Ambrosius has made a significant mark with their debut album, Pathways released in January 2024. The album is a collection of 12 tracks featuring energetic rock sounds with catchy guitar riffs and captivating string work.
In an exclusive interview, lead member Ivan Lubo shares the creativity behind the Album, the challenges faced and the dynamics within the band.
Cocomyrrh: Congratulations on your album. What does it feel like having your work out there?
Ivan: We have actually had the album out for close to a year, and we’re struck by the response and recognition from both our old and new listeners, and from the mentions on several blogs. It feels good to finally having nailed a whole album, whereas we’ve tinkered with singles and EPs up to this point, of course to prepare for something bigger like a full play experience. It takes quite an effort to have twelve tracks come across as interesting. One can say that a work of art is never finished, but abandoned, yet this work right here gives us the feel of pieces, shades and shapes having come naturally together, and having been left in exactly the right condition intended and seemed fit.
Cocomyrrh: There are twelve tracks on this album. How long did it take you to complete this album? Were there challenges?
Ivan: All in all, it took about a year to get all the songs together, whereas the recording took about two weeks in total, with a whole week spent in the studio to record the groundwork, only to sprinkle separate days during the late summer to get each musician, including guest performers, to lay their tracks.
Pathways has been pointed out for its eclecticism, as all twelve tracks carry certain distinctions in their direction, and our task has been to get all the songs to meld, but still have each track stand out, which I believe we have managed to do, in great collab with our producer Ole Dahl. As we were three songwriters with different musical influences, it’s naturally come together as something where disco, folk and 70’s rock met in a 2024 environment. Our biggest influences always looked back at what had been, rather than trying to take shape among their contemporaries. Taking bits and pieces from here and there, trusting the equipment and producer to bring it forth in a modern environment.
Cocomyrrh:What was the vision in mind while creating this album?
Ivan: We were always aware of everyone coming from different musical upbringings, and wanted to make that shine through, which we knew inevitably would make something unique.
I recently listened to a podcast with Rick Rubin talking to Bob Weir from Grateful Dead, where Weir expressed how there was a distinction in how certain band members being in the band solely for the purpose of playing, whereas others were mainly driven by the act of writing songs. That conversation really resonated with me because I realized how that was a certain challenge we’ve faced at certain crossroads in the course of our band history. Some are really interested in the dynamics that take shape, not necessarily in each song, but in the context of playing for the sake of playing, wanting to make each part of a live set interesting, and also making a song evolve on the premise of making it stand out.
Whereas others in the band have been interested in making each and every song take shape as a musical composition, as a story being told, and that being said, I think recording the album has made these two perspectives meet. We’ve met each and every band member’s ambitions and terms by recording a whole album, and I find that a beautiful thing, which is another reason why we’re heading to studio in Erkelenz, Germany in January 2025 to record our sophomore effort titled “Qualia”.
Cocomyrrh: Can you tell me a little about the band? How did Ambrosius come to being?
Ivan: You see, this is quite a funny thing. The other day we were driven to sit down and have a talk because we had gotten to a point where we found ourselves to be too caught up in the routine work of our band, that we needed to actually sit down and express opinions and emotions besides plugging and playing. And I found it to be a fresh breath of air since we’re getting to work on new material which sounds even better as each day goes by, because we really enjoy working together. Initially, we were a folk-rock band but have evolved into somewhat of a pop rock thing. My brother has joined us within the last year, and his synthesizer has brought another dimension to the songs we compose these days.
The backdrop of our recent formation can be traced back to as far as 2017, when we first started playing gigs in Oslo, releasing singles and working our audience. But as far as Ambrosius in its stance right here and now took shape, I’d say we really got into this formation the day we started producing the debut album “Pathways”. We have been playing together for so many years that it’s become more of a routine than anything else. We’ve always been committed to playing and sharpening and so on.
Cocomyrrh: I listened to the album and three tracks stood out for me. Align has a strong message, Hollywood Babeism brings in a fresh vibe, and Nancy Tales feels like a storytelling piece.
How do these songs each contribute to the overall tone and theme of Pathways?
Ivan: If you want to put a definition on the relationship between these songs, and all the songs on the album for that matter, I think it’s an issue of wanting to convey an as broad a palette as possible, as far as emotion and storytelling goes. Anger, fear, nostalgia, pity, blissfulness and sorrow: we want to cover all of it, and that inevitably creates this space of experimentation.
The songs are also all carefully placed in their spot on the track list based on an overall story arc, which we are very much satisfied with having put together. It’s intended as a journey, and we really hope people enjoy the record for exactly that, even though we’re fully aware of how most people probably find that one favorite track which they kinda want all the music from their favorite band to sound like.
Cocomyrrh: Are you currently working on any project? How is it going?
Ivan: As I mentioned earlier, we’re currently working on our second record titled “Qualia”, meaning something to the effect of the subjective experience of a sensory input and it works really well, we’ve already got a visual artist on the case of working out the cover art.
We’ve also written thirteen songs, of which nine are picked out to be recorded. We’re heading to Erkelenz, Germany in mid-January 2025, and are looking at a two week stay, with a few gigs taking place during the weekends. We’ve definitely evolved as a band, based both on a musical level, but also on an intrapersonal level.
We know each other better after having spent that much time producing and releasing a record. You can listen to the whole record in less than 45 minutes, but there’s a lot of hours laid down to get every detail exactly right, as well as having been room for experimentation through the course of the project.
We’re hoping to achieve an even more inspiring place and surrounding for our second record, so! Just stay tuned!
Cocomyrrh: What message would you like to leave with your listeners as they continue to connect with Pathways and follow your journey as a band?
Stay creative, keep on creating, let everything out there inspire you, because that’s what art and music is for: escapism, for introspection, it’s to create the measures that make change in your personal life and in the world possible. Be a producer, be a consumer, just do it! And whatever emotion flows through you: that’s something you should listen to. We’re thinking and feeling creatures, us humans. Take advantage of that!
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