SA: you come from Denmark, a fairy tales land.. Is this the reason why your debut album is composed of micro-stories?

V: I think countries further up north than Denmark is more fairytale land with big forests and wild nature. More mysterical than Denmark is. I like to think of my music as a bit mysterical. Maybe my music is very Scandinavian. Inspired by forests and mentality, children television and literature. I don’t think of stories when doing music but I do think of characters and sceneries like for example the cover of "Vaks Vanskab Ak".

SA: What kind of relation do you entertain with the childhood world? Everything is small in your record: a mini cd with very short songs.. Would you like to be appreciated from children? Or maybe it’s just a sort of revolt against too cold & intellectual kinds of music?

V: my music is definitely not a revolt against anything other people do but somewhat a revolt against the music I used to do. I used to be very obsessive about music following strict rules I had made for myself and "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is the most spontaneous music I have done in long time. I made it after I bought my first computer learning to make music with it. But I like cold and intellectual music ^-^ I don’t plan for my music to be appreciated by children and I am not sure that my music will be appreciated by children but some things I do could go well with children’s stories or fairytales. I agree.

SA: Listening to your record, I started wondering about the actual productions of other labels as Monika Enterprise, Angelica Koelermann and, maybe more obviously, skipp. You are working for Dekorder. Can you tell me something about this? Moreover, all these labels promote a peculiar sound: gamey, but someway nostalgic at the same time, and wieldly.. I guess it couldn’t be defined just as dance music, but, maybe, as something similar to a strange & primitive form of ballet..

V: I don’t know all of the labels and artists you mention so I can’t comment on any similarity but I will definitely try and listen to them. When you say gamey you mean video game? I don’t play video games but I can see that there is some similarity between my music and music for video game. I think video game music that I have heard is often inspired by classic song genres and structure and same with some of the songs I do but I don’t think that my music is directly related to video game music. At least it is not an inspiration.

SA: Listening to your music, I can imagine a more twisted side, behind the simple playing a game.. Is there a "dark side" in your music? And if there is, is in your intentions to show it to us?

V: yes I like twisted and SCARY and strange. But none of the songs on "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is scary for real. Maybe they are scary songs with a funny side to them.

SA: Can you explain me something about the way you feel the live-set? Don’t you think that, often, lap top boys are not so involving, from a performing point of view? & what about coming in Italy? Let me know if you pass near Bologna!

V: to me playing live has always been important especially before releasing music because it is a way to have people hear my music and I still like playing concerts for same reason. I am not an entertainer but I have been thinking a lot about performing live and this has also influenced the development of tools I use to compose music. Ideas about improvising with computer is very exiting to me and I am working with ways to treat the computer sequencer as a mechanical instrument. I hope that when the artist is involved with the creation of the music it is a good experience for listeners. Some day a Voks concert will be a good experience. And I would like to play more in Europe and I never visited Italy so that could be fun. I hope I can do some touring with friends some time.

SA: I’m curious about the origins of the sounds you use: toy instruments or traditional ones? Computer, synth, tapes or other kinds of machines? I really like the balance between different kinds of sound you use, and also the balance between irony and melancholia.

V: many of the sounds I use for "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is from libraries from old tracker software that I used to make music with (the opening songs on "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is made with tracker software 8 years ago) and many is ripped from shareware games as this was an easy way for me to get samples earlier. I put them on my new computer and started doing music using these sounds. I was not so concerned with sound as with composition and for "Vaks Vanskab Ak" the sounds were just a way to embody the melodies and rhythms and structures I do.

SA: Sometimes it sounds as if you would like people dancing while they listen to your songs.. Do you project something more dancey, or do you simply think they should dance now, too?

V: dancing is closely connected to music for me. My music is in a way made for dancing but "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is the least danceable music I have made. I think new Voks will be more dancing music because I like dance music a lot.

SA: Differently from other musicians, your work sounds as if it's referring to a traditional melodic universe, more than to a pop one. I’m asking this because I’ve read the definition "perfect pop music"... What about it?

V: melodies of pop music are not interesting to me but I think my music is pop music because it is short melodic songs. Pop not because it is popular but because it’s entertaining and fun to me. Perfect pop music is something Dekorder called "Vaks Vanskab Ak".

SA: Would you define your music as "broken toys music"?

V: i'm not completely sure what you mean. I used to do music with toys instruments but not on "Vaks Vanskab Ak". Sequencing recordings of toy instruments was the way I first got into doing computer music

SA: There are not so many news about you.. So I'll ask you the obvious: in your past, it is known your work with goodiepal, in the present your debut album. Tell me more! And what about the future? Are you thinking of other collaborations?

V: I did release some music on v/vms goodiebag/demonbag series. One song is a remix of a Steua song. Steua is another Danish artist who only released on the goodiepal 7". That is the closest I have come to doing music with other people.Also you can also download songs by both Voks and goodiepal on the weblabel datamusik.dk. Datamusik is a label by the group Datanom who for many years have done concerts and other events with electronic art in Copenhagen and I have played concerts and released music with them. You can look at datanom.com if you are interested. Besides that I have worked with a small Danish label called Edward Davenport which doesn’t exist anymore. I made a minimal techno ep called "tre små spøgelseshistorier" meaning "three small ghoststories" and also had an album ready to release with them but this never happened. the first song on "Vaks Vanskab Ak" is from that album. I don’t have many plans for future to tell about besides doing an album sooner or later. In October I will do some touring in usa when visiting a friend there. That’s about it.

SA: Do you like Felix Kubin? The reason why I'm asking this, is that f.k. Is the first musician you made me think about, the first time I listened to your music.

V: i’m sure I will like Felix Kubin but I only know little about him so I will try and listen more to his music.

SA: another thing I really loved is your cover: who made it? It's a kind of totentanz, and I found it perfectly fitting with the music inside..

V: I made the cover myself to show the way I want my music to be heard. A bit oldfashioned.. Byebye.