Norwegian duo Misty Coast have been attracting our admiring glances with their heavenly new single ‘Heavy Head On A Body’ which they say ‘soundtracks the mind’s journey from consciousness into sleep, drenching the senses in a lush, hazy cloak as it floats upwards towards an ethereal spiritual plane.’
Linn Frøkedal’s mysterious vocals tiptoe over hazy, woozy, backdrops carved in concert with her accomplice Richard Myklebust. Each haunted couplet like a whisper in your ear as you drift off to the sound of this soundspace that’s visited by the ghosts of 4AD acts of yore, it’s majestic.
We sent Misty Coast 20 Questions and here are the answers:
Where are you and what’s the weather like?
We are in our hometown Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. We hate to talk about the weather. It rains off course.
What’s your favourite record in the charts?
Blood Bitch by Jenny Hval
What are your favourite films?
Our favourite films can some days be Fight Club, Leon, Battle Royale and Mystic River. But most of the time we really enjoy the quirkiness in movies like Me You and Everyone We Know, The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
What is your favourite book?
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
What are your favourite TV programmes?
We don’t watch that many TV programmes, but we’re into a lot of series on Netflix and HBO. Right now its Billions, The Path and The People v. O.J. Simpson. We also actually watch a lot of Masterchef Australia. And we love documentaries about serial killers.
What was the first record you bought and where did you buy it from?
Linn: I’m from this very small village, and we’ve never had a record store there. So you had to buy cds from the local gas station. The first cd I can remember that I bought was No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom. The ones I had before that was given to me by my elder siblings. My first cassette was a home ripped Nevermind by Nirvana, that my brother gave me.
Richard: I think my first album was Back in Black by AC/DC. On cassette of course. It was the 80s. Can’t really remember where I bought it. But I’m guessing Rockline in my hometown, Kristiansand. RIP.
What is your least favourite record that you have made, and why?
Hehe, that’s a crazy question! That’s like asking a mother which of her children is her least favourite. Not going there!
Do you believe in God?
Richard was raised in a christian cult in the south of Norway. But he grew up and grew out of it. The answer is no, we do not believe in God. We think God is just a very easy way of explaining very difficult stuff.
Which football team do you support?
Ehm, you know we Norwegians mainly watch slow sports like skiing or chess on TV? But guess Linns football fan of a father will be happy if we say Manchester United.
Do you have any pets?
Richard used to have a sourdough starter, but it died while we were touring in Japan with The Megaphonic Thrift this fall. Linn used to have a sheep called Søta (Sweetie) when she grew up. Her grandparents sent Søta to the butcher and left Linn with a lousy 500-bill (50 pounds).
Who would you want to play you in the film of your life?
Richard: Sean Penn
Linn: Sure about that Rich? He’s gonna be pretty old when they finally make this movie. I want Natalie Portman to play me.
Vinyl, CD, Download or stream?
Vinyl at home, cd on road trips in old cars and streaming at parties. Don’t think we ever download music anymore…
When was the last time you cried?
We watched The Truman Show again last Sunday. And we both cried again.
What’s the best cover version you have ever heard?
Dinosaur jr covering The Cures ‘Just like heaven’ is a classic.
What’s the strangest thing that has ever happened at one of your own gigs?
Since Misty Coast is a fairly new project, we can count the shows we’ve played on two hands. So sadly we’ve not had any strange accidents yet. But with our second band, The Megaphonic Thrift, a lot of weird things have happened! Once we played in this little shed in Austin during SXSW. Half of the room was for the audience, and the other half was kind of like a stage. Suddenly every stage/audience boundaries disappeared, and the whole room became this massive mosh pit. We had a man in his underwear on top of the bass amp, and a pair of identical twins were hitting the cymbals with their hands.
Have you ever been starstruck?
Many times. We got super starstruck when we met Thurston Moore backstage when we played in Madrid with Stephen Malkmus. But it has to be really big heroes. And it helps if they are tall.
What is your culinary speciality?
Linn invented the Norwegian taco and Richard is the master of Bacalao.
The Royal Family: should they stay or should they go?
Hehe, you know here in Norway the royal family is actually quite entertaining. Our princess sees and talks with angels and our soon to be queen used to be stoned at the biggest music festival in Norway during the 90s – and her drunken father sold stories about her to the biggest gossip magazine in Norway. It’s kind of sad that some people have to be born into a life in public. We don’t mind if they go.
If you weren’t doing this, what would you like to be?
Linn would like to be an archaeologist and research dinosaurs.
Richard would probably be a chef, and have his own restaurant with comfort food.
What were you like at school?
We were both pretty good students. Linn had problems keeping her mouth shut when it was supposed to be quiet. Once her teacher actually taped her lips together.
If you could change one law, what would it be?
The law of gravity
Which decade would you have most liked to have lived in?
We would like to take a quick stop back 240 million years, to check out some dinosaurs. But guess we wouldn’t last very long there. We would have to choose the 60s! Think about it: Woodstock, the Moon landing and the Beatles!
