Nattefrost is a Dark Ambient project formed back in ’95, when Mr. Bjorn Jeppesen decide to realize his dark vision, highly inspired by the nature and the ancient Scandinavia history, in shape of musical landscapes, using only synthesizers, he creates, magnificent atmospheres of glory and honour, all this expressed under his own personal, dark point of view. Nine years have passed since Mr. Jeppesen releases his first demo cassette called "Når månen er fuld"… So we contact Bjorn who kindly accepts to tell us about these ten years as Nattefrost.

BB: First I would like to thank you for giving us this interview and congratulations for your ten years as Nattefrost!! Can you tell us about these 10 years?

BJ: Thank you very much for the interest in my music. Well, a lot has happened over those 10 years. The first track was created in the late months of 1995 and was called “Skabt af nordlige vinde” (Created of northern winds). I’ve been playing music since I was 5 years old (1983). Before Nattefrost I also composed music but I didn’t release much of it. Only a demo of an early metal attempt back in 1993. But from when I was 5 I’ve been into electronic music, so I just wanted to finally getting something serious done. I recorded 11 tracks with using only 1 keyboard (not a synthesizer even). I wanted to create something very personal and also very Danish sounding. The same with the 2^nd demo tape, “Storm over Danmarks oldsletter”. Back in those days it wasn’t very easy to spread information about my music so I didn’t do very much with it.  50 copies of each were sold and that’s it really. The quality of the demos is not very impressive, I mean the compositions are maybe ok, but the sounds are not brilliant. That’s also why I bought some new machines in 1997 to improve the sounds at least a bit. I recorded 5 tracks and released 4 of them as “Nordboernes solhvervsfest” in December 1997. Many classical elements on this CD. Then I recorded some tracks for the next Nattefrost CD but somehow I lost a bit interest in them because I wasn’t too happy about them. I got in touch with Claus Lynglund and after some time we decided to play music together, the band is called Carboneids. And that’s another reason why the fans of Nattefrost had to wait quite some time. In January 2000 I composed the track “Mod Lindisfarne” and “Slaget som varede evigt” (Both from De som sejrede...) The month after I composed 4 more tracks, but I was getting more and more busy with Carboneids so it somehow stopped there again. In mid 2001 I composed 3 tracks for Nattefrost again. At that time I had some excellent equipment, 3 synthesizers and a Roland JV-1080 sound module. Only a few months after that I had a bad accident in my studio and almost the entire studio was destroyed, it had to do with some kind of an electricity explosion. Therefore I didn’t compose anything until 2003 when the track “Tårnets krigere” was recorded, on brand new equipment by the way.

I wanted to do something special this time for Nattefrost and it’s also easier now adays with the internet being available, so I contacted a few labels and got a positive respons from Nulll Records in Belgium for including "Slaget som varede evigt" on their compilation CD “From the Nulll void”.But I also wanted the whole album (De som sejrede...) to be released. Nulll had quite a schedule so that would take some time they told me. A few weeks later I was finding an ad on the internet that asked for my kind of music for a forthcoming compilation CD and my opinion is that compilation CD’s are good for promoting your future albums, so I sent them (Nothingness Records) “Mod Lindisfarne” and they loved it. They added that they would like to release a full labum of Nattefrost if possible. I said yes and they did.

“Vejen til Asgård” is a 6 track EP (28 mins) also containing a music video for the track ”Norrøn”. Nothingness Records wanted a bit more than just the 28 mins and I had in mind that I could do a little music video, just for the fun of it really. My good friend mentioned before, Claus Lynglund helped me a lot making the video. Over the last 10 and especially 2 years the Nattefrost fan base has grown very much.

BB: Why did you decide to change your band name from I Nattens Mørke to Nattefrost? I understand Nattefrost means “Night Frost”…What does I Nattens Mørke mean?

BJ: “I Nattens Mørke” means ”In the darkness of the night” and I think the name is too long and doesn’t sound too good either. Maybe too much metal like, I didn’t want that for Nattefrost since I’ve always had the interest in electronic music.

BB: The project of the former vocalist-guitarist of Carpathian Forest is also called Nattefrost... but your band is considerably older… Has this situation brought you difficulties? Have you ever considered taking legal actions against this guy?

BJ: It doesn’t really mean anything to me. He can have his project and I can have mine. The only annoying thing is when the young so called black metal fans tell me that I am not the true Nattefrost. I consider them narrow minded and nothing for me at all.

I don’t know much about the music of the Norwegian Nattefrost, I’ve seen his titles and those I can’t take very serious.

BB: What is Nattefrost doing nowadays?

BJ: I am doing lots of stuff for Nattefrost. Since "De som sejrede..." I’ve never been busyer with Nattefrost. I am talking to a Dutch label about releasing the next album which will be entitled “Opslugt af drømme og længsel” (Absorbed by dreams and yearning). I have only possitive things to say about Nothingness Recs, but I want to move on a bit with Nattefrost and the Dutch label (Groove Unlimited) seems to be a lot bigger and can promote my music even more.

The new album will hopefully be available in the early months of 2006. I’ve already finished a lot of it. I’ve added some small, but new elements to the music which you won’t find in any other Nattefrost tracks. I think it’s important not to do the same thing over again. I can guarantee you though, it’ll sound very much like Nattefrost. Lots of dreamy, atmospheric tracks. Also some symphonic elements and still very electronic.

I use drum machines on some of the tracks as well, but never too dominating.

BB: Let’s talk about “De Som Sejrede…” This work sounds really dark and desolating in some passages… and seems to have a special tendency towards war… Is this a conceptual album? Can you tell us briefly about the concept behind each song?

BJ: We could probably call this a homage to the vikings. Well I'd rather see the tracks as a whole, cause I think it could be described as a journey or a story.. I am very inspired by what happened in the ancient Germanic countries and that's what the tracks are about. It's not easy to describe it cause it's a special feeling I have. It's not like a religion, it's just how we are born and brought up. But of course "I krig" refers to the vikings fighting and defending themselves and our country. Mod Lindisfarne is of course based on the men who attacked and destroyed the Lindisfarne cluster back in the year 793. It's a powerful album inspired by the powerful vikings and Germanic culture.

BB: Why do you think this kind of music is so appreciated by Metal worshipers… especially the Black Metal adorers? … Like Vinterriket which has become some kind of cult band for the Black Metal-heads, and in some way, it has opened this underworld to the electronic music…

BJ: I don’t know really. I think the listeners find similar atmospheres in the music. I must admit I don’t know Vinerriket’s music so well. I’ve heard a track but I can’t remember much of it, it sounded like a mixture of metal and electronic music as far as I reckon so I won’t say more about it.

BB: Does Black Metal influence your music in some way?

BJ: No not the least. I know what black metal is of course, I rarely listen to this kind of music but in the early 90’s and mid 90’s I heard some of the Scandinavian bands. When I listen to a black metal record it’s mostly by one of the old Scandinavian bands Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Enslaved, Gehenna and Mayhem. I can tell you what my influences are though. I am very influenced by our Danish nature. Walking in the forests or by the sea is so inspiring. Also sometimes browsing through the sounds of my synthesizers can inspire me to create something. I know lots of people want artists to be inspired of other artists but I am not inspired by any other musicians or bands. I know I play music a bit similar to certain artists but they don't inspire me to compose what I do. Listening though is for me something totally different. I mean I like to listen to other artists as well. Composing my own music is most important to me, but I can mention a few artists in the same genre that I like, then it'll be something like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, Robert Schröder, Ashra and a Danish band called Navigator, well some of my really good friends even.

BB: On “Vejen Til Asgård” your music sounds much more inclined towards the electronic… Why was that? Are you satisfied with this progression?

BJ: For me all the music sounds very electronic, but we could probably say that Vejen til Asgård is a bit more spacey in the sounds. There are more than 4 years between the tracks from "Vejen til Asgård" and "De som sejrede..." which was recorded in my old studio with that equipment. I did build up the recent one and "Vejen til Asgård" was recorded with for me newer equipment. I also see it as a relevant thing that I try to make my music sound at least a bit different from each album, it's important not to repeat yourself, you know. I love the sound of synthesizers, so it's very natural, There are so many different sounds that you are able to create with them, so it will never sound the same. I am very happy with that.

BB: Personally my favourite album of Nattefrost is "Vejen Til Asgård", because of its mix of ambiances; “I En Svunden Tid”, “Norrøn” and “Vejen Til Asgård” are my favourite tracks, especially “I En Svunden Tid” because of its introspective, quite narcotic mood… Have you got a favourite album/song? Which one? Why?

BJ: That's a tough question. My favourite Nattefrost release is "Vejen til Asgård". And my favourite tracks of all the Nattefrost tracks might be "Tårnets krigere", "Vejen til Asgård" and of course some of the tracks waiting to be released as the next album. I really feel that these tracks are how I liked them to be.

BB: I understand you are involved into different musical entity called Carboneids… Can you tell us about it? Is Carboneids connected with the sound or concept of Nattefrost in some way?

BJ: Carboneids is a 2 man band consisting of Claus Lynglund and I. We've released 2 albums until now and a few singles and also 1 EP. The music is very electronic and is sometimes a bit similar to Nattefrost, musically. Carboneids is hard to describe but some fans have said it's a bit similar to what the band Kraftwerk does. It's much more rhythmic and with vocoded vocals now and then, but also spacey dreamy parts and slow themes, but happy and melancholical melodies and chord harmonies.

BB: What happened with Nattefrost Productions? Is this label still active?

BJ: I must say that your research is really impressive. Nattefrost Productions still exist yes and we mainly release our own music. We've released a compilation CD a few years ago with different, mostly Danish electronica artists. Nattefrost Productions will be connected to HZ Records, also from Denmark, this is the label of the other half of Carboneids, Claus Lynglund. We will work together in the future as HZ/NFP, it's easier, we're working extremely well together so we've actually decided to do it that way. We won't be that active all the time since our releases are mostly released by other and bigger record labels but for Carboneids I think we'll release it ourselves.

BB: Is there any chance of re-releasing you previous (and very limited in quantity) works?

BJ: No I won't do that cause I am not satisfied enough to do so. I'd rather work on new tracks, I hope the listener will appreciate that as well. But I have some other interesting stuff. Unreleased material that I am quite ok with and some very interesting remixes that different artists have done, those things could probably make a CD in the future.

BB: When can we expect new material from Nattefrost? Will this release be under the same label?

BJ: Hopefully in the beginning of next year and hopefully on Groove Unlimited from Holland, this will make it easier for the buyer to get as well. There are some brilliant artists who've released their music through them, the most known might be Jerome Froese from the German band Tangerine Dream.

BB: Thanks again for your time and words… these last lines are all yours…

BJ: Thanks for reading through this interview and I hope you'll enjoy the forthcoming Nattefrost album, go check the official website http://www.nattefrost.dk sometimes, I'll make sure to update when there's something important about my music.