Interview: Landstrykar

One of the sub-elements within much of Dungeon Synth is the emphasis on Medieval mythology, especially surrounding dark castles, knights, fairies, dragons, etc. For me personally, as a fan of the old NES Castlevania video games, there’s something about the mystery surrounding this gothic mythology that is enrapturing. Most fans of dungeon synth music likely feel this same connection.

For Landstrykar, a dungeon synth artist out of the Netherlands, the reliance upon these elements of mystery and wonder permeates throughout the sonic landscape. There’s something pleasantly uplifting about Landstrykar’s approach, albeit keeping to an ambient and haunting atmosphere. It’s really quality music for fans of both dungeon synth and good music in general.

It was such a pleasure getting to interview the man behind the music to get to the root of what drives his artistry. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Thanks so much for joining Blacforje for an interview! Now, you’re based in the Netherlands, correct?

Thank you very much for the opportunity! And indeed, I live in the Dutch countryside.

As for your project Landstrykar, your sole album titled A Walk Amidst The Cairns was released in 2021. It is a fantastical album featuring elements of dungeon synth, fantasy, and Medieval influence. First off, what inspired you to start Landstrykar, and then, what inspired the album?

Thanks for the kind words. About twelve years ago I started playing with keyboards and sample libraries to try and recreate some of my favorite videogame soundtracks from composers like Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story), Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross, Xenogears), Michiru Yamane (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night), and Jeremy Soule (The Elder Scrolls). I’ve never taken any formal music lessons, so for me, dissecting existing songs and rebuilding them from the ground up was the best way to learn about using all the different orchestral sections. Other artists that inspired me to create my own music are Summoning, Vinterriket, and Ildjarn’s ambient works Landscapes and Hardangervidda. In fact, the Hardangervidda album was essential in generating my interest in Norwegian nature, and I’ve actually made a hiking trip through that impressive area.

It was around the end of 2019 that I decided to try and compose my own songs. After all those years of experimentation, I felt I had developed enough skills to create interesting and varied songs myself, and so the then-still-unnamed project was born. But it didn’t take long for me to come up with a theme and name. One of my biggest passions is hiking in the Norwegian mountains, and because of that I searched for a fitting Norwegian name and found “Landstrykar”, which translates to a person drifting from place to place. I thought that sounded cool and would also fit the theme of the project very nicely. Landstrykar is a musical representation of all the feelings you experience when walking through imposing Northern landscapes.

Have you been working on anything new recently? If so, can you tell us a little bit about what to expect?

Yes, right now I’m working on a new album which will hopefully see the light of day near the end of this year or early next year. After the release of my debut album, I stopped making music for a while to clear my head by spending time on other interests. Every now and then I did create some bits and pieces of new songs, but composing new material hasn’t been my main priority lately. I’m not that concerned about releasing music on a regular basis, because for me it’s all about quality over quantity. When it comes to expectations for the new album, I can tell you that it will definitely continue what I’ve started with A Walk Amidst The Cairns, so you can again expect some epic uplifting and atmospheric songs. This time around I’m also working with a very talented artist to create all the cover artwork, and I can promise you it will be something beautiful.

*‘A Walk Amidst The Cairns’ by Landstrykar*

How did you get into dungeon synth and fantasy music?

I’ve been listening to Black Metal since the mid 90s, and my journey into dark electronic music started almost at the same time with Burzum’s Dauði Baldrs and Hliðskjálf albums. I was just starting to go down the rabbit hole of discovering important Black Metal bands and I had already heard all Burzum albums up to Filosofem, with that album in particular making a huge impression on me with its ultra-raw sound. Then one day I was walking into a record store and saw Dauði Baldrs laying there and thought, “Hey, cool, a new Burzum album!” I didn’t know anything about it, and blindly bought the album thinking I was going to be treated with the same pure black metal! Needless to say, I was very surprised about what I heard and didn’t really know what to think of it. The album did grow on me after a while, but in my opinion Hliðskjálf is superior and a lot more enjoyable to listen to. At that time this was all just labeled as ambient, and nowadays they are regarded as some of the most important pillars of dungeon synth, so I guess in retrospect this was my introduction to the genre.

Around that time I did know about the existence of Mortiis through the Cold Meat Industry label, but for some reason I never listened to his material back then. In the following years I started listening to a diversity of electronic music like Dargaard, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, Ice Ages, Dominion III, Kreuzweg Ost, Mirkwood (Silenius’s side project), as well as Puissance, Lord Wind, the earlier mentioned Ildjarn albums, and Vinterriket. Most of these projects were labeled as (dark) ambient, neoclassical darkwave, and industrial. I also started getting into other more aggressive electronic genres like dark electro (yelworC) and aggrotech (Hocico, Aslan Faction, Psyclon Nine, Tactical Sekt).

It wasn’t until years later that I somehow discovered the Dungeon Synth Forum, Dungeon Synth blog, and Asmodian Coven blog and came to the realization that dungeon synth was an official genre. To be honest, I don’t listen to Dungeon Synth that much, but I do have some classics in my collection.

If I’m not mistaken, your first release was with Dungeons Deep Records. Is that right? I know they’re a big part of the dungeon synth underground. How was it working with them for your first album?

Well, initially I didn’t have any plans to put my music out through a label at all and was intent on doing everything myself. Once the album was out on streaming platforms and self-released digipack-CD, I was looking into doing a cassette release on my own, as well. I didn’t expect to get any offers from the established dungeon synth labels and was hesitant to contact them because I wasn’t sure my music could be described as dungeon synth. The only big label I was contemplating to get in contact with was Dungeons Deep Records. I liked the whole vibe of the label because of the aesthetics of the flyers and the diversity of the material they release. Then out of nowhere, Andrew of DDR emailed me with the proposal of doing a cassette run of the album. Naturally, I wanted to collaborate, and I’m still very happy with how it turned out.

Does spirituality and philosophy influence you as an individual, as well as an artist? If so, can you tell us a little bit about that?

No, I was raised in a non-religious environment and never felt the need to dive into spirituality. Some theories like Astral Projection seemed kind of interesting to me years ago, but I’ve never seriously tried to study or practice it. When it comes to philosophical theories I feel mostly related to existentialism. Above all I’m interested in science, especially astronomy, astrophysics, and physical cosmology. For me, the only interesting questions about the origins of the universe and life itself are the “when” and “how”, not the “why”, and I don’t attribute anything to a higher power. The way I think about all these topics doesn’t influence my music at all.

Who are you outside of music? What are some of your passions?

I live in a rural area in The Netherlands, and I have a full-time job in civil engineering. We have a pretty big garden that needs a lot of maintenance, so throughout the year I spent a lot of time in there mowing the grass, weeding, sawing, and chopping wood, which is something that I love to do. Working outside in nature gives me a lot of satisfaction. Some other things I spend my free time on are watching movies and series, gaming, and hiking.

Last question: What is a “Netherland” anyway? And why are there multiple lands? It seems like it should just be Netherland. One country. Why make things so complicated? (This is sarcasm for anyone out there taking me seriously.)

Good question! Well, centuries ago, the Netherlands (meaning “Low Countries” or “Lage Landen” in Dutch) was the designation of a mostly flatland area in Northwestern Europe, partly laying below sea-level. It comprised an area of what nowadays is known as The Benelux (The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg). Over time, these all became independent nations and the name “Low Countries” became “Netherlands” (“Nederland” - singular - in Dutch).

You can follow Landstrykar on Bandcamp, Instagram, and Facebook.

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