At just 15 he was DJing in some of Copenhagen's hottest dance clubs and now, over a decade later and Morten Granau is one of Europe's top progressive trance exports.
Prolific and innovative, Morten is heading to earthcore, in November, armed with a battery of trance anthems.
How do you describe your music to people who have never heard it before?
First, let’s look and try to understand what music is: it is a certain arrangements of sounds. I try not to describe it in to many words. It’s best for the listener experience the music ;)
What draws you musically to progressive trance?
Music without words can bring tears, joy, and love; it can set moods and experiences in people, and this is just by sheer sound and no use of words. Words mean it’s a psychological pattern, sound means it's an existential pattern. This is why music without words is very significant. And in progressive music it is largely sounds, here and there some words, but largely sounds.
How does your work as Morten Granau differ from that of your other monikers, such as One Man Orchestra?
It's two different genres. But basically the same thing you’re trying to do. One Man Orchestra reflects another dimension of my personality.
What was the hardest thing about DJing in clubs aged 13?
It always came naturally to me. I never felt it was hard in any way.
Which gigs do you prefer playing, clubs or festivals?
Both are great in their own way. Festivals are more open and flexible, and clubs are more intense and you get a closer connection to the crowd.
Over half of Britain's clubs have closed in the past ten years. Have you seen a similar trend in Denmark?
Ok, I was not aware of that! In Denmark things are growing quite a lot at the moment. And about the genre EDM I will say this: music is certain arrangements of sounds, and if you arrange sounds in a certain way it will become noise. If you arrange sounds in a different way it will become music. There is a whole lot of noise passing as music right now; if you know something about classical music for example you would see that it involves an enormous amount of mathematics behind it. It’s a structure, a mathematical structure that is being build.
How profound a particularly musician is, and how far he can go is unknown, but that is what you are trying to do. You are trying to explore the geometric patterns. All the complex patterns that are possible in the form of creation. Our creation is just a complex composition of sounds or vibrations – or whatever you like to call it. If the sound is arranged in a particularly geometry of things it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't get you in your emotion, but it gets you in the very being of who you are. And if you hit the right pitch, like the frequency 432hz, you can actually heal people with sound.
If you could perform onstage with anyone, who would it be?
J.S. Bach (if he was alive that is).
Will earthcore be your first time in Australia?
No, this will be my fourth time in Australia. I cannot remember exactly. It is hard to differentiate between all the shows, when you travel as much as I do. But it will be my first time at earthcore.
Can we expect your collaborator Phaxe to be joining you on tour at all?
Without saying too much, yes you can!
What's next for you?
To keep on expressing myself through music and keep spreading joy and happiness around the world.
Morten Granau plays earthcore, in Pyalong Victoria, 26-30 November.
