The Acorn's Rolf Klausener Gears Up for Silken Laumann Electro Release

Posted on Jun 7th 2011 1:00PM by Anne T Donahue
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Paper Bag Records

If you're convinced that the Acorn are just another testimony to Canada's sprawling folk-rock landscape, you've got another thing coming. After working on electro project, Silken Laumann, for the better part of a year, lead singer Rolf Klausener is ready to formally introduce listeners to his experimental side.

"I'm working on a dance project that's almost done, and [it's] going to be finished in the next month or so," Klausener tells Spinner. "I've always been into dance music of all sorts -- electronic and experimental -- so it's just an extension of that. I've been working on that for about a year."

"It's still in the mixing process right now," he quickly adds. "It's definitely a way to exercise other creative interests."

Silken Laumann (an ode to the Canadian champion rower of the same name) isn't the only way that Klausener's expressing his creativity. After spending most of 2011 on the road in support of last year's 'No Ghost,' the frontman reveals the band have taken a step back to regroup while he delves into the long writing process.

"Right now the band has kind of gone back to a situation where I'm just writing on my own without a band," he says. "But the band is around, and obviously when we tour and when we get down to recording, we'll be recording [and arranging] stuff together.

"For now, I'm just home in Ottawa, and I'm just writing really freely and I'm not giving myself any strict rules in terms of approach or a sonic palette or anything like that, just writing when the mood strikes. I have a loose theme, but nothing really worth talking about."

Watch the Acorn's Video for 'Restoration'
What Klausener believes is worth talking about is his necessity for post-tour downtime, a factor he claims is vital to his creative process despite the ease of getting wrapped up in the industry lifestyle.

"I don't want to sound too cliché," he warns, "but I really think that out of necessity for my own sanity and my own creative output, I take very poignant, very strict breaks from touring when it's time to take a more grounded, normal lifestyle when I need to write."

"Right now, I'm not touring very much for a good little while," he elaborates. "I just got back to living in my town and having a really nice, grounded life, and that's much more constructive for me for writing. Some people are really good at touring incessantly and writing incessantly and living that professional music life 24 hours a day. But I think everyone's got a different approach."

Well, with an upcoming side project and another Acorn album already in the works, it's safe to assume that Klausener's approach is working just fine.

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