Weise: ‘Pop has to get you Thinking’

Half of the hit duo The Loft emerges as a solo artist. Under the name of Weise, Jakob Weise explores the territory between the crystal clear commercial and the wistfully melancholic sound.

As one half of The Loft, Jakob Weise ruled the Danish charts with “City of Dreams” at the end of the last decade. A groundbreaking track even before its release because iconic Danish singer-songwriter Kim Larsen for the first time agreed to be sampled.  So where do you go when you have already made a hit that is bigger than what most artists will achieve throughout a career?
Jakob Weise turned his gaze inwards. After The Loft’s second album, Little Paul’s BLVD from 2008, with the gold-selling single Kiss You Goodbye, Weise and the other member of the band, Martin Bøge Pedersen, started working on their own respective material. And when Weise got the opportunity to write the music for two of Denmark’s most popular comedies in the last decade, he felt that he was ready to stand on his own two feet as both songwriter and producer.

“I have become much more confident. I now have the courage to be myself both musically and visually, which also means that I fight for my own ideas. When I look back on The Loft, I realise that I was searching because I was unsure of my identity”, says Weise.

With his new found confidence came the courage to ask himself even bigger questions, the courage to be honest and the courage to count his losses. The essence of the 35-year old Dane’s struggle to find his core as a person and musician is evident in the single Out of Sight and in the two EPs he will release in 2012. Through recent years he has written lots of songs that has taken him on an artistic journey. His point of departure was a backtracking to his guitar- and piano-based singer-songwriter roots, but he has slowly let pop lure him back onto his old path. Where he as a songwriter wants to embrace his passion; he as a producer wants to keep tinkering with and bringing his music to perfection.

“I want to strike a balance between the crystal clear commercial sound and something that gets you thinking. Soul provokes something in me because that’s where you can add melancholy and longing to your song writing”, says Weise.

His inspirations count names as The Script and One Republic who work in the intersection between the big genres like pop, rock and soul. One of the best examples of this is Out of Sight, which meets the listeners with a pristine sound and melody but also creates a room for the listeners to fill with their own emotions. The single is written in collaboration with Marcus Winther-John and Lene Dissing and produced by Weise himself. It is, however, especially the choice of mixer which shows Weise’s adventurous approach to pop. Here he has cooperated with Jacob Hansen, who has mixed both the Danish rock band Dúné and Danish light-metal band Volbeat (currently topping the Active Rock Chart in the US). Weise’s curiosity has also led him to draw inspiration from harder artists such as John Frusciante and Linkin Park – simply because their productions sound excellent.

“I listen to a lot of different music and I often get extremely enthusiastic. I really have to keep myself in check not to wander off in every possible artistic direction when I write and produce. But in the end there’s only one thing that controls me: The good tune”.

Weise: Pop skal sætte tanker i gang

Halvdelen af hitduoen The Loft springer ud som solist. Under navnet Weise søger Jakob Weise ind i spændingsfeltet mellem det glasklart kommercielle og det længselsfuldt melodiske.

Hvor søger du hen, når du allerede har lavet et hit, som er større, end de færreste formår gennem en hel karriere? Som den ene halvdel af The Loft var Jakob Weise med til at lægge landets hitlister ned med ”City of Dreams” – et nummer, som var banebrydende allerede inden udgivelsen, fordi Kim Larsen for første gang nikkede ja til at blive samplet.
Svaret for Jakob Weise har været at søge ind i sig selv. Efter The Lofts andet album, ”Little Paul’s BLVD”, fra 2008 – med den guldsælgende single ”Kiss You Goodbye” – begyndte han og det andet medlem, Martin Bøge Pedersen, at pusle med deres egne sager. Og da Weise fik muligheden for at lave musik til film som ”Blå Mænd” og ”Julefrokosten” mærkede han, at han var klar til at stå på egne ben som både sangskriver og producer.

- Jeg er blevet langt mere selvsikker. Jeg tør dyrke og være mig selv både musikalsk og visuelt. Det betyder også, at jeg kæmper for mine idéer. Når jeg kigger tilbage på The Loft, kan jeg godt se, at jeg var mere på jagt, fordi jeg var usikker på min identitet, fortæller Weise.

Med selvsikkerheden kom også modet til at stille sig selv større spørgsmål. Modet til at være ærlig. Og modet til at se sine tab i øjnene. Essensen af den 35-årige sydsjællænders strabadser for at finde sin kerne som menneske og musiker finder vi i singlen ”Out of Sight” og i de to EP’er, han udgiver i 2012. Gennem de seneste år har han skrevet bunkevis af sange, som har taget ham ud på en kunstnerisk rejse. Udgangspunktet var en konsekvent søgen tilbage til hans guitar- og klaverbaserede singer/songwriterrødder, men langsomt har han ladet sig lokke mod poppen igen. For hvor han som sangskriver gerne favner inderligheden, vil han som producer nørkle og perfektionere lyden.

- Jeg vil gerne balancere mellem det ultrakommercielle og noget, som sætter tanker i gang. Det trigger mig, når det er soulet, for det er dér, man kan koble melankolien og længslen på, siger Weise.

Hans inspirationer tæller navne som The Script og One Republic, som netop udforsker feltet, hvor de store genrer som soul, pop og rock krydser hinanden. Et af de bedste eksempler er netop ”Out of Sight”, der går lytteren direkte i møde med glasklar produktion og melodi, men også holder en smule igen, så lytteren kan fylde rummet med egne følelser. Singlen er skrevet i samarbejde med Marcus Winther-John og Lene Dissing og produceret af Weise selv. Det er dog især valget af mikser, der viser Weises opdagelseslystne tilgang til popmusikken. Her har han samarbejdet med Jacob Hansen, som tidligere har været bag pulten for Volbeat og Dúné. I sin nysgerrighed lader Weise sig nemlig også tiltrække af grovkornede kunstnere som John Frusciante og Linkin Park – simpelthen fordi deres produktioner lyder fremragende.

- Jeg lytter til enormt meget forskellig musik og bliver tit vildt entusiastisk, når jeg hører et eller andet. Og jeg skal holde mig selv i ørerne for ikke at stikke i alle mulige retninger, når jeg skriver og producerer. Men i sidste ende er der kun én ting, som styrer mig: Den gode melodi.