While bands like Alcest and Deafheaven may be considered the forefathers of the blackgaze movement, it is impossible to ignore the impact of artists who have taken up the torch — namely, the powerhouse out of Denmark, MØL.
MØL has released two full-length albums to date: Jord in 2018 and Diorama in 2021. The band’s vocalist, Kim Song Sternkopf, could arguably be considered one of the most brilliantly gifted vocalists in all of black metal. His voice is unmistakable, laced with mystery and desperation that gets through the skin, the bone, and the marrow, straight into the soul. Paired with the band’s distinctive impression — fusing sounds reminiscent of mid-2000s emo, metalcore, shoegaze, and pure black metal — the collective break the mold of blackgaze with a deeply engaging catalog from start to finish.
Sternkopf doesn’t fit the stereotype you might expect from a black metal vocalist. He was warm, inviting, and deeply compassionate—not all that different from the band’s music.
Hey Kim, thanks for connecting! How’s everything going?
It’s just snowing a lot in Denmark right now. And you?
Yeah, well, I’m thankful in a privileged sense that I’m not in Ukraine. It’s a rough situation there right now.
It is. All eyes are on Ukraine at the moment. I work as a social worker with teenagers, and I try not to check notifications on my phone, but I just can’t help myself. The news is just everywhere, you know? Wars and rumors of wars. It’s got me thinking about some of the lyrics of one of my favorite bands called The Chariot. I work with teenagers, and all of them there are asking, “Who’s winning? Is it the Western team or is it Russia?” They’re talking about it like it’s a football game. That’s the only concept you have of it as a youth. I know people in Ukraine. Thankfully, I think most of them have left.
That is so cool that you’re a social worker outside of singing in MØL.
It just keeps you grounded, you know? I think I wouldn’t prefer any other job. Well, I do have a lot of stuff that I do. Being a musician, you always have to do odd jobs in some sense to get everything together. I’m also a photographer; I’ve used it as a networking tool. When you know fellow bands, it’s easy to go on tour with them and get to earn some money on the side when you’re touring. But yeah, social work, or at least working with teenagers – I work in the youth club – it just keeps you down to earth.
It’s been a crazy couple of years, both as a band and also personally with the pandemic and stuff like that. Knowing there are at least some people who are truly dependent on you, not just in a “yeah, this is a cool art thing”, but there are actually people that you matter to, that you’re playing a significant role to — that’s what keeps me going.
You are in Denmark, right? Is that where all the band members are from?
Yeah, I think all of us were born in Denmark. I know Nicolai, our main songwriter, used to live in the U.K. for a couple of years. I think when he and Ken, the two main founders of the band, started writing, he was studying in York. Their love of shoegaze and trying to spice that up just made them keep in contact and experiment. So, it’s kind of neat to hear their story, because they used to play in a shoegaze band that disbanded. They were heavily influenced by Alcest, label mates at Nuclear Blast. Deafheaven also started doing some stuff. It’s kind of funny, because I know Ken…I think he only heard Sunbather, but that’s the only record of Deafheaven he’s heard. He’s really trying to not be influenced by something that’s close to his own ballpark.
Since you brought up Nuclear Blast, are you still with them as your label?
Yes. We signed with them after our former label, Holy Roar Records, kind of imploded. It was a big deal in some sense. They were the label that put us on the map. It was a small, but quite influential label that just had a finger on the pulse of everything. They had a lot of influence. When we went touring in the U.K., it just opened doors. I think after the whole thing imploded, we were approached by 12-15 labels that had some really enticing offers. Nuclear actually ended up being the one label that outbid all the others. I guess we were kind of lucky with that.
As a band, you have released two EPs and two full-length albums. Do you have plans for your next release?
I think we will most likely stick to the album formula. We have started working on some stuff, but it’s still in the demo stage. We want to tour with this album (Diorama); we haven’t done that yet. I’m really hoping this year. The first headliner tour in Europe just got canceled I think a month back. We were supposed to be out now, but due to local restrictions in Germany and Austria and all the countries we wanted to tour in, it wasn’t economically sustainable to just do the U.K. shows. We have been fishing for some other opportunities, either re-booking or jumping onto some bigger tours. It’s looking up.
Do you plan on doing a North America tour?
We really want to do a U.S. tour.
“I like music that makes me either close my eyes or get pulled out of my own head. I want something that makes you kind of lose yourself for several minutes or an hour. I think there’s a healthy escapism in it. That is what art is supposed to do.”
As a fan, I really hope so. You are one of my favorite blackgaze bands. As far as the genre, blackgaze is slowly growing in popularity. Of course, Deafheaven put it on the scene, but you guys have become quite popular in sub-genre. How do you feel blackgaze is evolving?
I think there’s definitely a push for everything black-accented and black metal-related. I think there’s a lot of atmospheric metal and instrumental metal that gets a fair amount of exposure at the moment. It’s also a general sense of branching genres that I can’t necessarily put one word to, because we draw inspiration from everything from Van Halen to Blink-182.
You’ve definitely heard some of those inspirations on some of the tracks from the latest album. I think the overlining theme is the guitar. It’s the main instrument that carries you throughout the whole emotional narrative in each of the albums. It’s kind of funny because we’ve had some interviewers or reviewers pointing out, “There are a lot of synthesizers on the album,” and there’s none. It’s all guitars. It comes to show how much the ambiance, or at least atmospheric music has gained a place of its own. I like music that makes me either close my eyes or get pulled out of my own head. I want something that makes you kind of lose yourself for several minutes or an hour. I think there’s a healthy escapism in it. That is what art is supposed to do.
Some people call blackgaze and other variations of atmospheric black metal “sad”, but I simply don’t agree with that definition. I think the ambiance and emotion are more contemplative and introspective than mere sadness. In my perspective, it helps you become more connected to your emotions. What are your thoughts about the genre and the emotions it inspires? Also, how do you feel Diorama has been received since its release?
Well, I’m always referring to emotional narratives, which means there’s a start and there’s an ending. You go through all kinds of upbeat parts and dynamics — that’s the key word. Also, with literature, when you are being led through a narrative, that means your emotions are being guided in some sense. I think Nicolai said at one point, “Juxtaposition between melancholy and jubilee.” That’s kind of his way of expressing himself with the guitar. Immediately, when I get a demo from him, I think I’m one of his biggest fans [Laughs]. There are images that just pop into my head every time I get to hear some of his demos. It reminds me as a songwriter of experiences that I want to convey in some kind of narrative.
Diorama is way more introspective than Jord. Jord was extrospective. What I was dealing with at that time was a loss of faith. Jord means “earth,” so I was kind of reconciling myself with the thought of ending up in the ground someday, not necessarily ending up in heaven. I grew up in a religious home, but my family has been drawn to some pretty extreme religious environments. So, when I got to move to a different town and start my education, and I got to go through all the things you have to go through as an adolescent, and later on a grown-up, there was just a lot of stuff I had to process. I used to play in Christian metal bands before I joined MØL, but MØL was actually the band where I felt I could express fully what I was going through at that time, with all of the sorrow I felt of losing that sense of grounding, at least existentially.
So, Diorama is a continuation of what I started on Jord as a lyricist. Diorama took the cultural hook of the movie Hereditary. The main protagonist makes dioramas – small 3D representations of situations from traumatic experiences in her life — but instead of it setting her free, it actually ends up possessing her and her family. So, I think that ended up to the point where I’m like, “So, if there’s no God, if my sense of purpose is lost somewhere along the lines, what would I end up with?” I would end up with relationships, I would end up with my family, I would end up with my heritage. So, Diorama was kind of my way of writing myself out of that existential crisis. I think there’s just a lot of speculations, or at least a lot of confrontation, with some of the things that I felt have defined a lot of my childhood.
So, to return to your question about how the reception has been, it’s been amazing! We actually didn’t think that we would get to make another album that has been so well received as it has been. Nuclear Blast has also helped us reach a much bigger audience, especially doing interviews everywhere from Mumbai to South America.
Full transparency: I’m a Christian, so I find your personal story fascinating. I couldn’t help but notice you mentioned The Chariot, which is a legendary band led by Josh Scogin.
Josh Scogin is one of my all-time heroes.
“That freedom as a frontman, not being bound to that mic stand, that’s always something that’s made me feel present and grounded in that space.”
That’s so cool. In what ways has he inspired you?
I think there are multiple ways that he still inspires me. I’ve been to so many shows, both of Norma Jean and The Chariot. So much of my teen years are tied to that band. I think Scogin’s approach to belief, in some sense, makes me still want to hold on to some things. But at the same time, I think there’s just a lot of road traveled. I have no idea where I’m going to end up existentially, but I just know I’ve been in a place where this is still some of the music that moves me.
As a frontman, I really adore how he can take control. His presence is just amazing. The way he can command a room – that is what I aspire to. You can also see it in MØL’s performance. People are expecting a shoegaze band that is not as wild and unhinged, so I think when we toured the U.K. for the first time, people were taken aback by how much I went straight into the crowd. I like to be in contact with the audience in a literal sense. That’s just how I roll. I see myself as an emotional conductor of what’s happening on stage, or at least what’s in your ears. I think Josh has done that. I’ve seen him crawl everywhere on stage during several shows. That freedom as a frontman, not being bound to that mic stand, that’s always something that’s made me feel present and grounded in that space. I think that’s the main job of the vocalist: to keep the attention, to keep everyone present. That’s how he inspires me a lot.
At HM, we love talking to artists from a lot of backgrounds, as well as cover all varieties of heavy music. We often have a theme that revolves around spirituality. Music for me, particularly the various genres of black metal, connects me in a spiritual sense. I know that many bands and artists in the black metal world would consider themselves atheists or agnostics. Where would you fall if you had to categorize yourself?
I think my approach would largely be agnostic. I wanted to be an atheist, but there’s just a lot of my upbringing that keeps me in some sense of [spirituality]. For instance, I’m getting married in a couple of months and we’re doing it in a church, and that’s because both my partner and I both come from Christian homes. There’s something about that pact; there’s just a lot of things that I can’t run from that’s in my programming. If God is there and He’s listening, that might not be as important to me as it used to be, but I know it gives me a sense of comfort, or at least a sense of acknowledgment of my history — knowing that this is where I come from, that there are still some elements present.
MØL is and will always be a secular band. that’s one of the things we discussed at the start, because they knew the background I came from and what my existential worldview was at that time. But they’ve watched me disintegrate in some sense [Laughs], and it’s been so cool having them along for that ride. They just had a lot of respect and sensibility. I was burned out when I started in MØL. I had a sick leave for like 6 months. Jord was written in those 6 months. When I started out with those guys, I was kind of like, “I can play with you, but I can’t promise everything is going to be fine, because it’s not.” So, that was the bottom-line, or at least how I started out, and that has evolved us as people.
It’s so weird to say I’m never going to write religious lyrics again. I think the world is bigger than being boxed in like that. I just know that they were along for the ride, and the kind of exploration that I did as a person has always affected my way of writing lyrics and music. Being able to be in that place of doubt and the grey zones and nuances, being able to encapsulate that — that is what I believe MØL is capable of.
For me, I’ve always looked at art as a reminder of the soul. I think art and the way it moves us points to the human spirit. You yourself seem like a very deep thinker and that’s a good thing. You put your heart into your music and that comes across so sincerely, which I admire. I’m not really into the misanthropic “I hate everything” black metal; I admire black metal artists who wrestle with the real things in life.
I think there’s just an enormous opportunity to address all the issues we have in society through art. If you think about the sexes today, how you view yourself as a human being…for instance, as a man, to look at myself with all my vulnerabilities and all of my shortcomings. My generation might be more “angsty” in some sense, but I think we get to talk about things that my father’s generation and the generation before him didn’t. I get to be at the receiving end of the consequences of not talking about that. That is what I inherit; that is the millstone around my neck that I have to carry.
Being able to navigate the grey zones is something my parent’s generation had a hard time dealing with. It might come out as more angsty, but I think there’s a great amount of strength and self-governance to know what’s in your heart or whatever dark thing you’re made of. Acknowledging that makes you a human being who is way more capable of overcoming a lot of stuff instead of being turned bitter or hard over the years. I feel black metal taps into those emotions. There’s a lot of atmospheric music that just bypasses all the words and goes straight for the…soul [Laughs], in some sense. That is how music can also become a kind of medicine.
Final question: how can fans best support MØL?
Merchandise, for sure. We have a lot of vinyl out there. Playing us. Sport it on your social media. When people buy vinyl, I really love how eager they are to show that they’re playing it. It just goes to show that there’s a type of tokenism in metal. Setting aside some time for that art instead of just keeping it as background noise. Stream our stuff. Share it with your friends. There’s a lot of competition; that’s for sure. It just means a lot to get that feedback. I see it daily. There are just a lot of people who have been hit by music and they are willing to show that.
You can follow MØL on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram.
