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KALLE VILPUU : "Silver Lining "

KALLE VILPUU -  Silver Lining is the almost instrumental debut album of guitar picker Kalle Vilpuu. He was born in Estonia and he has been making music since 1989!! So, check out Kalle’s answers about his debut album.

Q: How have the reactions to your album been so far?

KV: Thank you for asking. I would say that my album has been received with touching warmth both by critics and people who love prog rock.

Q: What kind of sound, production wise, did you have in mind during the recording?

KV: My mind revolved around modern, industrial soundscapes. I also wanted the slower tracks to have air in them.

Q: Any weird experimental mixing or recording we should know of?

KV: I would say that I refrained from going into extremes, while I did employ some electronic tricks. The result on the album is rather identical to what I had in my head. It is a matter of my fantasy, feeling and intuition as an interpreter.

Q: How did you go about capturing your live sound?

KV: No great secret here. I recorded the guitars and the synthesizers in my tiny home studio, that just makes sense. The other instruments we recorded in a friend's home studio. I'm a big fan of tube amplifiers when it comes to guitars, I have quite a few. I try to use stomp boxes as rarely as possible when recording. When I need prepared guitar sound, I go for things I've recorded with valve amplifiers, I don't like recording guitar straight into the mixer. We also decided in favor of an old Ampeg amp from 1972 for bass guitars as its sound fit the context best, even though we did try modern ones as well. As a guitar player I think that all guitar sections should be recorded in home studios for the best results, where you are not plagued by the time running out and where you can work when it suits you.

Q: Any crazy behind the scenes anecdotes that you would like to share?

KV: Not having any after 30 years of being a musician would be a sign of something being very wrong. All kinds of things have happened: planes missed and stages fallen off while drunk, things forgotten, lost, mornings slept in; all the razzmatazz of a musician's life.

Q: Why an (almost) instrumental album?

KV: It is a lot harder to make good instrumental music that is able to really carry itself throughout the album than it is to do it with a professional vocalist. Instrumental music is completely naked, meaning that the focus is always on themes, sound, melodies, solos, nuances, dynamics. Boredom is always just around the corner with instrumental music. You must continually check and double check where your music is going. That is why merciless use of the “delete” key is a good habit. I made around 30 tracks, only 11 of which made it onto the album. Others simply didn't fit the album's context, even though a lot of them very pretty good and interesting pieces in themselves. I wanted the focus to be on spherical and industrial guitar rather than a famous vocalist, at the same time giving other musicians the chance to shine. I also wanted the vocals to be melismatic. It gives the female voice an entirely different quality, a much more subtle and sensitive connotation.

Q: When and why did you start playing music?

KV: Music, as far as I can remember, has always touched me. A special push towards the guitar was delivered by Pink Floyd's “Dark Side of the Moon”. I was 11 years old. I didn't start playing the guitar more seriously until I was 17, after I graduated from high school.

Q: What are your future plans?

KV: I plan to give a number of “Silver Lining” concerts with incorporated 3D visuals in the fall of 2015, together with another first rate Estonian guitarist, Toomas Vanem, who has also completed his first solo album. What we have in common are the bass and the drums, in other words Henno Kelp and Andrus Lillepea.

Q: Do you like the song “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd?

KV: I would say that it is one of the best melismas in musical history (including classical) that I'm aware of. It is so intimate, tender, honest, feminine. “Dark Side of the Moon” is an incredibly good whole and a record of the era's feeling and atmosphere.

Q: Anything you like to add?

KV: I would like to thank you for your interest, and say that I think that every successful album is a special thing. Music enriches people's lives, as do other fine arts.

Dear Kalle, thanks for your answers.

Interview by: Martien Koolen
Photos from Kalle's website www.kallevilpuu.com 
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