Kvlt of Personality Interviews: Kim Carlsson

Kim Carlsson probably wants you to die.

Through his various musical projects: Lifelover, Hypothermia, Kall, Horns Emerging, and RitualMord, Carlsson has wanted you to know the depths of your own suffering, the pointlessness of your existence.

I interviewed him several months ago, an interview that was never published. 

Here is the interview. I removed any questions pertaining to outdated information, tours, etc.

First of all, let’s talk about the new Hypothermia album. What can you tell us about it? 

t's a conceptual album as usual, this time spread out across two albums, where the first one naturally leads one to the second, as an initiate in a ceremony. It's in its entirety not only some of the most beautiful music composed in years but also some of the most raw and primal.

The band has had a slew of releases since 2005, what do you want this new album to offer listeners that the others did not?

In the beginning I felt it was important to create a foundation with its roots in the old to clearly and honestly portrait the evolution of something spiritually distant from the physical realm. Every album is a tool for a purpose which will depend on the user. Just like you won't build your walls with a brush you won't paint them with a hammer. Each ritual and its task has their time and place.

Does Hypothermia have a message that it wants to impart to its listeners?

There is so much more than that, which is something that we expand upon in upcoming video-interviews and manifestos that will follow the videos that will be recorded for some new and old songs. We come to share the truth that is unquestionable and without shape, but very clear to those who may see or sense it.

As far as live shows go, you’re very intense. I saw Lifelover in Berlin in 2009. You appeared to cut your arms, gyrated around, basically went crazy. Yet, so far, you’ve been nothing but normal, nice and polite. How far away do you place your stage life from your normal, day-to-day existence? 

I didn't have any sharp objects on me during that trip due to airports discarding them, while we had some other sources of blood that week. I consider self-mutilation as a meditative cleansing-ritual, thus it's not something I do on stage anymore. Concerning the rest I'd say that something like standing near a microphone stand or leaning towards monitors gets boring rather quickly, so it would only be crazy to keep doing something that would be that uninteresting to do and look at, so of course I move around a bit in whichever direction the sound takes me. Makes sense, right? Usually I behave just the same way when we rehearse or record with any of the bands as it is what feels appropriate while doing another honest expression, the rest simply comes along. I'm nice and polite towards those who deserve it as long as they do, and simply whatever else deemed necessary towards others. As you know with any individual scenario calling for its individual method of action. The biggest difference with my day-to-day existence is that when I don't work with art, be it audial or visual, I can count on one hand how many people I see, meet or talk to in a week or sometimes a month. Or rather, on my travel to meet the rest of either Hypothermia or Kall I will see more people in a day than I do during a month where I live. I require silence and a calm surrounding to be able to exist and create, which I consider far more important than anything required of me to not create, so the majority of things this world is and has that relates to that aspect of life is something that I avoid and distance myself from. To summarize, my life as an artist is not far removed from the stage regardless of where it takes place, while my life as a person is something completely removed from the majority of what you may consider humanity.

To segway from Hypothermia, you’ve been involved in several other projects, Horns Emerging, Ritualmord, etc., over the years. Which ones are still active?

I participate in various projects or other bands when there is something different that is necessary to be expressed through me. At the moment I can't say much about which are or will be active in the coming years as that depends a lot not only on the time I got to deal with those things but also the amount of time and effort that the guest-musicians have for these visions, which I rather let take the time they need to create something useful and pleasing rather than something rushed. Also as time passes some of the

visions that started out as something very specific grows over the years into something else while the other bands keep evolving and to some extent receive some ideas that eventually fits with one concept or another, while some projects just lie in wait, to find their way out in the world when the time is right.

Besides your music, you’re also a very prolific painter. Have you always expressed yourself in this way?

It's always been in and around me, but it took many years until I started to find my own way to express myself visually. After all there are so many things that not only can, but needs to be expressed without words. And learning a new language and to express yourself through it is one thing, while mastering it is quite another.

These paintings often use organic materials like blood and milk. Why is this? 

I cannot think of anything more suitable than something that lives and dies. Every organic material got its different natural properties intact which is something that also gives different results and purposes depending on the state of the liquid. It doesn't only affect the color-spectrum of each liquid but also how it blends and interacts with other liquids, as well as the order those different liquids are used makes vast differences.

To wind things down, what music are you currently listening to? Anything new you would recommend?


As we're getting closer to our next recordings it's what is in my head most of the time when I don't open the window to listen to the fields and woods outside. Besides the debut album by "Kall", I'd recommend this years offering by Ill Omen.

Any final words?

Respect the silence and submit to it.