Author: Get In Her Ears

Having met at school in Norway, Sigrid Zeiner-Gundersen and Carl Frederik Kontny have been creating music together. Now based in London, they’ve joined Ross Craib and Charlie Fowler to form Circumnavigate, have supported the likes of Gabrielle Aplin and Crystal Fighters, and are now set to release their debut album.

As we prepare to be treated to their emotion-strewn, dreamy folk creations, we caught up with Sigrid from the band to find out more…

Hi Circumnavigate, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about the band?
Hey, thanks for having us. We’re a four piece, half Norwegian/half British and we create cinematic folk-pop. We’re currently based in London and ready to release our debut album on 14th December.

How did you initially all get together and start creating music?
Carl and I (Sigrid) started playing together when we were fourteen basically covering Coldplay songs and writing jazzy folk songs along with our friend Jakob on trumpet. We kept exploring and writing together and had the odd gig now and then, but it wasn’t until we met Ross & Charlie in London that we became a band. That’s when we wrote and released our debut EP Stranger.

Your new album When Worlds Collide is out very soon – can you tell us what it’s all about? Are there any themes running throughout the album?
The album is a collection of honest songs about finding connections, love and community with people from different backgrounds, cultures and countries. It’s a collection of songs written since we started together and includes a lot of different perspectives on life, love and friendships.

You’ve been compared to the likes of The Cinematic Orchestra and Billie Marten, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
Cinematic Orchestra, Thomas Dybdahl and Daughter are major influences to us. We also take inspiration from film scores and pop songs to create a mixture of what we think is beautiful and emotive.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
London has such a cool live scene so we go to a variety of gigs here to discover new artists, support our friends or see our main inspirations!

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
We give everything when we play live. Our goal is to make everyone feel exactly how we felt writing the songs and it’s the best feeling when we manage that. We have a lot of fun together as well so always stay around the venue after any gig to talk to everyone. Our album launch gig is on the 14th December at The Sebright Arms, and we plan on doing a bit extra for it so hope people come down to check it out!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
Yep! Philippa, Exes, Japanese House, Emilie Nicolas and Highasakite.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
They industry is in the middle of some very exciting changes at the moment. We’re really grateful for the ones who are watching us and believe if artists keep persisting and enjoying performing, the recognition will come in the end.

Finally, what does the rest of 2017 have in store for Circumnavigate?
On the 1st December we release our lead single ‘Another 20 Seconds’, and then we are releasing our debut album When Worlds Collide on 14th December. We are very much looking forward to showing everyone what we’ve been working on the last few years!

Huge thanks to Circumnavigate for answering our questions! 

When Worlds Collide, the upcoming album from Cicumnavigate, is out 14th December.