PYMLICO
Their name’s inspired by an area of London, but Arild Brøter says these norwegians want to travel the globe!
Oslo has a long association with progressive music so it might come as a surprise to discover that one of the city’s up-and-coming instrumental outfits have taken inspiration from England’s capital.
“All the good names were taken, so I decided to go for something that was unexpected!” says Pymlico’s founding drummer Arild Brøter.
Although the seven-piece have not played any shows outside of Scandinavia yet, their musical approach definitely has an international basis.
“Early on, I wanted to sound like The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, and Genesis. But more recently, I’ve been very much into fusion bands like Snarky Puppy and Weather Report. I like to think we have a wide-ranging sound,” he says. “My aim is not to go for 70s distorted production, but more of a polished American approach. I love vocalists, but as I don’t sing myself I never wanted to bring in someone else to do that, which is why we just concentrate on doing instrumentals.”
Like many young Norwegians, Brøter cut his musical teeth playing in marching bands. Then, in 2009, he decided he wanted to create his own project and Pymlico was born. The band released three albums – Inspirations, Directions and Guiding Light – and 2015’s Studio Live EP independently before signing to Apollon. However, Brøter still sees Pymlico as his project.
“I’m still the band leader; I come up with most of the ideas. However, a lot of the writing is now done with my brother Øyvind, who plays keyboards. But it’s not an equal partnership,” he adds. “He’s the junior guy in Pymlico!”
The Norwegian band spent six months working on material for their fifth album Nightscapes, which is out now, before spending another six months in the studio.
“It reached a point where having a label meant we could spread our music much further,” says Brøter. “Right now, apart from the debut, all our records are available and we’re starting to get noticed in other countries. Through our website, we’re getting lots of good feedback.”
And Pymlico hope the positive reaction will give them the opportunity to finally play outside their native Scandinavia. MD
“I love vocalists, but I never wanted to bring in someone else to do that.”