Eric Wahlforss, aka Forss, is one of Sonar Kollektiv's up and coming nu-jazz hopes, and the Stockholm based composer / producer has recently issued his 'Soulhack' debut album for the label. One listen to it, however, and you'll detect a lot more than jazz - this man clearly listens to breakbeat, classical, hip hop and much more as he splices up many a hook, whilst staying true to the spirit of free improvisation. We caught up with him to catch an insight to life and music towards the Arctic circle.

Gilles Peterson calls your music 'hooligan jazz'. Sounds painful!

For me, the most important elements of jazz are sweat, punk and pain!

Your debut album 'Soulhack' explores a wide range of textures and dynamics. Is this a conscious effort on your part?

Well, conscious or unconscious, depends on how you look at things. It's something I'm definitely conscious about, but when I produce things they somehow emerge without me being conscious about them.

The album seems to move between periods of breakneck energy and relative stillness. Is this an accurate reflection of your life?

To some extent it is, at least my musical life. Everybody says I'm impatient - and it's true, but I love the dynamics of music. The ability that music has to command your feelings - to make you dizzy and calm...

You've tried drum and bass, house and trip hop amongst other styles. Do you anticipate all of these playing a part in your future career?

The short answer is yes. I like all of it as long as it's good. But I hope at the same time that none of my future tracks will belong purely to one style or another...

How influential have Jazzanova been on your musical style?

They're great producers...I can't tell how heavy the influence has been. But i'm deeply in love with a few of their tracks still. The later stuff hasn't moved me too much though...

You stated that classical music played an important role in your discovery of music. Does this influence remain?

It gets stronger every day. I'm sampling more and more from classical music. My goal is to someday be able to play jazz and classical music on the piano myself.

What impact did Tresor have on you, and what was your first experience there?

Tresor...? The first time I was in Berlin? That was basically my first discovery of a real club, and my first experience was magical. I was sitting in the garden in the back talking to people most of the night. It was really nice and I was still 16 and in school :)

'Nu jazz', of which you could be called a disciple, has been criticized for over-indulgence and a 'coffee table and slippers' sound. Is this fair?

This is definitely fair, because that's what it's evolved into. I don't want to belong to this scene, that's for sure. The problem with jazz is that when you take it out of its context and sort remediate it, the result can get very bland and boring. Jazz easily gets very clean and predictable both sound- and harmonywise. It's "jazzy" but it's not jazz.

How much of a part does improvisation play in your recorded music?

As I'm producing in a digital environment, I definitely "improvise" in a very different way. But yes, good workflow is essential to my way of producing, because it enables me to improvise by adding musical elements ad-hoc, but sometimes I deliberately fake an improvisational feeling, by randomly moving stuff around. That's something which is needed every now and then in the super clean sounding studios of today. It's strange that it seems you can reverse engineer some soul back into music!

Do you DJ regularly?

No, but I do DJ every now and then, usually only at smaller parties for friends or so.

Who did you last see live and were they any good?

I saw The Roots at Montruex Jazz Festival (where I played myself), and they were really good. They pulled an amazing drum solo at the end which I really loved. Simple but perfect. They also inspired me to bring more elements into my live performances.

What’s the club scene like in Stockholm?

Not very inspiring, and as for the music scene I've tried to find somebody to produce with the whole Spring but had no luck.

The internet is central to your artistic development. Do you see this as the way forward, eclipsing CDs in the future?

Yep. It has to happen, but nobody knows how. Check my website for a recent text I wrote on the subject ( http://forss.to/feed/ )