skandinavian_Artists > When Saints Go Machine

All sent positive vibes, and suddenly the four Copenhageners were hearing songs from the practice room on the radio.

Their in-box became flooded with enquiries from enthusiastic producers and remixers, who all wanted permission to work with When Saints Go Machines music. Therefore, today there are more than 30 different international and Danish interpretations of the groups songs. For example the Moulinex-remix of ”You Should Be Someone Else” and HiJack version of ”Pretty Rich” have quickly become music favorites.
The immediate net-activity got many record labels to sit up and listen, and two years later When Saints Go Machine can reap the rewards of their original initiative with the release of their debut album ”Ten Makes A Face”.
The band work in a universe of electronic music, here it is typically the producer that is the star and follows a pre-determined sound, but When Saints Go Machine go against this trend and are a band with broad horizons.
”From the beginning we have had two beliefs,” explains vocalist Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild.
”We will make vocal music, and it should be accessable to many, so therefore have an element of pop. But the music shall also contain intelligent details for nerds. We would like to have it all in the framework of When Saints Go Machine.”

P3-listeners have already come to know the pop side of the band. First through the rythmically intense ”You Should Be Someone Else” and not least ”Kids On Vacation” from the 2008 EP ”When Saints Go Machine”. Here electronic club-pulse met falsetto vocals and a chorus that was hard to shake off, and the young band were awareded the “P3 Talent Award” with P3 Gold in January 2009.
The debut album widens the horizons further, and reflects that although the four musicians have shared influences, they also bring many different inspirations to the table.
”I’d like to see that our influences create an interesting clash in the music,” explains keyboardist Jonas Kenton, and drummer Silas Moldenhawer continues:
”We can’t stand just listening to one type of music.”
If you want them to open the box of inspirations you’ll find a wide and diverse range of names.
They talk of the production on Moloko, Hot Chip, Matthew Herbert and The Prodigy, but also highlight that those names would not exist if it wasn’t for the ground-breaking and pioneering work of Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock and Steve Reich.
When it comes to words and lyrics, lyricist Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild love Nick Caves word-rock, Morrisseys stories and Sufjan Stevens’ many faces.
On ”Ten Makes A Face” all the elements come together and form a very individual and personal sound.
”You can hear that it’s us,” as Silas Moldenhawer puts it.

The story of When Saints Go Machine began long before the MySpace introduction in the summer of 2007.
Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild, Simon Muschinsky, Jonas Kenton and Silas Moldenhawer all grew up in Østerbro in Copenhagen and have had connections to each other and their paths have crossed since they were children. Some of their parents are friends, and Nikolaj has also played with Simons older brother.
While the four have worked on their debut record, they have also been developing When Saints Go Machine as a live band. What began with club jobs playing electro, laptop and synth, has become a full-blooded electronic orchestra with Silas Moldenhawer laying the foundations on drums.
Already before the release of ”Ten Makes A Face” this transformation gained When Saints Go Machine many followers.
Soundvenue wrote after a praiseworthy concert at Roskilde Festival 2008, that the band sparked life in the Pavilion Junior-stage early Monday evening. The magazines published experience was that a large mixed audience went amok to live drums and rapid synths, as they sang for example ”You Should Be Someone Else.”
”Its a big mark for the Copenhageners (….) If you came for either the electronic influences or the good melody, one can’t be dissapointed,” concluded Soundvenue.

When Saints Go Machine play and produce the music in their own studio, and if the band is not together, all four members can offer up ideas via e-mail.
In connection with the completion of ”Ten Makes A Face” the circle was extended with the Swedish producer and remixer Christoffer Berg. He has earlier worked with Robyn and The Knife and has recently mixed half of Karin Dreijers Anderssons acclaimed project Fever Ray.
”It was an experiment for us, but he has opened the music. We love The Knife, and it was great to experience that he can really feel our music,” says Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild.
The collaboration began from a distance, when Christoffer Berg at the start of 2009 mixed the single ”Fail Forever”, but in March When Saints Go Machine met the prodcuer in Göteborg and he put the final touches on the album.

”Fail Forever” is of course included on ”Ten Makes A Face” with it’s hypnotic pulse and deep emotional vocals, that gives meaning both blasted out on the dance floor and in headphones in the morning traffic.
The album also contains an updated version of ”You Should Be Someone Else” and new songs with a foot set fast in club-culture, but with the bands added broad horizons.
From the party-ready ”Splitting Image” to the vocal-play in ”Pick Up Your Tears And Run”, it shows, how much When Saints Go Machine has developed since the first sound files hit MySpace two years ago.

When Saints Go Machine:
Silas Moldenhawer: Drums
Jonas Kenton: Keyboard, Vocals
Simon Muschinsky: Synth, Effects
Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild: Vocals