We’re happy to be speaking today with acclaimed Swedish/American indie-pop duo extraordinaire, 7000apart; greetings and salutations, you two! Before we dive into the proverbial Q&A mosh-pit, could you each say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?

Hi! My name is Jon Kresin, I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin and am a giant nerd. I like Star Wars a little too much. I’ve always been a very emotional guy who ended up putting all of his feelings into Music to help deal with life. 

Hey! I’m Amelie Eiding, originally from Stockholm, Sweden, but now I’m a dual citizen (Sweden + USA). Besides singing I do voice acting and I love cozy games, traveling, photography & being around the people I love. 

Major plaudits and kudos on the freshly-minted new single White Noise which is set to burn up record charts when it’s released into the world this July 14! Jon, what was the genesis on this incredible new tune?

Why thank you very much. I think it’s already in the top 10 (that’s wishful thinking maybe). This song was our first video chat co-write written in the middle of 2020 during the world pandemic, black lives matter protests, and in the middle of a very intense news cycle. It felt like life was just way too much to the point where it just felt like static in our heads. It was impossible for us to focus on anything. It feels like when you’re threatened in life by lots of chaos you choose to either fight, run away, or freeze. During the writing of this song I think we went through all three.  

Amelie, you and Jon wrote White Noise alongside Jade Ell. What was that collaboration like?

As Jon said, it was our first video chat co-write, but we always know we are in such good hands with Jade. She’s written with some of the most amazing songwriters and artists from Sweden and beyond like RBD, Diego Boneta, Dotter and Clara Mae. She’s actually the one who really taught us how to co-write and the songs always come very naturally. I actually had to leave in the middle of the co-write because I was struggling with my mental health. The “white noise” in my head became too much and I couldn’t focus anymore. Luckily, Jon and Jade kept going and were able to finish the song. 

Jon, speaking of collaborations, what was your collaboration process in the studio like with the producer of White Noise?

Well, I ended up co-producing most of it in our studio in Stockholm, Sweden along with Amelie. I messed around with a lot of different soundscapes, plugins, and samples to make it have an 80’s feel, but still feel like modern pop, too. Once we felt pretty happy with it we sent it online from Sweden to our incredible producer in Nashville, Femke, who really helps us to take what we record and elevate it to a higher level. She then works as the mixing engineer and then we have a mastering engineer in Sweden, named Georg Arvidsson. 

Amelie, what differentiates White Noise from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?

With 60,000+ songs being uploaded a day it’s less about “sticking out” and more about making music that is really honest and resonates with people to create a community around it. We are very passionate about mental health and wanted to focus on our own journey and struggles with White Noise. 

Jon, how did 7000apart come together as the incredibly tight duo that we hear on White Noise?

Amelie and I met in high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin my senior year when she was a foreign exchange student from Stockholm, Sweden back in 2012. We met in music theory class and became friends over music. Then we realized we wanted to be more than friends, dated all of senior year, but then had to decide if we wanted to break up or stay together and try long-distance. We ended up trying long-distance, but were forced to date 3 years when we were 7000 kilometers away from each other with a 7 hour time difference. We made super bad YouTube videos on 2014 quality internet for those years, got married in 2016, moved to the U.S.A., had 8 jobs between the two of us until we could do music full time in 2021, and have now played over 500 shows since 2017. So, basically what I’m saying is we’ve had a lot of struggles to get this far, but the struggles make for a pretty cool-sounding backstory, right?

Amelie, how is White Noise similar to 7000apart’s debut record We Are More? How is it different?

White Noise is similar to We Are More in the way that it is still very vocal focused and it has a good bass line, like “Get Back Up Again” from the first album. There are some nice three-part harmonies and the song has that very hopeful vibe even though it’s about a struggle. It’s knowing that no feeling is final and that the hard times are temporary. 

For differences, it’s much more elevated and developed as a pop song. We purposefully made our first album very simple and clean in the production so we would have space to grow and have something to look back on that felt more timeless. For this album we allowed ourselves to be more influenced by modern music production, but we hope that we can look back on this in a few decades and still be really proud of it. 

Jon: With the release of the new single, can fans look forward to an EP or LP release from 7000apart before the end of 2023?

Yeah! “White Noise” is the first single from our upcoming EP “Feel Your Feelings – Side B”. This EP is the second half of our full-length album “Feel Your Feelings”. We are aiming for the new EP to come out this Fall! 

Amelie, what does the touring/performing dance card look like for you and Jon in the wake of the impending release of White Noise?

We are right now on our “Feel Your Feelings” U.S.A Summer Tour where we are playing around 90 dates between May-September. We absolutely love performing and we are mostly playing in Jon’s home state of Wisconsin. The live scene is actually really awesome during the Summer with lots of music series and festivals. We also just got a van for the band and made a lot of sound/lighting upgrades for this tour that have made it a really exciting and fun time. 

A question for both of you: Who inspires you musically?

Hey, Jon here, and for me I’ve been inspired mostly by musicians named Jon. No, but I grew up with the Christian Contemporary Music scene with Jon Foreman from Switchfoot, John Cooper from Skillet, and a lot of the other artists in that community. That really impacted me as a kid. Now, I’m very inspired by all the writers and producers who work regularly on the Billboard Top 100 in the past and present. People like Julia Michaels, Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, Twenty One Pilots, Ed Sheeran, Max Martin, and honestly countless more. I love great songs both lyrically and musically. 

For me, Amelie, my main inspirations growing up were Amy Lee from Evanescence and Hayley Williams from Paramore. Now the music I listen to is a lot broader than just female-fronted rock bands. I’m always partial to great singers like Adele, Sara Bareilles, Jessie J, Maria Mena and Loreen, but for White Noise we were really inspired by Fickle Friends and Claire Rosinkranz. 

Jon, what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving White Noise copious spins on their respective hi-fi systems?

We made a song that is maybe a hard subject while being clothed in a good groove and nice vibe. So, most importantly I hope that it’s a good vibe for summer and makes people feel a little bit less alone. Even if that’s just by dancing to White Noise in their kitchen.