After three excellent albums, it almost seemed like Triosphere had completely disappeared for a while. Infrequent live performances proved that the band was still alive, but the announcement of ‘Oceans Above, Stars Below’ – their first album since 2014 – still was quite the pleasant surprise. Singer/bassist Ida Haukland explains what has been going on, and what fans can look forward to.

“We have obviously been prepared for the question: why the long wait? What’s been going on?”, Haukland says. “It’s been a long wait for us as well. We were more or less ready to start recording this album in 2020. But then the pandemic hit, and there were a lot of other things along the way, so it took a while until the album was finally done, recorded, mixed and everything.

We were signed to AFM at the time, but they let us know that they would not release any new material anymore. We were not prepared for that, so we had to find a new home for this album, which added quite some time to the whole process. But up until 2020, we have been out playing. We have spent quite some time writing new material, we have been on the road, and we have never been gone.

The short and not very informative answer is that life has been going on. But we never split up, and Marius (Silver Bergesen, guitarist) has been writing songs all the time. I think he had some riffs ready around the time we released our previous album. But of course, there have been a lot of writing sessions since. As far as the vocal melodies are concerned: I wrote a few of them when traveling down to Fascination Street Studios for recording them in 2022, so that is probably the newest part of the album.”

Something Sneaks In

“The drums and vocals were recorded in 2022, and then we have done all the bass and the guitars at our home studios. We did pre-production for the album, so we had some demo guitars that we could start recording the drums to, and they were absolutely good enough to also record the vocals to. The reason why we actually started recording vocals almost in the same session as the drums was because the drums were recorded much faster than we expected, so we suddenly had some extra days at Fascination Street.

So we figured: then let’s just record all the vocals I have so far. Alexander Backlund at Fascination Street was just an awesome guy to work with, so we had no doubt that we had to go back to also record the vocals for the remaining songs with him. We went back a couple of months later in 2022 to do so. Normally we would do the vocals last, but things just happened in a way that made this a good idea.

Alexander had really good thoughts and ideas while we were recording. There are a lot of things where I had planned to do something, but he suggested that maybe I should try it in a different way: what do you think of these two or three alternatives? And he was always very clear about which option he liked and why. Good feedback!

He also gave us a grammar check on the lyrics along the way. I have a weakness in my English grammar where I write singular forms instead of plural forms, and vice versa. I know the grammar rules, but sometimes something sneaks into the lyrics. So we went through the lyrics before each song, and he would point out: you’re missing an S on the end of that. Very helpful. Eventually, after everything was recorded, Jens Bogren mixed the album, and he is the man.”

What the Song Is Supposed to Be

“The lyrics I do pretty much on my own. Sometimes I ask the guys: what do you think about this? Can I write something like this? Marius sometimes has some feedback, but for the most part, the guys always say that it sounds good. If I don’t ask, they don’t tell me that they want to read the lyrics and have opinions on them.

The titles are probably what we discuss most often, because I find that titles are often very difficult. Especially on previous albums, Marius has had some song titles that he wanted the songs to have. We have been talking about them, and then I understand what the song is supposed to be, so I can look for something that inspires me to write from my own point of view. On this album, Marius felt very strongly about the song title ‘Lightning in a Bottle’. I just had to think a bit about what kind of lyrics would fit that title.

Finding the vocal melodies for the chorus in that one was extremely difficult. Marius, Tor Ole (Byberg, guitarist) and I sat down to brainstorm, because I had been trying for so long to nail the vocal melody, and I felt that no matter what idea I got, it just wouldn’t with the guitar riff. So we sat down, and I said: whatever melody comes to mind when you listen to the chorus, just let me hear it. Tor Ole came with some guitar melodies that really triggered the idea that eventually would become the chorus.

What often happens during the recordings is that we discover that there are too many words in the sentences. We want the melody to go a certain way, but the number of words makes it too chaotic. It’s a process of trimming down to make the melodies actually work better and be more catchy. Most of the time, the changes work quite well, but there have been a couple where I thought: okay, I need to change that, but then it doesn’t make sense with that, and how the hell am I going to do that?”

Taking a Step Back

“I understand and respect that that are a lot of people who don’t care about the lyrics at all. But I’m very happy about the people who actually at least read them. Because I do really work hard on them. Very often, I sit with the feeling: is this any good? Does this make any sense? I just hope for the best, and the feedback on the lyrics of at least the previous two albums has been very good, so I really didn’t want to disappoint on this new one. But it’s a lot of rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting.

There is not a common thread running through all the songs, but when I had the chance to take a step back and look at them, I see that several songs are commenting on all the awful things going on in the world. Previously, I have very much written more about internal struggles, much closer to the individual. But this time, both ‘Of Tyrants’ and ‘Monster’s Ball’ are comments on the insanity out there, what the world leaders are doing, where everything is heading, which unfortunately is he same as it has been throughout all history of mankind.

I am actually kind of a misanthrope, often to quite a large degree. And I get more so the older I get. Maybe that’s normal, haha! So there definitely are more lyrics on this album about what mankind does and misuses to destroy and control the world at large.”

Elements from Times in Your Own Life

“At the same time, there are still songs that are more in line with what I have done on ‘The Heart of the Matter’, more of these internal struggles, the story of your own life, and how you view the world. ‘Oceans Above, Stars Below’ features very much those kinds of lyrics, about how things might not be what they seem, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are bad.

The title was inspired by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowsky, who wrote the ‘The Witcher’ books. There is a sentence in ‘Blood of Elves’ that goes: I mistook the stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky. I really like that sentence and everything it meant in its own context, so it inspired many of the thoughts I had when I wrote the ‘Oceans Above, Stars Below’ lyrics.

I can also say that on both ‘Road’ and ‘The Heart of the Matter’ (2011), and again on this one, there is one song with lyrics based on a book I have read. This time, the title is a bit on the nose. It’s ‘Orpheus’ Bane’, which is about the Greek tragedy about Orpheus and Eurydice. I actually got familiar with that story for the first time many years ago when I read the ‘The Sandman’ novels by Neil Gaiman.

One of those stories was intertwined with the Greek tragedy about Orpheus. I was so fascinated by it, and later I read more about that story, and I just wanted to see if I could write lyrics around it. Especially the part where he travels down to the underworld to get her back, and the ascent up again, and the doubt, and everything he feels. The lyrics are about the passage where he is getting her back up, and ultimately, he fails at the very end of the path out of the underworld, and he loses her forever. Again!

Self-doubt and his huge love: that’s maybe why I like this story so much. It’s so easy to recognize elements of it from times in your own life as well.”

The Same Elegant Finesse

Perhaps surprisingly, the line-up that recorded ‘The Heart of the Matter’ is largely still intact. Only drummer Kenneth Tårneby did not play on that album, though he already was part of the band by the time it was released. “We tested a few different drummers when Ørjan (Aare Jørgensen, former drummer) told us: thanks for the run guys, but now I’m going to do something else”, Haukland explains. “And I had been playing with Ørjan since I was 16 years old, so I was very locked into how he played.

Some of the drummers we tested were really cool, really good musicians, but I really felt they were different kinds of drummers. And then we got in touch with Kenneth, and all of us felt it was almost exactly the same as it was before. It was just super weird how very identical of a touch he had to Ørjan. He has the same elegant finesse in his playing, in addition to bringing his own edge, groove and massive talent. We hit the ground running with him. That was an immediate match.

We are so thankful that he was interested in coming and playing with us, and that it worked out, because he’s a super drummer, and his playing fits me perfectly. There are some rhythmic patterns on the new album that feel very familiar to me, that we could have easily put on our previous albums and no one would have thought they would be out of place. It was very natural for him.”

A Harsh Discovery

Despite the long break, Haukland’s voice barely aged between 2014’s ‘The Heart of the Matter’ and ‘Oceans Above, Stars Below’. “I think there’s quite a difference from ‘Onwards’ (2006) up to ‘The Road Less Travelled’”, she says. “From then on, it has been more consistent, because I figured out a lot of things. In terms of technique, but also what kind of singer I could be and wanted to be.

It’s funny, because for each album – the guys say I say the same thing after each recording – I think: oh god, these vocal lines are so high! It’s going to be hell to sing them live! So I think my range has somewhat stretched from album to album, which ultimately means that when I managed to do the ‘The Heart of Matter’ songs, it was easier to sing the ‘Road’ songs, because then I had moved up a bit. So now, after working on the ‘Oceans’ songs, I find that the songs that were a bit difficult from ‘The Heart of the Matter’ are much easier to do.

But of course, it’s always quite the process to get back in shape before concerts if we have had a long period where we don’t meet up for rehearsals. I have discovered through the years that I definitely have to work on my cardio and things like that before live shows. And just in general, I have to be in good shape.

We kind of held back very hard on doing live shows while we were preparing to get this new album out. So after we started the recordings, we kind of just stopped booking any shows. We only did a few, and one of them was in February last year. I thought I was in fair enough shape, but I really discovered during that show that I wasn’t. I was out of breath a lot. I felt I performed at 60 percent maximum.

That was a bit of a harsh discovery for me, that I needed to get up and running before the next show, to get my cardio and my lung capacity up there.”

Stored Away for Years

“I bought my first bass in 1997. That was the Washburn bass, which was the only bass I have used all the way up until 2014. So I have been very happy with that bass. It has worked perfectly for me. It fits me. How it feels, how it sounds: everything. But I eventually felt that maybe I should try a different bass, and a few coincidences led to me playing the LTD bass. So I have had that off and on now. The LTD is a bit easier to play than the Washburn, because the neck is a bit slimmer and more comfortable.

Also, around 2009, I had received a prototype of the Randy Rhoads-shaped bass from Amfisound – they call it the Routa model. For some reason, it never really quite felt right. But around 2018, I picked it up again after it had been stored away for years and years and years, gave it a proper chance, and I thought: this actually plays really well! So then I had it put through proper service at a guitar shop, and I also had the black and silver sparkly finish done, and I started taking that bass with me wherever I could.

The only problem is that it’s really long, because of the V-shape, so it’s a huge case to drag around. So there are times – though not often – that I think: okay, I’m going to take the LTD with me instead. But it’s a really, really nice bass. And since it’s a prototype, as far as I know, it is the only one in the world, which is extra cool. Also, the other basses I have actually have active pick-ups, and the Routa is passive. But I don’t feel that I lose any attack or anything because of that.”

The Weight of the Tone

“I never had any bass lessons or anything, so the way I play is just how it has always been for me. I mainly only play with my index finger and my middle finger. I would like to work with my ring finger more. There are times when we do something in a more Steve Harris-ish direction. Then I use my ring finger. But normally, it’s only the two. And that has worked fine for me.

There is a Norwegian artist I have done some live session jobs for, Dag Ingebrigtsen, where I thought that it would probably be a better fit to play with a pick. So I have been playing with a pick a bit more in the last few years. Also on the albums, actually: I do use a pick at least fifty percent of the time. Because when you have the album format, there are parts where the precision and the way a pick cuts through make it a better idea. But live with Triosphere, it’s only the fingers.

It can be more challenging to play slow than fast, because it demands a different focus, on the groove and the weight of the tone.”

Doing a Lot on a Small Budget

Triosphere has always had a very strong visual concept as well. “We had an illustration for each song on ‘Road’ and photography for each song on ‘The Heart of the Matter’”, Haukland nods. “We were so happy with that, and proud of it. But doing that is a huge project, and unfortunately, we ended up not doing that this time around.”

The videos released prior to the album do show a clear visual identity. “I absolutely have to give a lot of credit to Kinorama Studio”, Haukland emphasizes. “It’s an Italian duo down in Rome, Greta and Ray. Frontiers Records recommended them to us for the video. We had a good talk with them, and then we decided that we were actually going to travel all the way down there to record the videos with them.They were just amazing.

I had sent them the lyrics to the songs, and we talked a bit about the songs, and they pitched these ideas. They are really, really great. Really creative people. They managed to do a lot on the budget that we had, which was not huge. I’m really impressed with what they have delivered on the videos we have released so far.”

Fitting Everything In

“We definitely hope to be playing live a lot next year, though I’m a bit careful to say often. We are going to do some release concerts in Norway, but since the album released in late August, 2027 is probably much more likely the year in which we can focus on festivals and proper tours.

Several of us have young children, so we have to see how we fit everything in. Maybe it will be like a Thursday through Sunday round here and there. But playing live is definitely what I think is most fun about being in a band, so we want to get out there for sure!

Just recently, we have teamed up with Live Wire Concerts for all bookings in Norway, and Dragon Productions for booking in the rest of the world. So things are looking up when it comes to the possibilities for live shows next year.”