Q&A: Yndling Toys with Potential in Starry-Eyed New Single, “It's Almost Like You're Here”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SYDNEY TATE ☆
Photography Credit: Ask Sunde
SO CLOSE YET SO FAR — Yndling explores a fleeting love and a feeling known all too well in her new single, “It's Almost Like You're Here.”
Yndling is a Norwegian dream pop artist with a deep love, practice, and appreciation for the glittery genre. Her music pulls inspiration from artists like Cocteau Twins and Men I Trust, harnessing an otherworldly sound with ease.
Luna had the pleasure to chat with Yndling about her upcoming shows in the U.S., when it’s truly time to walk away, and ins and outs for the new year. Keep reading to find your own sense of sureness.
Photography Credit: Lene Nordfjord
LUNA: Can we start with a high and a low for you this week?
YNDLING: It's going to be a bit boring. It's the return of winter for the fifth time. It’s super icy and terrible to walk around and that’s been my low point. Even though I am Norwegian, I'm not a big fan of winter at all. It's nice if you like to go cross-country skiing, but if you don't, it's not that great. The high is probably that I'm releasing a new song this week, and we're also playing our first-ever show in the UK.
LUNA: That's so exciting!
YNDLING: Yeah, [there’s] a lot of rehearsing going on and it's been a lot of fun to make up a new set.
LUNA: How far is it to travel to get there?
YNDLING: Oh, it's not that far, like two and a half hours. There are places in Norway that are further away.
LUNA: What kind of music did you listen to growing up?
YNDLING: Kind of the same sort of music that I make now—so dream pop. I guess my gateway drug was Beach House with Depression Cherry. I listened to that a lot, but I've also listened to Radiohead, for example. I don’t think I categorize that as dream pop, but it’s the same sort of realm: dreamy and a bit melodramatic. I've listened to more rock too, like Arctic Monkeys. After I found Beach House I started listening to Cocteau Twins and Mazzy Star. It opened up a bit of a new world of music to me, and later on when I started making my own music, I was listening to [bands like] Men I Trust as well.
LUNA: Depression Cherry is a very core experience. Is there any one album that you've been listening to lately that you really like or would recommend?
YNDLING: I really love Hannah Cohen's music and she just released a new single, so I've been listening to her old album, Welcome Home. It’s a very summery album for me, but I’ve been listening to it a lot this winter. Maybe just to make it through.
LUNA: “It's Almost Like You're Here" is about seeing the potential of a relationship and that struggle versus reality—I was wondering how you know when it’s time to let go of that potential with someone?
YNDLING: I'm so bad at that…such a terrible question. Well, it's a good question, but my answer isn't going to be that great. I don't know. I think it's good for everyone to take a step back sometimes. I think pretty much everyone's been on either side of that situation where you're dating someone and they aren't really that into you, or you see that it could be great, but you're not in the right place or the right time, or whatever. When a friend tells you the story, it's so easy to recognize, but when you're in it yourself it's so difficult.
Sometimes it can be a bit romantic to cling to something. Not to the point where it becomes too much, but if a relationship is going to happen, someone’s got to go first. It’s important sometimes to say it out loud. With a lot of dating nowadays, no one is willing to take the shot and be vulnerable and then nothing is going to happen. There are some times where you probably just need to take a step back, but I do think it’s important to try properly.
LUNA: I agree with that. Like you said, there’s always a point with it. It can be so nice to put yourself out there and it could change everything, and if it’s not the right person, you’ll still know if you tried.
YNDLING: It's better to get an answer than to drift apart, right?
LUNA: You're right. Have you ever regretted taking a chance on somebody?
YNDLING: I think I've been on the side of being quite cautious with relationships, and I guess that's where this song is coming from as well. You should try to take a chance more often. I have more regrets for not doing it than actually doing it, even though it's obviously more intimidating. Maybe you feel more humiliated being rejected after putting yourself out there, but I think there's much more regret to the things you didn't do, which is such a cliche, but I find it to be very true when it comes to experiences in love and anything else like that.
LUNA: Cliches can be annoying, but I find myself quoting them more often. Thank you for sharing all of that. Did you have an “ins and outs” list this year?
YNDLING: I haven't thought about it, so it's going to be a bit on the spot. I've been wanting to take more chances with my music. I'm very pleased about my last album, but I did sit on it for quite a while, and now I just want to make music and get it out there quite quickly. I need to go for it, I guess. That’s on my “ins.” I also want to play more live shows. Instead of being perfect [while] doing it, I want to get better as I do it. I want to be more bold. My outs are probably the opposite of that. I don’t want to spend so much time overthinking. I spend a lot of time in my life being scared of what other people think of me which is such a senseless exercise. Doing less of that would be nice.
LUNA: I respect that. You’re already doing it now with more live shows and putting yourself out there, it’s a solid start! If you had to stop making music, what do you think you would be spending your time doing?
YNDLING: I honestly don't know. When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an author, but I have a pretty short attention span, so writing lyrics is a lot easier for me (both laugh). Maybe I would write. That would be cool! And other than that…the city where I live is quite close to nature and I like to spend a lot of time in nature. I don’t know what I would do for work. It’s weird because I do like people, but I’m also quite introverted.
It’s such a good question because music is both my hobby and what I try to do for a living. Sometimes it’s a bit tiring, but mostly it makes me very lucky. I fill up a lot of time with what I love the most. Maybe I should think more about this, actually.
LUNA: You can always do something different, but it’s nice when you are passionate about something and you get to have it be your whole world. I think that's really nice.
YNDLING: Also with music, it's made me realize that I like to do other creative things more than I thought that I did. When you're an independent artist, you're kind of your own everything. You make your own live shows, you make your own visuals, and you make your own cover art. It made me realize that I do like that aspect of it so much more as well, so it’s expanded my world to other creative things I could do that aren’t strictly music.
LUNA: Are there any visuals accompanying the single?
YNDLING: I'm going to do a live visualizer. We’re playing two shows, one in Trondheim, which is a beautiful small Norwegian town in the middle of Norway, and another show the next day. We’ll have both shows filmed. I've made a lot of DIY music videos for my music before and I really like doing the editing, so that’s coming whenever I finish editing—hopefully sometime next week. High ambitions. We'll see if I follow.
LUNA: I know you said you don't like the cold as much, so what kind of weather makes you feel most yourself?
YNDLING: I really like the Norwegian late spring or Norwegian summer, because it doesn't really get that hot here. In the Summer, the days are really long. The sun doesn’t set until 11:00pm, which is super nice. It’s one of my favorite things. Today for example, it's been dark for five hours already.
LUNA: Is there anything else that you wanted to add or that you want people to know?
YNDLING: Well, we're coming to the US in early March to play in New York City for New Colossus and South by Southwest. If anyone wants to come see it, they could!
Photography Credit: Lene Nordfjord
