Kjetil Nernes is a survivor. He is, for all intents and purposes, the Norwegian rock band Årabrot, who formed in Haugesund, Norway in 2001. After stalking the blackened, grimey European noise rock underground for years, a rupturing change came in the form of serious illness in 2014. After contracting a rare and aggressive form of cancer, he nearly died; but the lengthy, painful experience of treatment and recovery gave him the time and space to reconsider his entire life… including his artistic practice.
Speaking from the deconsecrated church in Djura, Sweden, where he lives with his wife, the musician Karin Park and their young daughter, he describes how the illness changed everything: “I struggled out of that period of extreme sickness by writing the last album The Gospel (2016). It was like a big explosion. Because after an explosion you have silence. And in the silence you realise that everything has changed. In that silence, the new record was written.”
After some years, the band is up to sharing their new vibes with the European market – a new album will be released in 2025, via Mute publishing.
