#sarah mariegaard

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Ahead of her upcoming debut LP “Powerslide” Soleima talks about Anthropology, Social Welfare, writing cheeky songs and her first Valentine’s Day

Fresh off a tour opening for Electric Guest, we spoke to Danish musician Sarah Mariegaard during her first North American tour. Touching base with what will soon become her debut LP “Powerslide”, we caught up with the Copenhagen artist on what makes her tick. Speaking on friendships and collaborations,  and her previous dabbling in anthropology, we debunk the mystery behind Sarah’s cultivated alter-ego Soleima in our interview with Mariegaard.

Words + Interview: Peter Quincy Ng

How’s the tour been so far?

It’s been my first tour in America and Canada! It’s also my first time touring for such a long period, so it’s definitely something special.

It’s been a year since your last EP “Bulldog”, so give us an update on what’s new with Soleima.

We’re releasing an album in March, and it’s going to be so fun. I’m excited to release a full-length album, because of releasing only singles, its something that you have to really cherish.

There’s a little tale that goes with your track “Roses”. I’ve read recently that on EP “Bulldog”, that it was a spontaneous songwriting effort that grew organically rather than you framing it around a narrative. How do you invent some of the characters and stories behind them, because often they are quite cheeky?

(Laughs) Yeah, I guess for “Roses” or for all of my songs, its experiences from my own life and people around. I try to put it in a way that people can relate to. “Roses” is a manifestation of something I’ve been going through and not really believing in myself and my own path. “Roses” its both dealing with it and describing it, and then putting an end to it, so I wrote it as sort of an empowerment song to myself.

You’ve been a person who has been no stranger to collaboration, from community drumming in Tanzania to Flødeklinikken to your work with producer Vasco. Soleima was never truly built in isolation, so tell me about Sarah’s team-building skills?

(Laughs) I definitely work very well in collabs and write a lot of stuff with others and friends. Some of the songs start on the piano where I write on my own, some start in a room with five other people going, “What about this? What about that? Argh!” and it’s important to have those different processes because songs will end up differently. I like both sides and I like both sides of the outcome.

You started out playing piano in Flødeklinikken, but where do you find your own voice as a soloist? 

Actually, it was Vasco and a guy who was his best friend called Vera, where we all had this dream of writing songs for others. I was studying and they were doing other daytime jobs, but we wanted to write songs to become topliners or producers. However when writing I started to feel ownership over some of the songs and release them under my own name. In Flødeklinikken, we were seven people writing together, but I missed that part where I could have full creative control

One of my first musical memories of you was from your video and demo track “My Boi”, tell me your collaboration with visual artist Maya SB?

Since the beginning of the Soleima project we always worked very closely. She’s a very close friend and I trust her vision and creativity. It was very easy to start working together, and of all the visuals that we’ve made “My Boi” is the one I am proudest of. I really think it’s amazing and it’s very much Maya’s vision. We still work together and I feel very humbled and blessed to be working with her.

“My Boi”

One of the things you’ve said about yourself despite being in hip-hop collaborative Flødeklinikken, is that you never saw yourself as a rapper. So what was it like knowing that your cover of “Check” got you on stage with Young Thug?

(Laughs) That was such a fun thing for me! Like it was so funny, and that’s so much how this all works. You do something and it opens a tiny door into something else, which opens another tiny door into something else, that’s a great example of that. You make a fun cover of a random hip-hop song, and then you get to open for him. I don’t know it’s super fun, and I’ve always listened to hip-hop and done it.  

“Check”

And as for Kranium? He’s a pretty big name in dancehall!

It’s because I recently got signed the U.S. instead of Denmark and this was our first conversation, because they’ve heard the “Breathe” track. They wanted to put the artist on the track, and then we did it and it was super fun.

“Breathe” 

So it must be a huge dream to make it like that and get signed. But an earlier dream of yours was as an anthropologist?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology, and I started to move into music when I finished. I was kind of a crossroads where I was wondering if I wanted to do my Master’s degree or do both? But then, because I got signed, I wanted to give it 110%. Luckily, I’ve been able to live off my music since then. My heart is definitely divided but it sounds a little spoiled to say but because I know it’s such a lucky thing to do music as a career, but I do really dream of going back to anthropology. Maybe I hope I could combine the two.

It’s something that pretty much comes up in every interview, but the name Soleima is taken from something father’s tell their daughters when they about to do something that’s up to no good. So if you had to dedicate a song to the teenage girl from Denmark, which one would it be? (Laughs) That’s a hard question, but there are some cheeky ones; “Roses”, “Shut the Fuck Up”, “Cheers for the Tears”.

I’ve read that your mother works with children and your father an addiction counselor. But did they ever get worried the lifestyle and parties of a touring artist, given their background working with people’s issues?

You are so well prepared! This is amazing I’m super impressed. But yeah, in Scandinavia, the support system is so big. There’s always a system to take care of you, and because of that I have a theory that parents in Scandinavia dare to have their children follow their weird dreams than if you were in U.S. I think as opposed to Scandinavia, over there having an education and making enough money is more important, because if not who is going to take care of you. Whereas in Denmark, I could take another career path and I wouldn’t be out in the street. I have my little theory but that’s why I think people dare to do whatever they want out there.

I also have super cool parents, who let me do whatever the fuck I want. As for the partying I think they would be worried if I seemed unwell, but I think by now it seems like they don’t think I’m drinking everyday or doing drugs.

Touring life can be difficult tell us how you keep the sanitary or some on-stage rituals you perform to shake the nerves?  

Today we had an off day yesterday and we walked around the town for a many hours actually. All of us, we really enjoyed walking around the towns, and doing super normal things. But we just typically hang out half-an-hour before the show before we get into focus.

Today is Valentine’s Day, anything special for the audience?

Actually, in Denmark we don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s not a tradition there. Maybe some do but I never liked it, so I’m actually going to celebrate my first one with everyone here.

Actually speaking of holidays, I asked Rasmus (School of X), about where he’d have his dream holiday and he said in Mexico with you.

Ah! Oh my God that’s the cutest! We used to go to Tulum and enjoy the ecotourism, but now it’s a bit too touristy and a lot of partying. It’s also because we’ve been travelling for so many years, and vacations, they are really important and it’s about having time together. So I would say the same, no matter where we are, the best vacation is one with Rasmus.

#soleima #sarah mariegaard #danish music

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Danish Soleima Releases Cracks Last March, Danish singer Sarah Mariegaard of hip hop collective Flødeklinikken released her first solo single under as 

#Flødeklinikken #Once Was #Sarah Mariegaard #Soleima

[swedeandsour]

Soleima - Cracks

While she may have scored a coveted record deal from a major, Soleima's Sarah Mariegaard still sticks to her DIY ethic with her self-shot videos. Ushered in with its piano blues, the fluctuates between its highs and lows as the song is by wobbly synths bouncing off Soleima's delicate vocal purr. Mixed by Danish future bass whizz-kid ELOQ, Sarah explains that "Cracks" is a song about hope:

“'Cracks' is about hope: the hope that there is something good coming in the future, no matter how bad the present can sometimes seem. I’m, like many others, filled up with these kinds of thoughts at the moment.”

You can check out the song below and if the Danish tongue is one familiar to you, you can listen to Sarah talk About her track.

#soleima #sarah mariegaard #eloq #august fenger janson #danish music

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School of X - New Friend

The lead-up single towards the release of his sophomore album “Dancing Through the Void”, Danish percussionist Rasmus Littauer of School of X shares “New Friend”. Smooth and silken yet nuanced in its textures, the track “New Friend” features a plethora of sound. From the hazy ooze of Rasmus’ vocals to the helium squeak of its youthful choir (courtesy his partner, musician Sarah Mariegaard of Soleima), this melancholic number culminates to bluesy guitars and the flourishing touch of its regal strings. Chosen aptly as the final single before his album’s release, Rasmus had this to say about “New Friend”

“'New Friend' is the song that represents this album in the best and broadest way; it contains the width of the album. I wanted to make a laid-back song as grand as possible.”

You can check out track’s from School of X’s previous record “Armlock” including the slow dreamy tread of “Forgot Me on the Moon” and the choral glow of “Bad Love”. Previous singles including the grooving new wave sound of “Away” and  the poppy reggae snap “Race for Caress” will feature alongside “New Friend” on upcoming album “Dancing Through the Void”:

“Bad Love”

School of X · Bad Love

“Forgot Me on the Moon”

School of X · Forgot Me On The Moon

“Away”

School of X · Away

“Race for Caress”

School of X · Race for Caress

“New Friend”

School of X · New Friend

#school of x #danish music

[swedeandsour]

Soleima & LiveStrings - Music Matters Performance

With things slowing down ahead of the holiday season, even the decidedly electronic nature of Danish pop wonder Soleima goes for a change of pacing. In collaboration with Denmark’s premium audio equipment house Bang & Olufsen, Soleima’s Sarah Mariegaard is joined classical music collective LiveStrings for a series of holiday favorites and renditions of her quirky, offbeat-pop numbers. Swapping the grabbing jolt of her incongruent synth shapes for the vivid lush of its regal instrumentation, Sarah’s youthful glee and upbeat energy is transformed into intimate moments of lounging slick and heartfelt vulnerability. Playing old favorites and sharing new tracks from their collaboration, their forging of new musical alliances spurred from a bit of downtime under quarantine in Copenhagen.

You can check out Soleima’s “Force of Nature” where she plays the faded glory of her alter-ego Yvonne, a slightly-intoxicated actress from 1970′s Hollwood.

“Force of Nature”

Soleima · Force Of Nature

Soleima & Livestrings 

#soleima #livestrings #danish music

[swedeandsour]

SOLEIMA - Grind (feat. Yoshi Flower)

To accompany the release of her debut album “Powerslide”, Denmark’s Soleima presents track “Grind”. A duet with Detroit native and Los Angeles-based artist Yoshi Flower, the track separates itself from Soleima’s previous others by having a more acoustic outlook to its sound. A soft, slinky ballad grooving to its funky sway, the track jolts to Soleima’s sparking squeak. Moving to the lounging tones of bluesy guitar stylistics, the gentle hush “Grind” is captured by the placating calm from the duskiness of its dueting vocalists. Speaking about her album “Powerslide” whcih features the Yoshi Flower collaboration, Soleima’s Sarah Mariegaard had this to say:

“I’ve adopted the word ‘powerslide’ to represent my loss of control/power over myself and my attempt to regain it. As I started my musical journey as the only female in a 7-piece Danish hip-hop collective, I wanted to incorporate my love for hip-hop into ‘Powerslide’. This album is a musical genre-bending hybrid that challenges the traditional musical structures, hooks & melodies in commercial pop music.”

You can check out “Grind” below in a recorded live session between Soleima and Yoshi Flower below. Read our interview with Soleima we did ahead of the release of "Powerslide" while on tour with Electric Guest HERE.

A productive yesteryear for Yoshi Flower, the Detroit artist put out two full albums in 2019, including “I Will Not Let My Love Go To Waste” and “Peer Pressure” on which you can find the woozy, quirk of self-love track “Validation”:

“Grind”

Yoshi Flower-  “Validation”

#soleima #yoshi flower #danish music

[swedeandsour]

Soleima - Wasted

Kooky and quirky, squeaky Danish diva Sarah Mariegaard of Soleima has got a tune for the summer season with her latest video single “Wasted”. With its pitch-bent, squawking electronics and popping percussion, its a hook-heavy track where her helium-laced vocals ease out a terribly-infectious track. While its a song that certainly implies getting a particular mental state, Mariegaard explains that the song is not only the drunken stupors but also something deeper:

“The term ‘wasted' gets double sided in this song.The obvious meaning is of course being drunk/high and therefore unable to process thoughts and logic,”  explains Mariegaard. “The other way to look at it, is that some people, like myself, are able to lead a certain kind of life whereas many don’t have the same possibilities as me - and sometimes that opportunity can be wasted."

Hanging out with her girl crew, and despite a few depressing images of a few dead and dried-up animals, Soleima makes sure she’s got her summer down on lock for her latest video spectacle. Take a look at the video below

#soleima #sarah mariegaard #flødeklinikken #danish music

[swedeandsour]

Soleima - Once Was

The squeaky Danish songstress Soleima recently put out track “Once Was” in what would soon form an EP that will be released later this year. With its marshmallow-like bass of big gooey synths, the song twists and contorts with its soft and malleable structure. “Once Was” is slow and gradual but eventually culminates of succession of rapid drum kicks and a magnification of Sarah Mariegaard's pitch-shifted sound.

You can check out the track below:

#soleima #sarah mariegaard #flødeklinikken

[swedeandsour]

Soleima - Check (Young Thug Cover)

Cashing in on the biggest pop-trends from across the ocean, Sarah Mariegaard from Soleima recently put out her cover of Young Thug’s “Check”. Having the honor to recently perform the track alongside Young Thug himself at Denmark’s Trailerpark Festival, Soleima wanted to make the track reflective of her own hustle ‘n grind. The result is rather different but still with all the charisma: helium-laced vocals and clean-cut electronics detail this electropop cover. While Mariegaard probably doesn’t have the street cred Young Thug has, the Danish singer explained how she fit the song to her psyche:

"The very first time I heard 'Check', I thought the track was super turnt-up: both the beat and Young Thug’s raving style and voice just stuck in my head ever since. I've listened to the track so much! However because Young Thug and I have such different lifestyles and therefore different things to sing about, I had to change the lyrics to make it a better fit for me - but despite the changes I think the song is still one can everyone can enjoy.”

Check out the track below:

#soleima #flødeklinikken #sarah mariegaard #young thug #danish music

[swedeandsour]

Soleima - My Boi (Live Session)

Even though it’s a track that’s very much a live performance, Soleima’s debut track plays very much like a hit-single. Stemming from the membership of Danish-language hip-hop/soul collective Flødeklinikken, Soleima’s Sarah Mariegaard brings in her Nordic soul as she sings with her squeaky-as-glass vox on “My Boi”. Rumbling with its MPC vibes and her anaphora of repetition referencing the song’s title “My Boi”, Soleima’s debut track about her dream date is definitely worth having a long-term relationship with. Much like the track itself, the DIY video is rough around the edges with its grainy double-exposures giving us an understated brilliance.

You can check out the video below:

#soleima #flødeklinikken #sarah mariegaard #danish music