Finnebassen is back… The DJ and producer is one of Norway’s most succesful musical exports and after an hiatus, he’s returned to the DJ booth. Having staked his claim on an international scene during Deep House’s 2nd seminal era in mid-’00, he carved out a significant career, before taking a break from it all a few years back and leaving a noticeable hole in Oslo’s scene and specifically Jaeger. Now he is back and with a new fervour, he’s taking on the DJ booths around Oslo.
Over the course of the last year, he’s made the tentative return to DJing, not merely picking up where he left off, but entering a whole new musical phase of his career; one that already sounds sharper and more defined as he channels all that experience back into the booth with fresh ears and ears.
After a few noteworthy sets, including one during a Basement night at Jaeger recently, Finnebassen is officially inaugurating his return with his debut on the Jaeger Mix. Unlike most debuts, Finnebassen takes to the Jaeger Mix like a duck to water, reiterating what’s made Finnebassen a draw all these years, and then some.
Moving along the lower tempos, Finnebassen cultivates an atmosphere that lives at a chugging pace, where bass and percussion roll, rather than drive. Finnebassen’s unique ability to maintain that balance between an indelible ear-worm and the functional demands of a dance floor, even a latent one, remains key to his appeal.
He re-contextualises it for an early evening and the purposes of the recorded set, and showcases an ability to adapt to the intimate circumstances of the Jaeger Mix. Finnebassen is well and truly back, and it’s an opportunity to catch up with the DJ and producer; find out what he’s been up to and what we’ve missed and when he’ll be making the return to the studio.
It’s great to have you back. We know you were on a short hiatus from DJing and music. What has changed in your approach since getting back into the booth?
Thank you! It’s great to be back. Hmm… I guess the biggest difference now is that I play sober … which, at first, was quite scary, but now I really love it. I feel more present and more in command of the floor. To stop drinking is the best decision I have made in the last few years.
What was the biggest challenge in getting back into it after the break?
To get past the self-doubt. To have that confidence you really need to do a good job as a DJ. I was considering not coming back to music for a long time. So the first few times I played was torture .. hehe.. it was so scary, and I thought no one would show up. I still get quite nervous the days before a gig, but I’ve learned to embrace that feeling and I know that I get that way because I want to play a good set, and the people on the floor have a good time.
Has it affected your approach to making/producing music in any way?
Well I haven’t really gotten back into production yet. I lost my ears and a lot of confidence in that area as well. So I guess it has affected me a lot? Since I haven’t been able to make any music yet. I’m trying to get back to it, but it’s incredibly difficult. Makes me appreciate what I was able to do in the start of my career a little more.
Give us an introduction to this Jaeger Mix.
I wanted to do a set that included some old gems, and some new tracks I like to play. I wanted to showcase what you might end up hearing on the dancefloor if you come and hear me play.
It stays in the lower end of the BPM range for a large part. What was your initial idea when packing your record bag for this one?
To be quite honest, there were 4 people talking right next to the DJ booth and it didn’t seem appropriate to just bombard them with fast paced electronic music. It felt like the right thing to do in the moment… playing more laidback. I tried to adapt to the situation.
There’s a chugging energy that builds throughout. Was there anything that shaped the evolution of the set?
I guess it’s my style. That deep rolling low end, that makes you feel like you have sunglasses on, while not wearing any. That’s what I’m going for anyway.
What do you hope the listener takes away when listening back?
I hope they enjoy it. And may don’t judge me to harshly on my mistakes☺
You’ve always been good at incorporating melody within the functional demands of your music and DJ set; it’s here in this mix too. Where do your melodic instincts stem from?
Thank you! You know I don’t know exactly, but I guess it comes from my semi musical background. My father has played in a band for 50 years… I started playing guitar at age 12… and I’ve listened to a lot of different genres throughout my life. I guess you end up with a good instinct for melodies after hearing enough good melodies… that’s at least how I feel/think I have done it. And I tend to lean towards simple ideas and melodies that convey a lot. Like a writer who manages to say a lot with very little. That’s what makes a melody elegant in my opinion.
Cutting your teeth in the Deep House sound of the mid-’00s, it feels like you’ve moved into a bigger, fuller sound as both an artist and DJ. What’s been the biggest change in how you make and play music since you started?
When I started I really had no idea about anything in electronic music and therefore no preferences or experience to rely on. So I only played music that sounded very similar to what I was producing myself. Also I took very little risk and rarely strayed from my trusted deep house home.
Now I feel more openness towards new styles of music and I have more experience after sharing decks with many of the top dj´s in the house & techno scene. I learned to drop tracks in big rooms that demand a certain amount of energy in them. This was a very difficult skill to cultivate in Norway because we don’t have those big rooms in our music culture. I guess Sunkissed at BLÅ is the closest thing we have. So the biggest change I guess comes from the experience I have gotten in the almost 10 years I was playing outside of Norway.
Where do you see yourself going in the next phase of your career?
I’m moving to Tjøme now. I have bought a house there and hope to build a studio so I can start to make music again. So hopefully I can make a better living than I am now, doing music. Maybe I’ll get a part time job on the side, but I don’t know yet. I try not to plan to much and tackle the days one at a time. But hopefully I will be making more music and playing more shows outside of Norway. I have a gig in Poland in October which is the first real gig outside Norway since 2019. So im excited about that.
Are you working on any new music at the moment, and what can you share about it?
No, but hopefully I will soon.
What else is on the near horizon for Finnebassen?
Playing with Olanskii and G-ha on the 26th of September ☺ And probably to get a dog. A corgi or a cocker spaniel…