Behind The Tracks: Minneriket - Regnbuer I Gråtoner (Single) (2024)

“Regnbuer i gråtoner” ended up as my own favourite song of the most recent album Gjennom meg går ingen til hvile. It’s a very gothic and experimental song, but underneath all the layers you can hear some pretty simple riffing, almost punk-like. I actually wrote the whole song on acoustic guitar, kinda inspired by a few Bad Religion songs, before I made sure the riffs would work when transferred to electric with distortion. Adding the keys, piano, and strings (and other layers) for the classical approach worked very well since the song was initially written acoustically. It has this rock-oriented groove underneath but completely changed by the symphonic goth style on top.

 

The lyrics are written and performed both in Norwegian and English, both because some words and phrases just sound more poetic in a specific language, and also because there are four different vocalists featured on the song. The lyrics are written to be a conversation with myself, a melancholic voice thinking back on suicidal tendencies and self-destructive behavior, and looking upon death as the one true north for us all. But the lyrics also take ownership of these things, find the artistic and poetic value in the will of the uncompromising protagonist, and translate it into shades of grey. And that is the lyrics that close the song: “Inside me and surrounding me – the skies are always grey”.