Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique ... the very special and significant point at which the world's phenomena intersect.
- Herman Hesse
Conjuring Earthly Elementals
In Sweden, each season has a constant clash of climate and opposing forces. The sub-arctic air flows southward to collide with the humid warmth of the southern tip of the country. Underneath the impact of these two opposing forces rests the picaresque quaint town of Bollnäs. It perhaps is no irony that songwriter and musician Daniel Larsson was born and raised in this town, precisely under the midst of this natural mêlée? Daniel Larsson's muses must have been able to tap ingeniously into this environment of extreme contrast. Over time, he gradually developed the rare ability to conjure and control these earthly elementals through music. He now is able to bring them to life through his compositions. His music is sometimes cold, frozen, and filled with melancholy and at other times it is tepid, thawing and vivacious. Indeed, Larsson has developed into a conductor and conduit of these earthly elementals, a true musical maestro of fire and ice.
Delicious Distortion
Daniel was raised in a creative family where his parents always supported his interest in music. “My father enjoyed listening to many styles of music and was a touring musician in the 1970s so a wide variety of music always immersed me,” Says Larsson. Daniel started to teach himself guitar around the age of fourteen, picking out chords and melodies with a freedom to experiment. It wasn't long before Daniel got an amplifier and a distortion pedal. “Once I heard the distortion effect, I was hooked,” Daniel states. Soon, he was into heavy metal bands such as Megadeath, Metallica and Nirvana and he yearned to play just like them.
A Taste of Wildhoney
Daniel's influences would continue to deepen as he reached his later teens and the heavy metal band Tiamat would have a vital affect on his musical development. Their albums, Wildhoney and A Deeper Kind of Slumber exposed him to electronic styles and sub-genres such as doom/gothic and black metal. This new interest in electronic music led Daniel to synthesizers, mixing boards, and all that the digital age had to offer. The keyboard became Daniel's main songwriting tool and he began to learn to produce his own style. By 1998, Daniel was performing in bands and co-writing music. His first serious band would last until 2000, however Daniel and his music was still evolving.
The Birth of Cryonik
From 2002 until 2005, Daniel was the leader of an industrial/metal band that was having some success. “The first positive reviews and audience responses were profound moments for me,” Says Daniel. He continued to compose during this time. However, Daniel began to have the urge to be a solo artist with complete creative freedom. In 2005 he decided the time was right to go out on his own and move more towards an electronic style as a solo artist. By 2006, Daniel had new ideas, a well-developed song catalog, and a new musical path to follow. He embarked on a new soloist project which he entitled “Cryonik.” Daniel explains the new sound he wanted to create with Cryonik, “I wanted electronic music with a dark feeling and influences from anywhere and everywhere. I wanted the same mood that metal had, but without sounding like metal.” Indeed, Cryonik would become a project with a deep and unique combination of gothic, trance and rock. It was as if Daniel had created his own new genre reflecting his exposure to so many styles in his youth. It displayed the tension opposites create when they collide. Daniel began to musically conjure earthly elementals and in the process, his project entitled Cryonik was born.
A Panacea in Soulcured[d]
As a solo artist in 2009, Daniel was picked up by French Indie label Frozenforce and released his first EP, Soulcure[d]. It was a three song compilation displaying Larsson's distinctive style. In Soulcure[d] Larsson used his frosty palette of synth, bass, and percussion to meticulously combine up-tempo back beats and swift-moving melodies. The EP featured cunning cuts that lifted from an icy -10°C to a life-sustaining 37°C. Larsson's message was simple; it was a meant for those with dark souls, or those with “...a diary of damaged minds.” The EP release revealed that Daniel's songwriting skills had matured with an ambient ability to melt icy moods with a clever blend of industrial/trance and rock-based genres. Larsson's debut release, Soulcured[d] was indeed a “cure.” It became a musical panacea for frozen souls..
Cryonik Evolves
There exists a talented musician in this quaint town of Bollnäs. Between the icy tundra of the north and the fiery humidity of southern Sweden there is an artist with the gift of conjuring the opposing elementals via music. He intrepidly tames them to do his biddings. Daniel says it best, “I just have to make music and I love it. It is therapy for me, and I know there are people out there that like what I create!” Whatever the reasons and results, one thing is very certain; Daniel Larsson has a gift. This gift is constantly evolving in his project Cryonik. One can never tell in what direction his music will go. It flows as if on the Swedish summer winds and flurries as the snow in Stockholm. The music is sometimes an inferno, and at other times frozen to the core. What else would you expect from a musical maestro of fire and ice?
