Danish indie pop artist Dinner (real name, Anders Rhedin) manages to make big tent ’80s pop without even trying. He’s personally a of ’90s dance and ’70s funk, but is totally cool with following his muse. He’s another one of our favourite artists playing at SXSW this year and he just got signed to Captured Tracks, which is one of our favourite labels. In addition to that, he’s a really sweet guy, and is very sincere with his interests. We caught up with him outside of Hotel Vegas in Austin during SXSW, and talked about his forthcoming record as well as what inspires him and how he got involved with CT.

Northern Transmissions: How is the album coming along?

Andres Rhedin: I feel like I’ve been in a trans the last two or three weeks. It feels like I’m on this magical mission, and in a way, I feel like I got sucked into an alternate dimension.

NT: Is it this thing where you want keep adding to it or where you’re analyzing a lot?

AR: No, it’s more the opposite.  It’s more letting go to an extent where you lose yourself.

NT: I mean the sound is very big, like a very ‘80s sound where it’s kind of eschewed.

AR: Yeah, I mean what I wanted to do which I thought was a great idea was to do these ‘70s sounds, mixed with ‘90s dance, which I thought was a great idea. Unfortunately it didn’t really work out. And this is a thing with man plans and the spirit world because I feel like you’re i this process where you’re channeling stuff and you’re not really sure what you’re channeling. All you can do is let go and whatever you want to let come through will come through and for whatever reason, it’s like some real ‘80s-inspired spirits are what come through.

NT: I mean do you listen to a lot of ‘80s stuff? Like John Hughes movie music?

AR: No! That’s the weird thing. I’m not like an ‘80s aficionado. I grew up then so I guess a lot of it is in my DNA. The weird thing is is that there are similarities before I even realized they existed.

NT: I mean it’s the kind of thing that was happening 30 years ago with the artists from that era.

AR: Precisely, to be honest.

NT: I mean the ‘90s house stuff…is that what you would usually listen to?

AR: I mean I was listening to ‘90s dance stuff like Ace of Base.

NT: Do you feel like when you’re trying to do a certain sound and you can’t hit it, do you feel like that’s because you don’t have access to what you want?

AR: Good question. Maybe? That actually could be it but then again, in some ways I don’t feel like I have the ability to do anything that isn’t me. I’ve always been a music person, and this is going to sound extremely pretentious but I’ve come to think of it more as energy work. Many people will move energy around and I feel like sonically that’s what I do, where I move energy around, and I use music to do it.

NT: How did you get involved with Captured Tracks?

AR: About nine months ago, I got involved with Captured Tracks. Mike Sniper emailed me out of the blue — I mean I thought it was a prank… and then it turned out that everything they say and down at Captured Tracks was very sincere. When they say stuff, they mean it. Two years before that, I actually sent an email to Mac DeMarco. I had just read about him, and I wrote to him being like, “I just listened to you and it was such a beautiful song.” And he wrote to me in 15 minutes and was like, “Thank you so much.” So that was my one experience with Captured Tracks.

NT: Yeah I mean they’ve got a great roster. You’re in good company. When do you think the record will be out?

AR: It should be out in October. I don’t know the exact date but it should be then.

Doug Bleggi