Review Fix Exclusive: State of Sea’s James Craft Talks Origin, Goals and Debut EP, Illusions

Review Fix chats with State of Sea’s James Craft, who discusses the group’s debut EP, “Illusions.”

About State of Sea:

State of Sea is a Danish-American group composed of three music veterans: James Craft, Anna Roemer and Anna Scharling. The trio has combined the ‘Nordic sound’ with traditional American songwriting and draws from electronica and folk to create State of Sea’s unique, ambient sound. Illusions stands out with guitar, piano, vocals, strings, percussion and touches of synthesizer. State of Sea’s name references the most secretive place on earth: the sea. The EP was inspired from group’s fantasies of Edward Snowden’s experience while fleeing to Russia. The musical collaboration has imagined both a musical and creative journey of traveling between borders and into new, sonic landscapes.

Review Fix: How did the band get together?

James Craft: We met through a common friend who James studied with at USC.  Lasse knew Anna Roemer in Copenhagen, and because of James’ songwriting background he connected them. We wrote a demo on a lark and enjoyed the song and the process so much that we decided to collaborate further and create an album.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Craft: I started piano at 5 years old and started songwriting at 16. I haven’t looked back since. Roemer: Started playing guitar by the age of 9 – I had to learn chords differently cause my hands were so small;) The Beatles and Oasis took me with the storm and still does alongside so many other stuff. I love everything about it.

Review Fix: What are your influences?

Craft: As songwriting goes, I would say the most basic influences are The Beatles and Bob Dylan. I know it sounds cliche but it’s true! From there, everything from PJ Harvey to Indian classical music.  it just doesn’t stop. Roemer – I totally agree: The classical songwriting coming from The Beatles, Neil Young, Dylan has a big impact on me. As to the more ambient sound on the album, we draw from Scandinavian bands like Sigur Ros, Björk, and bands like Slowdive and Talk Talk.

Review Fix: What is your stand-out track on this EP? How was it written?

Craft: I would say the two stand out tracks are Eyes Wide Open and Dawn Over Iceland.  Eyes Wide Open lyrics were written by Anna Scharling. If I’m correct, Anna Roemer came up with a really cool riff on her guitar during one of the first rehearsals, and Anna Scharling started singing the melody over it. Then, when we took a break Anna Scharling wrote the rest of the lyrics out. James helped with forming and lyrical sculpting.

I wrote the melody, lyrics, and harmonies on paper for Dawn Over Iceland during the early morning once he landed in Copenhagen. Anna Roemer came up with the guitar part and the vibe and wrote the instrumental outro. Anna Scharling added to the richness of the tune, and gave instrumentation and vocal input, and helped form the song.

Review Fix: What makes your brand of music special?

Craft: It’s a really unique blend of ambient the Scandinavian feel with lyrical based songwriting. The way Anna Roemer plays her guitar and chooses her sound creates an evocative distinction as I and Anna Scharling blend their voices in a unique way.

Review Fix: Why do you think people should enjoy it?

Craft: The album is about reaching into the unknown, and discovering something new while leaving one’s home behind. We think everyone can relate to that in some way.  The album essentially is about change which we think is an inescapable topic for us all.

It’s also the expression of three very experienced musicians from different parts of the world creating something unique together. It’s a pure expression of where we were at the time, and an honest blend of three creative lives.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Craft: Hopefully, they will have time to check out of reality for a few minutes and be in the atmosphere, the vibe, the story of the songs. Most of them are very mellow.

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018?

Craft: To keep writing music! To keep sharing what we’ve done. And to always, above all, love the process.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Craft: To share this album and let people enjoy it as much as possible.  We are open to working on something new but aren’t really addressing that right now. All three of us love where we all live. Anna R. and Anna S. love visiting and working in L.A., and I love the feel and inspiration of Copenhagen, so it’s a win-win. Hopefully, we’ll continue to find reasons to visit and work together!

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Craft: The album is inspired by not just our lives, but the life of Edward Snowden; in particular, what it was like for those few days leaving what he knew behind to fly into the unknown. Literally.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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