Radar Agency

Emil Landman

Some people collect stamps, Emil Landman collects stories

Emil Landman, stubborn romantic and curious adventurer, has created his most intimate, truthful record with Vinter // Sommer. As a songwriter, he always possessed the good gift of portraying the world more beautifully than it might actually be. On Vinter // Sommer, however, Emil finds comfort in embracing the moment itself, letting go of the material. Or, in his own words: “Finding the realization that you need the darkness to be able to close out the day.”

The island, due to being situated at the top of the Northern Hemisphere, has a special property: in the winter it is exclusively dark here, in summer it stays light. In other words: the sense of time on Reinøya is emphatically different than in Landman’s hometown of Utrecht. How does a remote place like this influence a creative process? And how do emotions manifest differently?

The bizarre way in which the island disrupted the human biological clock had a direct influence on Landman and producer Martijn Groeneveld’s modus operandi. They hauled over a hundred pounds of gear to their aimed destination: two speakers, cables, hand luggage and various tools and recording equipment. They rented a house up on a hill, overlooking the sea. Every melody, sound and vocal take on Vinter // Sommer would be created here. Landman and Groeneveld often used domestic objects – a mattress, a wooden spoon or Tupperware filled with rice – to recreate familiar-sounding drum effects. The dreamy ‘Falling’ – which already garnered millions of streams on Spotify – meditates on the idea that seclusion unleashes the most immediate of human feelings.

During Vinter it was only daylight for a limited time, which sparked more impetus for Landman and Groeneveld to search for new impulses and sounds. But the Sommer sessions the island felt like a totally different environment, full of green and blue colors, perpetually frozen in time. Instead of standing aghast as the days flew by like in a time lapse, the world suddenly seemed to stand completely still.

Emil LandmanEmil Landman