INTERVIEW WITH JONAS FREDERIKSEN

B and F via e-mail, April 2009

S+U: You're taking a break from Beyond Repair and focusing on your own music – a.k.a. Dreamers Cloth.
Can you tell me a little about this decision? Did you get bored with the kind of music you were releasing on Beyond Repair or did you just need some change?

Jonas: Well, I've been doing Beyond Repair with my friend Simon since the summer of ‘05 and it was a lot of fun.
I did not get bored with the kind of music released through Beyond Repair, but to be honest I got bored with putting out music by other people. So, I've put Beyond Repair to sleep for some time to focus on my own music.

S+U: Your other current projects, besides Dreamers Cloth, "Relax with Nature" and "Mind Beach" have sort of a New Age ring to them - what do these concepts mean to you and what kind of atmosphere are you trying to evoke?

Jonas: I think Mind Beach is whenever you rest your thoughts on something – and that could be anything really... Mind Beach is a picture of this static “thought gazing". But, also when you’re having many concurrent thoughts and the next minute everything seems solved and you rest your mind on one specific thing. This way, “Mind Beach” works as a landing strip for your thoughts.
That is a picture I find really beautiful.
Relax with Nature is my idea of chilling out and going with the flow.
I found out later that it’s actually an already existing New Age label. It was not my intention to copy this, however.

I think that what I’m trying to evoke is an atmosphere of a place where civilization and culture is non-existing.
Maybe I should call it cultural-civilization, since our concept of civilization is defined and interpreted via our culture.
What I’m talking about is a place – or a state of mind, which becomes real the very second cultural-civilization is cancelled, and all that is left is nature – BUT – a new nature (New Natural Reality) where, amongst other things, communication between individuals isn’t corrupted by words.
I know this sounds really romantic and it’s also paradoxical to try to describe a place free from culture by means of words!
Ironically, the way things work right now, it’s impossible to reach this place without the aid of cultural-civilization and a vague attempt in trying to describe this place can only be done by one person to another by means of culture.

This is a problem, because you can ask me “why this” and “why that” etc. and the answers I give you will never be correct, since most of it is just a feeling which can never be properly described by means of culture.
This is also why I’m not into forcing people to listen to my music or look at my art.

S+U: Why not?

Jonas: First of all, I’m not able to say anything really useful about it, nor do I want to defend it.
People like it – or they don’t. I do not want to spend my time convincing anyone about anything.
Those meant to be are turned on by “Relax with Nature” and “Mind Beach” just by reading the words – no reflection needed. I simply can’t speak for those who aren’t. It’s not in my interest.
So, maybe what I really want to say is just to go with the flow and rest only your thoughts on what you actually find useful.

S+U: When I look at the collages you sent me, I get slightly puzzled. Technically there's nothing fancy about them (which is perfectly OK), but the images seem like they were chosen very carefully to convey a specific mood.
"Tweak Tymes" seems a bit sad, where "Last Styles" and “Original Fever" look like you've been practicing using some kind of 80s interior decorator computer software.
Do you mind explaining a little bit about each of the six?
Just a couple of words...

Jonas: There is nothing fancy about them, that's true. All of them were done pretty quickly, but the idea is still strong.
I think it is good when things are a bit “hand to mouth” - “I like this picture and I like that one, too - I will put them together”... One picture represents one mind frequency and the other picture represents another mind frequency. Put together the collage becomes a piece of a puzzle representing a larger grid of frequencies travelling with hyper speed back and forth through the mind, so you just gotta nail them when they’re there.

“Tweak Tymes” is all about 90s raves, which is a scene I find really inspiring. One massive organic mass of love and pure energy wanting and knowing that there is more to life than the apparent.
The rave mass tweak time by using their collective consciousness and step out of the apparent cultural grid. Like an orbiting planet being hit by a meteor and forced to work its way into the old orbit again - but richer and more enlightened.
And maybe it’s a bit sad too, since I never experienced a rave back then and the fact that it will never happen in the same spirit. Still, it’s a nice place to rest one’s thoughts.

“Last styles” is when Man is at the threshold of entering a new age - the last styles of the last age.

“Original Fever” is the fever you get when you find out how much civilization and culture is shackling your thoughts.
And yes, I am interested in interior décor as you can also see in “Easy Miracle”.

Ozzy is about experiencing natural ecstasy.

“Vangeliean Flower Deco” is the hand from the cover of Vangelis’ “Heaven and Hell” on top of a really classic looking flower bouquet. I like classic art and Vangelis.

S+U: If you don't mind, I'd like to include a few snapshots from Relax with Nature's "Portal Tropicales" zine.
Can you explain a little bit about that project?

Jonas: “Portal Tropicales” was just a really easy-vibed zine project featuring drawings/pictures/etc. from my friends around the globe.
I will definitely make more zines in the future.

S+U: Dreamers Cloth is embarking on a small tour soon. How many shows are you doing and how do you feel about playing live?

Jonas: So far it looks like 5 – 7 live shows, a DJ-gig, a solo exhibition and a group exhibition.
I feel really geared up about playing live at the moment.

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/beyondrepairrecords