News / / 11.07.14

Croatian Amor

“Ultimately everyone has a tendency to value culture out of how many people you reach with it. If you take that further it would mean that Rihanna would rule the world. I don’t want that.” Despite what it might sound like Loke Rahbek is not a staunchly underground artist but his latest EP as Croatian Amor is only available if you send him a naked selfie.

“I wanted to create something that was only for a few people,” he says. The idea is that if the audience don’t share the music, Rahbek will not share the selfie. “[I wanted] to sort of change the idea that it’s about selling as many records as possible or that it’s about having as many people at the show as possible, which is an absurd way of thinking.” Rahbek is serious and sincere, and he’s been making music for years under various different guises. ” I don’t think I knew there was so much to be taken from this particular project at the beginning and it decided for itself that it was going to be more than I thought it would be.”

The ideas Rahbek is exploring with Croatian Amor go beyond the music and extend to the audience, “I’m trying to explore the boundaries in-between an audience and an artist and how we could distort that and change it into a communication rather than someone preaching”. This, he explains, is the concept behind the selfies too. “[Being in a traditional band] it was always the same thing; you put the record out and people buy it for however much it costs and that’s it! There is no communication; you are feeding someone. Instead of having it go one way I wanted to see if it was a possible to do an exchange so in that sense anyone who purchases this album is a part of the album.”

Croatian Amor sees Rahbek, who also plays in Lust For Youth and Vår, creating ‘bubblegum industrial’ soundscapes that he describes as “too pop to be noise and too noise to be pop.” Sometimes cute, sometimes aggressive he is constantly working, not just alone but under various different guises, he tell us “I don’t want to wear the same clothes every day, I don’t want to eat the same food everyday, I don’t want to sleep with the same girl every day. I don’t want to make the same music every day.” Rahbek also runs his own label Posh Isolation and while he admits he’s not sure on the future of Vår he is excited about a couple of new musical projects he’s got on the way. “I’m doing a project called Damien Dubrovnik with the guy the I run a label with. I’ve done a lot of one off collaborative things. I’ve just finished a new record with Puce Mary from Copenhagen.” He extolls enthusiastically.

Rahbek’s background is in experimental noise music, and he understands that his constructions are an acquired taste. “I think it’s like that with a lot of things; most things don’t taste good or feel good the first time.” He explains, “The first cup of coffee I had I didn’t like, the first time I had sex I didn’t particularly like it. It’s like learning a language. Any new language is gonna sound like nonsense at first but the more you speak it the more you understand the subtleties. It’s like that with music, it takes a lot of work, both making it and understanding it.”

Sure, it might take a while to ‘get it’ and some of Loke’s ideas might seem confrontational. But he’s articulate, confident and more than able to justify his stance. Infact, we’re half tempted to get the camera out ourselves.

File Next To: Pharmakon | Sutfcliffe Jugend

Listen to: LA Hills Burn At the Peak Of Winter

poshisolation.net/

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Words: Billy Black

@billybillyblack

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