The Northman actor and former Heilung singer Jonas Lorentzen has released his debut album, Lustuz Laþu Wōþuz Alu, with his new project Nebala. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
Nebala is based on a reimagination of Nordic Folk and spiritually-driven music and is spearheaded by Jonas and includes Sebastian Gainsbourough (Vessel, The Northman, Manchester Collective) and Kjell Braaten (Wardruna, Origami Galaktika)in the line-up.
Speaking about the album, Jonas says, "When you let yourself be taken by desire and lust, you will be consumed by what the ancient Germanic peoples called Laþu. The ancestor of our modern word "to let," laþu suggests giving into natural desire and emotion.
"When Wōdan sought the deepest knowledge of the cosmos he had to brave the dangers of the deep caves in Hnitbjörg and let himself be taken by the desire of Gunlaþu, the forceful goddess of the underworld."
Tell us three things about yourself?
Well, what do you want to know? I'm a proud father of a beautiful 11-year-old girl. I’m a musician since I can remember, travelling and meeting beautiful and inspiring people is food for my soul.
How would you describe your music?
Well, I suppose most musicians would echo what I am about to say and that is that it is so hard to answer such a question. The last thing I wanna do is box in my own creative project. However, I’ve heard people calling it, Nordic tribal, Neo folk, dark folk and Indo-Nordic music. Someone honoured me the other day by saying that many times it seems clear from which part of the world a given music project is, but that Nebala simply sounded human.
Who are your musical inspirations?
They are really too many to count. When I was younger, I was into metal, indie and alternative rock. Bands and artists such as Metallica, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Soundgarden spring to mind. However, these days I listen mostly to obscure World Music and avantgarde jazz/classical music for inspiration.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
As a child my parents would take me to all sorts of concerts and one of them that left a lasting impression on me was a Russian Gregorian Choir. The depth of those voices still haunts me to this day.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Metallica - Ride The Lightning on vinyl.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Also so difficult to answer but I’m really into Lingus by Snarky Puppy and Veljo Tormis’ A Curse Upon Iron.
Favourite lyric of all time?
This is impossible to answer. It changes with my mood. Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin', however, always hits home because the times always are, so it fits any situation. Hahaha.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The sound of whatever nature I’m surrounded by, I mean, Jesus, think about listening to one song for the rest of one’s life, sounds like some kind of hell to me.
Where can people find your music/more information?
You can find the music on all streaming platforms naturally. And I do a lot of Instagram and Facebook posts where I dive deeper into the concepts and ideas that inform the music. Here’s the link tree for all things Nebala - @nebalamusic|Linktree.
