Interview with Paul Seidel (FERN, The Ocean) about the new FERN Album

Paul Seidel recently released his first official album, "Intersubjective", with FERN. In his project, the The Ocean drummer focuses on the interplay of electronic elements and instruments, cleverly combining the worlds of pop and industrial. I now had the chance to interview him.

Anne: Hello Paul! Thank you for taking the time for this interview! Congratulations on the new FERN album! I enjoy listening to this record very much. I think that "Intersubjective" brings a beautiful calmness and balance, but at the same time, it's also a wake-up call. Are you happy with it?

Paul: Hey Anne, thanks for the invitation and the compliment! I'm delighted. That's actually not a matter of course. The whole process of making "Intersubjective" was such a constant balancing act between self-discovery and healthy experimentation. So, it feels good that listening to the finished album brings people joy. Moreover, I don't feel like I should have invested another ten years.

Anne: A lot is going on at the moment. You just returned from the tour with The Ocean, which will continue in a few days. On the side, you released your album with FERN and took care of all the promo and preparation. Is there any time left for a break here and there?

"I've learned to recharge my batteries"

Paul: Admittedly, the entire overlay of all the projects can sometimes be a bit much. But everyone is the architect of their luck, if I remember correctly, so I don't want to complain. Instead, I've learned to make the most of the pauses in between to recharge the batteries.

Anne: You already released an EP with FERN in 2017. You had the album in the oven for quite a while. What led to the decision to put it out right at this moment?

Paul: Of course, the whole Corona story has been exploited enough by now. But of course, the album also came back into focus due to the forced break in live operations as I finally found some time for myself, find peace and not just tinker with ideas between the chairs. When you're on tour as much as we are with The Ocean, creative processes sometimes move to the background, or every so often you're just mentally not up to speed to get something constructively creative going.

Anne: What's the first song "առաջանալ" about? You recorded it with Hayk Karoyi. A friend of yours?

Paul: I met Hayk in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia when he spontaneously recorded something for the last The Ocean album "Phanerozoic II". He and I were in constant contact after that. Back in 2019, I already knew that I'd like to involve him as a guest on my FERN album.

The album's opener is meant to reflect the idea of digital capture and the simultaneous emergence of things. It's supposed to be a kind of interplay between organic fragility and alienation from the original. At the same time, I wanted to get the listeners to shift their focus from the outside to the inside.

Anne: Are there any other guest artists on your album besides Hayk Karoyi? Or is FERN pure Paul Seidel this time?

"Jan Kerscher an I created many sounds togehter"

Paul: Besides Hayk, you can also listen to the insanely good cellist Marie-Claire Schlameus on the track "I Am A Transient". She really implemented my ideas perfectly and gave the song the necessary tenderness that was missing in the programmed sounds before. In addition, in the elaborate recording and production process with my friend and colleague Jan Kerscher, we also created countless other sounds and details that hadn't been there before.

We added basses and guitars, harmonized and distorted vocals and created many layers to make the sound even more interesting and dimensional. That was essential!

There is also the song "Exnomination", which I worked on with my band colleague Peter Voigtmann aka SHRVL, in his studio "Die Mühle". Funnily enough, in the same period, we also played the drums for two songs on the most recently released Casper album, "Alles war schön und nichts tat weh". So, he was one of the first to hear the raw version of the song.

Anne: You are an essential part of the The Ocean Collective and are always involved in different projects as a drummer. Were there or are there any other projects like FERN for you?

"You need to check out 'Kollmorgen'!"

Paul: I also co-produced an EP by my friend Emma Kollmorgen this year. The project is called "Kollmorgen". The EP is called "1243". It's five songs that we refined, completed and released through Kompakt Records over the course of the last two to three years. If you like music a la Portishead, Ry X or Kiasmos, you should definitely give it a listen.

Anne: Would you say that FERN's music embodies your ideas best?

Paul: I think the perceptible body of a musical idea is always just a rough idea of something much more encompassing that ultimately remains hidden. For myself, FERN at least gives me a clearer picture of what excites and fascinates me musically and what continues to motivate me to transform my inner impulses into something tangible.

But I also don't want to define myself too much or be pinned down to what FERN can be or has to be. The beautiful thing about questions is that sometimes the reactions to them are too complex to be considered universal answers.

Anne: The music of FERN and the songs you create with The Ocean live from your dynamic and precise playing. What's fascinating is that FERN also stands in contrast to what you do with The Ocean. I like the industrial quotes, especially—Maybe we share some of our idols here. What also appeals to me personally is the delicate yet and at the same time straightforward language? Is that another part of you?

"Sensitivity allows us to perceive the world with all its details"

Paul: I don't think it's a different part. The content is just formulated differently, maybe in another language. Sensitivity is a quality that has influenced me since childhood, both positively and negatively, and it shapes my behaviour. So, in this respect, FERN is perhaps a kind of diary to extract and process the often overwhelming impressions and thoughts.

It feels good to perceive this tender side, translating it directly into something understandable. I used to need more awareness of this. Meanwhile, I know this sensitivity allows me to perceive the world in all its details.

Anne: What does the name FERN stand for?

Paul: A feeling, a memory, the future, or the past. Things that lie beyond our capacity and yet put us in a state of feeling that influences our behaviour or thoughts. Everything that we cannot directly grasp.

Anne: You wrote that "Intersubjective" is about history, the present, the future and what we can make of it. Do you deal with this subject a lot?

"Our time fascinates me"

Paul: I am enormously fascinated by our time. We are always stuck between something that has happened and something that has not yet happened—as the spearhead of a future that we supposedly hold in our hands. Yet, we are actually permanently flowing through our perception as reacting beings, searching for answers to questions that arise through our responses.

I refuse to give in to one-sided destructiveness and dystopian scenarios, preferring to insist that life has—so far—always found a way to adapt to the most adverse circumstances.

Anne: What are your future plans for FERN?

Paul: That'll come up in the future.

Anne: Your music is shaped by contrasts. Light and darkness, harshness and lightness, pop and industrial. Is this the way things are, life itself?

Paul: Things come together and break again. Broken things, in turn, become more complex unities. The more detailed the world becomes, the heavier it becomes. After all, life is only one facet of a reality that cannot be simplified to yes and no, but in which yes is also no and no is also yes.

Anne: The history of humankind—what do you think came first: singing or percussion?

Paul: Yes!

Anne: You were excited about our interview, just like I was. Besides music, my site is also very much about veganism. Can you also identify with that topic?

"I live vegan when I'm on tour"

Paul: I've been vegetarian for about 12 years, and when I'm not on tour, I also eat vegan food. However, I allow myself a pescetarian exception on vacations now and then.

Anne: We talked about taking a pause earlier. Do you have any tips for my readers and me? How do you manage to calm down in between?

Paul: That's very subjective. Some people listen to Black Metal to relax, some enjoy knitting, and some go mountain climbing. For my part, I prefer to go for a walk or read a good book. Silence is essential to my relaxation practice because otherwise, I'm constantly surrounded by noises, music, and noise in Berlin.

Anne: What are you looking forward to most right now?

Paul: I'd like to answer positively, but it's not easy for me to look forward to things now. So, I would rather not pretend that I'm doing remarkably well. However, I look forward to little things, like yoga in the morning, coffee for breakfast or the chance to read for a few hours in the evening. Being at home is definitely something that gives me strength and helps me to stay mentally on top of things.

Anne: I can very much relate to that! My morning yoga sessions are also a very important source of energy for me. All the best for you! Thanks again for the interview! It was an honour and I enjoyed talking to you a lot!

Paul: Likewise! I hope your readers feel the same way.

Please check out my interview with The Ocean Founder Robin Staps.