Sometimes you spend weeks trying to pin down an artist for a chat, and Date of Birth was definitely one of those cases. Between studio sessions, their generally laid-back Norwegian approach to scheduling, and what I suspect was some deliberate dodging on their part, it took some serious persistence. But… we finally made it happen, and I’m glad we did because these two have something pretty interesting going on.

If you haven’t heard of them yet, Date of Birth is this duo from Bergen — Birgitta Alida Hole and Pablo Tellez. Both are pretty seasoned musicians who decided to team up and create something that sounds like The Beach Boys had a late-night conversation with Pink Floyd over way too much coffee. Their debut single “Sunshine Girl” just dropped via Brilliance Records, and here’s the thing – it sounds happy, right? Wrong. Well, sort of wrong. It’s complicated.

photo by Synne S.B. Bønes

What makes these two special is how they bring real depth to their retro influences. Birgitta’s got proper classical training from the Grieg Academy and has been making waves with her solo stuff and bands like Strange Hellos. Pablo’s been around the Norwegian music scene for years as the bassist for Young Dreams and John Olav Nilsen & Nordsjøen — two bands that basically helped define modern Norwegian pop. So when they say they’re bringing together orchestral pop and psychedelia, they actually know what they’re talking about. They write and record everything themselves in their studio in Bergen Kjøtt, which gives them complete creative control.

We’re gonna talk about how you take classical music training and mix it with modern pop without it sounding like some pretentious art school project. How they work in their Bergen studio, what it’s like being musicians in Norway’s music scene, and why songs about sunshine can actually be pretty dark. Also, I’m curious about this whole “it took six years to get back to the original version” thing. That’s either really deep artistic integrity or complete overthinking. We’ll find out which one.

Hello Birgitta & Pablo, thank you for taking the time to speak with me! “Sunshine Girl” sounds very vintage, but not in that aggressive synth-pop vein that dominated the 70s — there’s more dreamy psychedelia here. There’s something of that wave that’s currently experiencing a renaissance. Was this a conscious attempt to recreate that era, or did you simply discover that your melodies naturally fall into this aesthetic?

Hello Indie Boulevard! So happy to speak with you, thanks for the lovely questions.
We don’t sit down thinking “let’s make 60s/70s-inspired music.” We just create what feels natural, and somehow it always ends up sounding kind of retro. That probably has a lot to do with our musical upbringing — both our fathers are Beatles fans, and we grew up surrounded by the classics: The Beatles, The Beach Boys, ABBA, Bee Gees, The Doors, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd… all timeless music. We’re also both drawn to vintage aesthetics — clothes, design, sounds — but we like mixing it with the contemporary. That combination, staying true to what feels right for us, shapes both our music and our visuals.

I was struck by the fact that “Sunshine Girl” was written six years ago but has only now seen the light of day. During that time, you rewrote the lyrics several times, but ultimately returned to the original version. Could you tell me about what exactly made you realise that the original version was the right one?

This song has been a long journey — at times we loved it, other times we hated it. The melody and chords always stayed the same, but the lyrics kept changing. We tried different versions, even tried recording in another key, but nothing felt natural. In the end, we went back to the original lyrics from the very first night. They might have felt “too easy” at the time, but they carried the raw emotion of that moment when both music and words came together. That purity couldn’t be recreated. Once we accepted that, re-recorded the vocals, and stopped overthinking, it finally felt complete.

You record all your music at Bergen Kjøtt — this studio that seems to have become your creative sanctuary. In “Sunshine Girl,” one can hear that the arrangements are very detailed — lots of layers, interesting textures. Is this the result of long studio experiments, or do you have a clear vision of the sound before you even enter Bergen Kjøtt?

We usually start with a demo on a laptop, where a lot of arrangement ideas appear right away. From there, Pablo develops the production with a clear vision, but it’s always an intuitive, playful process. For instance, he could sit for hours just listening to the song over and over again, with new sounds and arrangements popping up in his head as if they had been there all along. When we brought the track to Jørgen for mixing, we gave him all of the project tracks and told him to take full creative freedom. He’s like the third member of Date of Birth on this record — a true wizard who knows how to capture our sound. Some songs come together quickly, but “Sunshine Girl” took the longest in every stage — writing, arranging, recording, mixing — before it reached its final form.

photo by Synne S.B. Bønes

I won’t hide the fact that “Sunshine Girl” clearly draws inspiration from the psychedelic aesthetics of the 60s-70s, yet sounds absolutely contemporary. Psychedelia is currently experiencing another revival. What do you think modern psychedelia as a genre can offer today’s listener that wasn’t present in the original movement half a century ago?

We think what modern psychedelia offers today is really a continuation of that same urge to push boundaries—but with tools that didn’t exist fifty years ago. Now we’ve got advanced plugins and virtual instruments, like being able to load a symphony orchestra at our fingertips as a VST. A lot of those plugins are based on the old hardware from back then, but the big difference is that today you can use them in ways that would’ve been either impossible or just insanely time-consuming in the 60s.
At the same time, modern psychedelia isn’t tied just to rock or folk anymore. It pulls influences from electronic music, hip-hop, ambient, world music—you name it. That gives today’s artists a much wider palette of sounds to play with. So compared to the original movement, which was groundbreaking in its time, we think today’s psychedelia can give listeners both the vintage vibe and the almost limitless creative possibilities of modern technology.

I understand that you have a debut album on the horizon, and I can’t help but ask — how representative is “Sunshine Girl” of all the material? Will the album explore the same themes of alienation and hope, or will we hear a broader emotional spectrum?

“Sunshine Girl” is the heart of the album. It was the first song written and marked a new beginning for us. It shines a little light on the different directions the record takes. The album explores darker, more surreal and psychedelic moments, alongside poppier and even folk-inspired songs. Themes of alienation and hope run throughout, but we also dive into heavier subjects — existential questions, mental health, grief, relationships, reconciliation, and love. It’s a record with plenty of darkness, but always with glimpses of hope and comfort.

Bergen has a reputation as one of Norway’s most creative musical centres. Does the local scene influence your work? Do you feel part of some specific movement, or conversely, do you strive to stand out against what’s happening around you?

We don’t think too much about fitting into a scene — we just make the music we want. That said, Bergen has definitely influenced us. We’ve been part of this community for years, worked with many musicians here, and drawn inspiration from them. It’s a city full of creativity.

Birgitta, you have the Grieg Academy behind you and your own project Birgitta Alida, whilst Pablo is the bassist from Young Dreams and John Olav Nilsen & Nordsjøen! Essentially, Date of Birth is a meeting of two already established artists. Isn’t there a temptation to bring too much from your previous projects into this new music?

Of course there’s overlap — that’s inevitable — but each project has its own soul. Birgitta Alida is more feminine, dreamy, orchestral, exploring love and dreams. Date of Birth is darker, rawer, heavier, more psychedelic and experimental. Sometimes we even write songs that clearly don’t belong to Date of Birth but to Birgitta Alida, and that project will continue too. Everything we do feeds into each other in some way, but Date of Birth has its own distinct identity.

Date of Birth is quite a symbolic name for a project. On one hand, it could refer to the beginning of something new; on the other, to nostalgia for the past, to specific dates and memories. How did this name for the duo come about? Were there other options?

We were stuck on band names until one day Pablo saw “date of birth” on a form he was filling out and it just clicked. It felt right immediately — both as a marker of a new beginning and as a nod to the past.

How do you approach creating melodies? Is it an intuitive process, or are there certain principles you follow?

Very intuitive. Often it starts with Birgitta telling a story she’s passionate about. Pablo gets inspired and begins shaping chords and melodies. Birgitta fills in melodies, writes lyrics and so on. The music inspires the lyrics and the lyrics inspire the music. It’s a circle, and we just melt into it together.

Norway has given the world many interesting artists — from a-ha to more contemporary projects. But it often seems that Norwegian music is undervalued on the world stage, especially when compared to the Swedish or Danish scenes. What do you think is unique about the Norwegian approach to music? And do you see potential for Date of Birth to reach beyond the Scandinavian market?

Norway has an incredible indie and music scene. We don’t really know what our audience is yet, but we’ve been surprised by how much response we’ve gotten from the UK. Since The Beatles are such a big influence for us, maybe that explains why British listeners connect with us. We’d love to tour there — hopefully as soon as next year.

*Promoted content. All information provided is prepared in accordance with editorial standards and is intended to offer useful insights for readers.