In the week that The FACT Centre on Wood Street unveiled its latest exhibition, The Art of Pop video, I was able to meet up with Norwegian musician and photographer Grethe Borsum and spend time with her talking about her new musical venture and her inspired video for the song Apple Picking. The talented and charming woman from Baerum near Oslo came to Liverpool in 2003 and attended L.I.P.A and received a B.A. in Music and Performing Arts.

Now working with her new band, The Vinos, Grethe has spent time alongside her fellow Norwegian Kaya Herstad Carney in the brilliant Science of the Lamps and the Tim Wheeler produced rock band Pop Factory. Recently she went to Thailand as part of project for her mother and as she has family over there who divide their time between Thailand and Norway it was also a thrill to spend time in the exotic country amongst relatives.

The Art of Pop Video is a celebration of a culture that for nearly 40 years has gone hand in hand with music, as part of a visual counterbalance to the narrative beauty on offer. With the music from the video’s close by we talked for a while about music from the past before going onto her new venture.

It seems appropriate that we are inside the FACT Centre because of all the music videos that are playing around us as part of their The Art of Pop Video exhibition as you celebrate your new single Apple Picking and the superb video. 

“Absolutely, thank you.”

What was the idea behind your video?

“Well basically I was away in Thailand for a project and whilst there we met these amazing Kathoys, also known as Lady Boys that were doing a fantastic evening show and I said we have to use them again, they are beautiful what can I do? So we rebooked them, re-hired them to come and dance for us and created this scene for them to dance around in the music video. That was a fun part of the music video.”

It is a superb video and it plays around with the idea of gender as well, turning the song on its head slightly. The song takes you one way and then you see the video and it misdirects you.

“The wonderful thing about the Lady Boys is that were so beautiful and they wanted to show off all the time, it was wonderful to see that feeling of expression that they had and it is never obvious in the video that they are Lady Boys, it is just there and if you see it then you do and that’s the whole point as they were sexual and beautiful and who were they not to express themselves the way they wanted to.

In that respect it works in both senses, when we were talking earlier we were saying about if you see a good music video but you can’t remember the lyrics then does that lower or demean the work, on the other hand hearing great lyrics can bring back the vision of the video to you and then that enhances the enjoyment and you get that with your video.

“Yes, I hope so. What better way to have the image of a ladies man but by a video filled with Lady Boys (laughs).”

Well an obvious congratulations to you on the video and of course on the new venture. Was it a hard decision to go in a new direction?

“It was both scary and exciting at the same time, I feel very safe with my band members, Ian Riley, Tim Dale and Joel Kent. I felt very comfortable in this new venture, it feels just right.”

Where do you see this direction taking you?

“Hopefully as good as we can get it. I would love for us to tour around Europe and expand to wherever people want to hear our music. I just want to see how people respond and I hope they respond well.”

With your Nordic background and I know that you are a fan of a certain Liverpool band, how do you feel that has crossed over into your life and music?

“I think it has had a massive impact absolutely, I am first and foremost amazed at how open Liverpool is to music and how, especially with The Beatles, how you can write a song about anything, you could say there are no rules but they created the rules as well. It is what we now study for our degrees in the Universities is what they did for fun. You can go anywhere in Liverpool and get a gig, there are so many venues, arts festivals on but you can go to other places, other cities and it’s harder to get in. In Liverpool it is open for everyone and that is why I have stayed in Liverpool for as long as I have because it is such an inspiring city. You have venues that are simply made for bands in Liverpool. We have been asked to do gigs in Liverpool where they say can you do a few covers as well and I say no (laughs) I don’t want to compromise. I feel if you want to see covers then you should go and see the real act or go home and play the great music on your stereo.

If you are making that cover your own with your own slant on it as part of a project then it’s cool but when I see bands doing it exactly the same way as part of their set then I think be brave and show that your own music is worth listening too. Now I know people want to go out and enjoy themselves and quite rightly it is about making the audience happy as well as yourself but you’re supposed to be drawing them in and inspiring them with your music, that’s why you are playing it isn’t it?”

Your music surprises me, when I listen to music from your part of the world, Sweden, The Faroe Islands, the Nordic countries there is a fairy tale like wonderful quality to it, you seem to have gone in a different direction.

“Yes I have, I don’t want to be labelled as “There is that Nordic girl”. It is part of who I am but I, especially with the new band, with this project now I wanted to have a little bit of fun and try to inspire people with energetic songs that at the same time are about self esteem/self-worth issues, about how you see yourself and even with this song Apple picking, there is a lot of depth and layers in between if you really listen to the lyrics, that’s how I wanted to present it and wanted people to feel entertained by it and then you shoot them with the message.”

You are also an accomplished photographer; do you see that as an extension of your art?

“Well yes. With the music video we made it was, apart from a few friends helping out with the filming part of it, I was filming the majority of it with my camera and gear and I edited the video and finalised it. I always feel that what I do in music is completely linked with what I do visually as well. With being a free-lance photographer at the same time as a musician has never felt like choosing one over the other, it always feels like it is together, now with the band, The Vinos, I feel like we are finding our way in using both the music and film.”

You can find out more about Grethe Borsum and her work at Gretavisions (photography) and follow her band on facebook.com/thevinosmusic. The video can be viewed on Youtube at http://youtu.be/oN4x3O_Oec0

Ian D. Hall