Diandra Interviews Axel Flóvent: Passion As A Profession

Axel Flóvent is so relatable. From song to style, he writes for the person that lives in their head: for better or worse. Yet, it is Axel’s open heart and discussion on the stress of making music your career that will open up readers, especially fellow artists. Taking you passion and making it your profession may sound like the dream, but it could the very reality that crushes your passion. In this interviews, Axel discusses living for the quiet moments between you and your guitars.

Diandra: Your songs are about overcoming inner demons to gain virtues, what are some demons you let and virtues you have gained through your music?

Axel: I think my biggest demon is self-doubt, and a few voices in my head that tell me that nothing that I do is ever good enough. I tend to overthink a lot and it can make things a lot more difficult then they have to be; these voices have kept me awake several nights. I’ve gained a broader perspective on life with having to live with them and with writing about it. I look inside my self, and self analyze, because I want music to help me live in peace with these anxieties.


Diandra: What is the biggest lesson a song has taught you about how you are in relationships? Which song was it?

Axel: I feel like, in past relationships, music has brought me to a better understanding of what I was feeling. I feel like I don’t receive information in music like I would in a book for example, I only receive the words that I relate to already. So it’s hard to learn anything from music with that mindset. Still, I’ve been given clarity through music, whilst in past and present relationships, and I think from the top of my head the one that spoke loudest to me was the song “Winterbreak” by one of my fave bands: Muna – “Oh baby I think we both know, this is a love that we won’t get right, still if you said that you want it, I know we’ll always have one more try” – they are quite naked words, just gave me a bit of a “pohhh hands down” feeling trying to make a relationship work that wasn’t working out and feeling maybe it’s time. 
Axel Flóvent – Tourist

Diandra: With your music feeling so vivid in imagery, what are some books, films, or even painters and poets that inspire your writing?


Axel: I actually don’t read as much as I’d like. My attention span is so all over the place that I never can get sucked into a book. I never read as a kid, and I keep trying to be better at it, but finishing a book seems like the hardest thing for me. I love a good movie; if I find a good movie it can inspire me to want to do a million things. I just saw “Little Women” at the movies the other day. That was a real treat. I loved everything about it, I feel like it was puzzled together so elegantly and the clothes in it are amazing.
I loved the music in it, as well. When I was younger I was a big fan of teen angst movies where there was a teenage boy, in a band, that I could relate to. I felt the need to find my self in the character in the movie; so I was obsessed with the amazing Michael Cera for a few years. For visual art, I’m quite fond of art that is connected to music. I like musicians that also do art. Like Daniel Johnston. I love his art, his poetry, and his lyrics. When the art has it’s own light within a person, you don’t see them anymore because their creativity is in control. 

Diandra: You sing to anxiety in a time when it is becoming such a prominent topic in music. Do you feel being a creative makes you more susceptible to anxiety or over-thinking?


Axel: I think more being a part of the music industry, and trying to make this my profession, makes me more susceptible to anxiety and overthinking. Trying to create and make something I think is beautiful and then trying to make it my profession; I think it makes every artist a bit insane, and it is hard to escape it. I think when I create, and when I’m in the bubble of creation, it’s the only time I go with the flow and don’t overthink. But when I start thinking about if anybody will like it, that can really make me crazy. Of course, that’s a part of the writing process as well. So its a bit confusing (he laughs). I guess the answer would be that being an professional artist makes me more susceptible to anxiety but not being a creative. 
Axel Flóvent – Driving Hours (Official Video)

Diandra: Making your US debut, how has becoming an international artist altered your approach or how
you see making music?

Axel: I feel like, since Day 1, there have always been more people connecting with my music outside of Iceland than in Iceland. So touring around the US, for the first time, and meeting people that have been listening to my music for a few years feels refreshing. I think I always feel like I’m writing for them so touring around here doesn’t change much for my writing. It just makes everything a bit more real. 

Diandra: In Tourist, you sing to reaching the unreachable. What are some of the biggest expectations you have had for life that you now see were unwise or unreachable?

Axel: I think this feeling of trying to reach the unreachable came so strongly from my experience of moving to the Netherlands on my own. I thought I would find some kind of life fulfillment; if the life I had when I was on the road was my home then, moving to a foreign place, I would get a chance to start over. Yet, I didn’t see clearly why I enjoyed touring as much as I did. I thought it was sitting more in the sense of being a bit freer, but I moved to a foreign country and, in some ways, I was more stuck than before, and all this need for life fulfillment was more sitting at home around my friends and family. They give me the energy and the fresh air that I need, and I neglected it a bit trying to follow my music. 
Axel Flóvent – Quiet Eyes (Visuals)

Diandra: How do you feel your upcoming EP, reflects where you are in life right now?

Axel: My upcoming EP reflects perfectly where I sit right now as the tourist in my own life. It may have songs that I wrote 7 years ago, but all of them reflect my current state of mind. I keep feeling like I’m evolving and realizing and learning new things every day whilst still feeling stuck and like I’m going in circles with everything I do. So within the beauty and within the clarity, there is always a bit of a mess. 


Diandra: What are places and things you wish to explore in the future?

Axel: I wish to explore the world with my band. I want to do headline tours all around the world and be able to bring my band with me. I’ve been traveling all over on my own with the bands I’m supporting but I miss having them around and doing this with them. So I really hope I can do more of that in the near future. I want to do a headline tour all around America with them. I want to go to Australia and hopefully do loads of summer festivals everywhere. The festivals usually take you to places you never would have imagined. So the dream is to keep doing what I do but evolves it to the state where I can bring my band over. 

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory with music?

Axel: It’s the time with my uncle, His name is Óskar. He taught me how to play power chords. When I was 9-10 he showed me how to play 2 AC/DC songs and taught me that I can do whatever I need with these chords and so I did. It went with me and inspired me to start writing my own music because I got bored with playing the same things and I wasn’t smart enough or eager enough to learn covers. So my favorite childhood memory is where it all started and got me to where I am today.

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