music we made together was very organic and flowed naturally. Another memorable project was producing an album for an indie band called The Echoes. We recorded it in an old barn in the countryside, which gave the album a unique sound and atmosphere.

LP: When you say you understand them through rhythm, does it manifest in ways like you know what rhythms activate them?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, definitely.

LP: That's fascinating. Something else I saw you speak about, and the way I read it, I got a little confused by a contradiction, not like a contradiction I'm holding you accountable for, but more my misunderstanding. Still, you had said something about, on the one hand, being interested in stories and, on the other hand, that you don't typically begin the composition process with the narrative idea in mind. It starts with the music. How do you get from one state to the other? Where do those two things meet?

Daniel Ögren: The easiest answer is after a while. I'm interested in a certain area or phenomenon, something other than music. When I pick up my guitar or sit down by a piano, something comes up, maybe a rhythm or a chord. I connect my emotions or thoughts of that certain area to the music, and then it's easier to continue composing with that in mind. I've tried to compose just from an idea, but it never works for me. It has to be a place. I need to have fun with an instrument or play and see what comes out. I never know.

LP: Do you have to create the environment for it to come? Like, do you have a ritual or a process?

Daniel Ögren: No.

LP: You just sit down and, as long as you're playing, you can?

Daniel Ögren: The best thing is just a white room. It's even better if it doesn't have windows. I don't want to have paintings on the walls, and I just need an instrument.

LP: A blank slate.

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, I'm afraid of getting stuck if I have to go through any ritual or become dependent on it.

LP: Something that I was curious about when reading the credits on your work, especially the work that you put out under your name, you handle other than some of the instrumental collaborators or a vocalist, the musicians, everything is composed, arranged, produced, mixed, all that. That conjures a lot of thoughts for me. Do you ever get lost in the work because you are so self-contained? Are you manifesting a specific vision that you have for the work? Or is there ever a peril in becoming isolated with the work and not being able to get to the completion because you're too close to it? All those roles being in one person, it seems like there could be a danger there.

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, actually, I agree. I would love to work with a recording assistant, a mixing engineer, and a mastering engineer. That would be the most fun way of producing music. But when I started making music, I couldn't afford to work with others. I didn't have the money, so I had to do it myself. And after a while, I discovered that I really like mixing. It's very fun to record guitar, percussion, and piano. I love setting up the mics and trying out different sounds. It's a lot of fun, but I would love to have a team. For me, it's super important with the recordings, and I know how hard it is to record different sound sources. It has to do with the money from the beginning, and I've learned some stuff. Now, I think it's funny to produce, mix, and master. It was so important to bring my music to others, and I didn't want to wait and gather money. So that's the honest answer to your question.

LP: How much of the instrumentation on your records are organic instruments, or do you use samples and synthesizers, especially in the percussion? I'm very curious about that.

Daniel Ögren: The percussion is almost always a real instrument. I think I've used a sample on the kick bass drum sometimes, but mostly, it's a real instrument. But what I would use sometimes is a software synth. I have two synthesizers. One is a Korg MicroKorg, which has a vocoder. But when I put it into my Roland Chorus Echo, Space Echo, it sounds awesome. And then I have an old Roland JX-3P. But sometimes, I would love to use a pan flute. Or some other instruments, and then I would pick anything that sounded good to me.

LP: So much of your sound has this influence of South American and Central American cultures. Are you able to find musicians who can play those instruments?

Daniel Ögren: I would love to say yes. I haven't met many people here in Sweden who can play those instruments the way I want them to play them. It's so much of the sound, the rhythmic aspect of it. I have a Quijada that I play myself. Sometimes, I can't produce the sounds that I want, but I have friends who can play the music the way I want.

LP: It's interesting when artists explore the music of cultures other than their own over an extended period. It starts with the ability to use instruments from those cultures to make the sound. Then, it goes through a period of mimicry until there's a deeper connection or understanding. When you have a musician who is of that culture, it's like there's a cultural memory of how it works in the context of the music, what it should feel like. Less about what it should sound like and more about what it should feel like. And then that feels transmitted in the sound.

Daniel Ögren: It's incredible.

LP: And it sounds like that's what you're looking for, basically, is that next level of understanding on the instrument. It's great that you can get a melody line from someone, but you need that next richer step.

Daniel Ögren: Yeah. It's all about telling a story. I want to tell it as good as I could do.

LP: In another interview, you mentioned Bill Frisell. What's the kinship there? What is it that you admire in what Frisell does that you would love to have access to?

Daniel Ögren: He's the opposite of Pat Metheny, and Pat Metheny has been my main hero for many years. I discovered Pat Metheny when I was 11 years old. My dad bought this CD of his, "Still Life (Talking)," at the gas station in our small village. That was the only thing I listened to for three years. He's so rhythmic, and there's a lot of percussion going on there. That was like my home, that music. And when I was maybe 18 years old, I heard Bill Frisell, and it was like the opposite of that. He has perfect timing. I love Bill Frisell's timing. It's a whole other world. I listened to the record he made with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones. My language is more natural for me to connect musically with others, as I would be a musician in a Pat Metheny group. But I really love Bill Frisell's music, his musical world. And I would love to meet him someday or jam with him.

LP: He is definitely one of those players where he's unmistakably himself, but he doesn't ruin a collaboration by making it just about himself. He's so versatile.

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, really. I love his tone. It's just a guitar into an amp, and sure, he uses pedals and tone-shaping pedals, but in the end, it sounds like a Telecaster, but you hear instantly that it's Bill Frisell. There are so many great players.

LP: Yeah, there are. That's one of the most exciting things: once you're exploring this universe, it's ever-expanding.

Daniel Ögren: And it's also, yeah, everything is possible. It has no end. We've only played music for, I don't know how, many hundreds of years, or we've only recorded music, but it's such a short time, and anything is possible.

LP: It's also because of the accessibility, not only of the tools to create but the tools to distribute. It's never really bothered me that there's so much more music or that it's easier for less accomplished music to get out there. To me, it's like, bring it all on. I'm happy to wade through it. Or so many times I come across something where it might be a 15-track record, and there's only one or two good songs that I like, but those are everything that day. And so it's fine. Of all the things we need less of, I wouldn't say that creative output, like I'm happy to have people creating and bumbling their way through to the next sound.

LP: Something I wanted to ask you about the Lamponia series of recordings. What's the unifying theme? Why do you keep returning to it? It seems very personal, but I don't know what I'm picking up on. Could you explain it to me?

Daniel Ögren: It has to do with my family, my family on my dad's side. It's so hard for me to describe this, even in Swedish. But it's my family and the nature where they used to live and where I've spent summers, where I went fishing when I was a kid. And nature is, it sounds cliché, but it's very important to me. Then nature has timing. I love being in nature, all the sounds that are created by nature. So that's why it's important to compose music that's a homage to those places and nature itself.

LP: Do you ever use found sound or field recordings in your work?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, I did a record some years ago. It's called "Brev Från Leksand," and on that record, there are crane birds that a friend of mine recorded. I sampled some stuff as well. I was curious about hip-hop in that period. The first time I heard "Still D.R.E." with Snoop Dogg, I was blown away. I got interested in trying to create my own style of hip-hop. So yes, I use field recordings.

LP: Tell me a little bit; what is the folk music of Sweden? And specifically, what are the folk instruments, if any?

Daniel Ögren: It's a violin, accordion, nyckelharpa, and guitar. In the north of Sweden, we used to play shaman drums. I played violin when I was a kid, and we played only folk music. I love it.

LP: It strikes me as something that would resonate for you because of the connection to the people and the place. And it seems that while your music is so modern and international, all of its elements are also rooted in very specific places—the South American influence and how you're fusing it with other kinds of music. I've very much enjoyed listening to your music over the last several days in preparation for our time together. It's a different world to be immersed in.

Daniel Ögren: Wow. Oh, thank you.

LP: It seems like you always have many projects going on. You have this circle of collaborators with whom you work under different project names. Still, since we confirmed we were going to do this until we actually were able to be together, there are multiple projects. Is this how you've always been, or is this a result of coming out of COVID and being able to create again? Can you talk about the prolific nature of your life?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah. I love to work. I really do. I have three children. Before I had kids, I also worked, but not as efficiently as I do now. So, it's so important for me to continue creating because I enjoy it. I feel that it's important. We like to play and create. It's important for me to keep trying to create stuff as good as Stevie Wonder had done it. I don't want to settle with just being okay and making okay music. I really want to make great music, and I want to sound great and express myself in my way. So then I just work and have fun with my friends. With my soon-to-be wife, Anna Ahnlund, who's the singer in Dina Ögon. We're really enjoying playing together. Yeah, so we make music all the time.

LP: Have any of your children shown any interest or aptitude for music?

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, but not when I'm around. When they don't think I can hear them, they sing out loud, and they can swing. They have great timing, but after I've picked them up from school, I spend time with my kids. And on weekends, we do things together. I try not to pick up the guitar because if I do that, I'm stuck in the guitar. But we listen to a lot of music together. It's really fun. I can see that it's natural for them to be in the music.

LP: Does the listening and sharing go both ways? Are you educating them on music, or are they exposing you to music?

Daniel Ögren: Mostly, it's them showing me different music. Mostly, it's Eurovision and the song contest, but I'm happy to listen to that music. If they want to show me something, it's important to listen to that, to show them that I will listen to whatever you show me because then they might listen to what I show them.

LP: Yeah. Respect and interest. As music lovers, whatever the music you're initially interested in, it's what opens the door to this universe of ideas and sounds. There is no bad way in.

LP: Daniel, thank you for making time to talk with me. I very much appreciate it, and I've enjoyed the music of all your different projects.

Daniel Ögren: Yeah, I've enjoyed our chat, too.