Last year I met Aske Lyck Pedersen. This daytime dreamer from Denmark is not only doing graphic design, studying philosophy and traveling the world, he’s also a splendid musician. As soon as I heard about the release of his new project Plus Parrot, I couldn’t wait another month to write about it. Before Plus Parrot, he has been in many bands from 8-bit chip tunes music in Zvook Mescalin to more traditional bands like Must Go Radio, Lucky Bird and Broke. He also did some singing in Age of Giants and lately he has been playing drums for Reptile Youth. Plus Parrot differs from all these bands because it has more pop and beats inspired from hip hop.
“For me it is the most honest sound I have engaged in so far”
I am fascinated and blown away by the surrealistic electronic touch of the music and would very much like to share this on NORTH MAG. But first, I need to know what goes on in the colorful mind of this Danish dreamer. For this interview I am experimenting with fragments of my own writing with questions and literally quoted parts.
EXOTICISM – BUDDHISM
Plus Parrot is a pretty exotic name for a Scandinavia-based artist. Opposites attract apparently, because that is exactly why he likes it. ” Colors and warmth is something that is easy to miss when you live in Denmark”. Aske studies philosophy, which could make you assume that he gets the ideas for his lyrics from there. I asked him whether they really come from his philosophical readings or that they’re just a result of a free modus of expression. He explained that it surely isn’t consciously. Inspiration is sudden and it can result in different ways. Reading does push him forth, so in a way he gets inspired by it, but it happens natural and unconsciously.
The hardest and ever-returning question is of course by whom he is inspired. At the moment for him that is Martin Heidegger, Joey Badass, Chance the Rapper, Oscar Wilde, Eckhart Tolle, Lil Wayne, Henry Miller, Frank Ocean and John Lennon and a very particular girl.
Is there an island you’ve once visited or would like to visit?
I guess Sri Lanka is an Island, though it’s also a country. I loved it there and would love to go back if I get the opportunity. Going there opened up something new for me. I visited this meditation place for 10 days. That was one of the biggest kicks I have had. When I came back I really started to enjoy going alone and sober to techno raves and just dance. I think it made it easier for me to let go of all the crap I catch on my way and just do whatever I want to because it feels right. I also love to go on canoe trips in crazy big lakes in Sweden and sail from Island to Island.
PLAYFUL AND HAPPY LIKE A CHILD
The music makes you feel like as if you’re flying. A very intense freedom, euphoria and childish feeling is what I experience. Aske takes his intuition everywhere. The graphic design, logo etc are not something he thinks about consciously. Which makes the natural quality really genuine. He takes things as they come. Colours and beautiful things turn him on and he always looks forward to playing with all of it.
Is that what you aim for or is it something else?
I am very happy to hear that. A childish feeling of euphoria is often what making music gives me. That is also what I really like to share with other people, so that you have had this feeling with this music is pretty awesome.
What makes you happy?
This shivering feeling in the stomach. I usually get it from dancing, talking to someone that I really understand, smiling eye contact or chatting and laughing with a stranger.
Is there a specific odour that reminds you of your childhood, like a perfume or flower or drink? One so intense, that when you encounter it, you immediately think of this childhood moment?
I lived in an old train wagon in a small village in a forest with my mom and dad when I was younger. The smell of forest often reminds me of being a kid. I also had this favorite flower. I don’t know the name of it but it was purple and had a very intense and sweet smell. I don’t often find it, but it is always a very intense peep-hole into a specific part of my childhood when it happens. By the way, this morning I thought about how strange it is that you often think about memories in a kind of third person view. I mean, that you actually see yourself from the outside in the given situation. Then you know for sure that you already interpreted the experience, right?
Were you a “live fast die young” kind of teenager?
I think we all were. So much energy had to come out. Wow.
Do you make love songs?
Very much indeed. Most of my songs are about girls. Yeah man. Love before all.
You aim for making your music a bit more poppy, but I do sense a slightly melancholic tone throughout the whole sound. Is that so?
I am glad you think so. That is also mostly the feeling I have when I make it. I usually have to be happy to get into it, but when I really feel it, it is never only light. More like really bright with darker shades also. Emotional, I guess. Always the full package.
If you make videoclips. would you try to make it something that is artistic as an indepent piece of art or would music always be in the first place?
I think the music will come first. At least for now. But I am gonna play with some film soon. I think it will also be very random.
LIKE
PLUS PARROT – TO THE LIGHTS
PLUS PARROT – PRETTY CRAZY