Cover of Tyst Sol, by Nicola Giunta.
Datasal is a trio from Gothenburg (Sweden) which navigates among kraut, post-punk and electronic territories. This project is part of the Swedish scene linked to the label Höga Nord Rekords from Gothenburg, where Datasal appears as colder in addition to the contrapunctual and dark usage of noise. The last album is Tyst Sol (which is “silent sun” translated from Swedish), released in 2025 by Höga Nord, and the contribution in cover art by Nicola Giunta (main musician and author in the Italian project Lay Llamas).
Let’s analyse in depth the cited topic in the following interview with the same Datasal.
How was the Datasal project born, what were the intentions and the previous musical experiences?
“Datasal emerged out of an earlier project where we had already begun exploring the relationship between motoric rhythm, more club-oriented structures, and electroacoustic instruments.
“From the outset, we were never interested in forming a “band” in the conventional sense. We wanted to sidestep the expectations that come with that format and instead construct our own working process – a project that could remain open, porous, and self-renewing.
“For us, Datasal is a kind of space – a laboratory where we can test ideas. We work more with states than with songs.
“From the very beginning, there was a strong drive to move away from a purely historical musical heritage and towards something rooted in a continuous present. Everything we do in the studio starts with improvisation, with a pulse as the point of departure. Rather than writing songs, we begin with rhythm and let it function as a gravitational centre. Around this, we build repetitive figures – sequences that slowly shift in character. It’s not about creating variation through clear song structures, but about letting small displacements gradually redirect our focus, allowing us to explore new musical approaches where a swarm of sounds and melodies feed each other and give rise to new ones in a constant flow. Precise and incomplete.”
Your first album Totem Och Tabu, released by the Höga Nord Rekords label from Gothenburg, is permeated by a beating sound which recalls, in comparison with the newest record, cold sounds that should tap into post-punk poetry or elements from the most dilated sounds in krautrock art. Moving from a more austere idea with previous singles, you move following steps in swirling and weird territories with a geometrical complexity in texture. Can you talk about the real intentions in this full-length album?
“Totem Och Tabu is the result of several years of work in our studio. There was no predetermined theme or fixed direction; it evolved from a period of exploration and experimentation with various sounds. There may well be a certain chill to the soundscape – and that’s probably a result of the sonic palette we were drawn to at the time. As you point out, there are tones and textures on Totem Och Tabu that refer back to early-80s genres. All three of us are heavy music consumers, which means we move diagonally across musical references. You can hear the same thing on our latest album Tyst Sol, where we leave one musical field behind and slowly move into others.
“It’s not always music we enjoy listening to that inspires us – sometimes it’s something that stands out, or surprises us. Totem och tabu was an open investigation into combinations of different sounds. We’re freer now. Getting lost has become a method that leads us into the next step.”
The following work, D-Numbers: Datasal plays The Embassy (by the same Swedish label Dream On), moves towards an exotica/disco poetics. This record indeed is a reinterpretation of the album by The Embassy named E-Numbers (2023, by the same Dream On), where this last contribution is permeated by the recent band kraut-ish sign shaped in an elegant and dubbing idea, that reminds the most historical duo from Gothenberg too. So, can you talk about how this unexpected work happened in sight of your specific music policy?
“It was actually a bit unexpected. We were asked to interpret E-Numbers, and it felt both unfamiliar and appealing. Apart from a previous collaboration where we played on material by Lay Llamas, we hadn’t done anything similar before. As mentioned earlier, we usually start from improvisation around a pulse, so working with pre-existing material, as we did here, was a real challenge.
“The Embassy were clear from the start: we could work with their material in whatever way suited us. That licence meant we immediately approached the project as re-workings rather than remixes. We took the structures and let them pass through our method. We identified one or several musical elements in their tracks that we felt we could relate to as freely as we do to our own material.
“The Embassy work within a clear pop tradition with verses, bridges, and choruses, and their tempos are generally more intense than ours. Early on we decided to keep our repetitive and improvised playing style and pulse as much as possible. It was a way to test our method and our style. How far can our language stretch without ceasing to be Datasal?
“In hindsight, it’s clear that the qualities of this record arise precisely where the two bands’ styles collide within the music.”
How did the creative process happen on the Tyst Sol album? Why did your choose to release an album for Höga Nord Rekords for the second time?
“While our first album was in production, we continued working on new material. Datasal is a very productive project. So when Totem Och Tabu came back from pressing, we handed the material for Tyst Sol over to Höga Nord Rekords – and they liked what they heard.
“Continuing our collaboration with Höga Nord felt natural. They understand our aesthetic, both musically and visually. We feel that our ideas about wholeness – artwork, themes, narratives – resonate with theirs. They’re not just a label for us; they are a context. That continuity is important when the process is as productive and deep-going as ours.”
In this new record, there’s a tendency to manipulate colors in acoustic texture, with playful wavering. An urban landscape is delineated in the introduction of the album Delta, where a majestic form is shaped with complex details in all the acoustic matters. So, how did this call happen for the following listening?
“Delta was not an obvious opening track at first. We spent a lot of time rearranging the track order on Tyst Sol before we were fully satisfied. Delta can be interpreted as a sort of zooming-in on an urban landscape – an entry into the world of the album.
“Urbanity isn’t a major thematic concern for us, but our studio sits high in an old school building overlooking Gothenburg’s rooftops and the harbour beyond. That view likely colours the atmosphere — not literally, but as a sense of different planes and structures, dark and illuminated spaces.
But much of the mood comes from layers of references to music that has influenced us – layers upon layers of details that might only emerge after several listens.
“As we’ve said before: it’s about creating atmospheres rather than songs. When you enter these rooms, time shifts a little. That’s where we want the listener to be before the rest of the album unfolds.”
De Fyra Årstiderna appears as a physical testimony from the previous releases, where everything is permeated by a iced monotony, with irregular and sinusoidal variability. Why is this more different and specific in your album?
“Interesting – we hadn’t thought of it that way. Perhaps it connects back to our earlier expression through the timbres you described as post-punk poetry. De Fyra Årstiderna is built on simple guitar and bass figures, while the flute stretches large structures across the musical sky. In that sense, the track goes further back than the previous album – perhaps all the way to Somna På Klubb, which could almost be described as a creative manifesto for us.
“We have a basic principle of never adding overdubs afterwards, and we often set temporary rules for ourselves, only to break them later. It might be playing without any effects, or playing as sparsely as possible. When someone disrupts the rule, something interesting usually happens. That approach is still present, and you can hear traces of it in De Fyra Årstiderna. We still work partly in this way, and you can probably hear elements of that method in De Fyra Årstiderna.
“In this track, we consciously held back and played more sparingly. That opens the soundscape and allows the instruments to ring out. It means the effects we use become more audible in detail.
“More generally, on this album we’ve moved a bit further into territory that is unknown to us. That also applies to how we involve rhythmic elements – they don’t refer much to contemporary musical contexts. We try to reinvent ourselves. That, we think, affects how this album sounds compared to the previous one.”
Acid patterns have a peculiar role in Tyst Sol, which gives an auxiliary contribution to the techno component. A sharp geometric structure rules in Handsken, and a soft atmosphere with psych harmony is the main key in Bron. In view of this, different approaches are contemplated in the melodic/harmonic part, with a more original idea than the previous releases, in my opinion at least. How did this mentioned character happen?
“Thank you – that’s a lovely compliment. We feel the same. We think it has to do with being more open to letting contrasts coexist, and enjoying the challenge of playing in ways we haven’t played before. But of course, that’s something we feel while playing – to a less attentive listener, much remains the same. Datasal still sounds like Datasal.
“We haven’t reflected much on the acid patterns, but it’s interesting you mention them. When we play on a track, we almost always do it head-on. We rarely discuss how we’re going to interpret the track; our playing style grows out of our encounter with the material and with each other in the moment. As mentioned earlier, we sometimes set temporary rules for ourselves, but the interpretation is always open. In the case of Handsken and Bron, we might be playing more against than with the track. It’s never predetermined – just a way to stretch what we can do with it.
“The sequences you refer to as acid patterns create a mood over the pulse that gives us images to play against. That’s how we always work: a track functions both rhythmically and melodically, opening up alternative harmonic movements compared with another track. Conceptually, we move across many genres – everything gets folded in and filtered through our method. Our ability to shift between different areas of focus is what drives the work forward. That’s where we are: in a constant oscillation between introspective doing and harsh reflection. Less ascetic than the debut, but still equally obsessed with pulse and structure.”