Love Sugar Show: Inside the Music of Yelena Eckemoff | Jazz, Emotion & Artistic Vision

Alex Li: [rock music] My name is Alex. I have a YouTube and Instagram channel for Love Sugar. So, I want to thank everyone for joining us for today’s show. We have a lot of awesome questions to go over, and just a lot of fun things to come. So, thank you for joining me for the interview.
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah, thank you for your interest.
Alex Li: So, the first question I ask anyone I ever interview is, “How’s everything going?” not just in your musical life, but also in your personal life.
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. Well, I’m very blessed, I would say, because even though I’m a woman, but I got it all. I have to say, of course, that I had to sacrifice a lot of years to raise my family. I think I’m very successful, because I can have a family and a music career. Even though my career may have suffered because I had to split my time between family and music, I’ve been composing all along. Even though I couldn’t go on stage and perform and do other things, I never stopped my musical work. So, I think it’s going great. [laughs]
Alex Li: Well, family is really important, I think you definitely win there. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Yes.
Alex Li: So now that the album’s already out, released, I have to ask, how does it feel now that you know it’s done, it’s out?
Yelena Eckemoff: I think there’s a lot of interest in this particular album. I mean, I release albums every year, and sometimes I expect a lot of interest, and I’m a bit disappointed, and sometimes I don’t expect that much of interest, and I receive more feedback than I expected. So yeah, I think this one is going really well. There is already a bunch of good publicity. I’m happy with how it’s been going. [laughs]
Alex Li: For sure. So normally I listen to metal and stuff, but when I listened to this album, I’m like, “This is so nice.” It was so relaxing, it was just very beautiful, and I feel I haven’t listened to an album like this in a while, so I’m “I really miss this type of music.” [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: This is basically what excites me the most. I did realize, and David Brennan told me that you interview metal bands, and I checked out your YouTube channel. It’s very nice. But I think, I am different. But that’s why it’s even more exciting for me that you expressed interest and said you’ll interview me. I appreciate it.
Alex Li: Yeah. My musical taste, honestly, is anywhere from classical to ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s heavy metal. So, when I listen to this, I’m like, “Wow, this is really nice.” It was very calming, I don’t know, it just put me in a peaceful mood. Is that something that you are trying to do intentionally in this album?
Yelena Eckemoff: Oh well, comparing my even most active tracks, to heavy metal, or to some fusion tracks, for example, you cannot do, because even my most active tracks sound more relaxing than that… [laughs] [laughs] So it’s because it is based, of course, on classical music, as I’ve been trained as a classical pianist. I think all that influence of Bach and Mozart and Chopin and Beethoven and all those classical composers is in my blood. It’s in me. So, when I compose, I don’t try to compose in a certain style. In my head, in my soul, there are all those influences that I hear, and sometimes I hear something different, and get influenced … Everybody’s influenced by something, always.
Alex Li: Yeah.
Yelena Eckemoff: So, influences are processed through everything. It’s a tea strainer, right? You strain your tea, leaving all the leaves behind, and the tea is in the cup. So that’s how the influences are processed, in my case. Even though I was raised as a classical musician in professional schools, I became interested in other styles, including pop, rock, and jazz, and everything. Not every classical musician is interested in other styles. It’s [laughs] was my path, I guess. I was interested and started studying those styles, even though I didn’t understand them at first.
Alex Li: Yeah. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: It was really funny. When I first bought the little vinyl of the Beatles and put it on [laughs] my turntable, the drums started… I think it was ‘Let It Be’ or ‘I Can’t Buy Love’ or something like that, by the Beatles, and I got scared. I didn’t turn it off; I just went to another room [laughs] [laughs] because I was intimidated. [laughs] [laughs] But anyway, I wanted to understand why people like that kind of music.
Alex Li: Okay, the thought process behind it. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. I thought maybe, well, if people really like that music, they cannot be all wrong. Maybe I am wrong, and I don’t know why they do it.

Alex Li: [laughs] I totally get you, though. Maybe I’ll get canceled over saying this, but I’m not a huge fan of The Beatles. I don’t understand their music, but I know a lot of people do, and that’s okay. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Some people are open-minded, and some are close-minded. I have always been open-minded. I get a lot of influence from different styles, and every album I do is a bit different. You’ll probably like all my albums, but I would recommend the previous year’s release, ‘Scenes from the Dark Ages’. That’s more into prog rock than this current one. It’s based on medieval times. Even though I didn’t use any medieval tunes, I composed all of tunes, but they have a medieval feel.

Alex Li: So, who inspired this album? Were there any CDs or artists that inspired you?
Yelena Eckemoff: Oh, no. Well, at this point, I’m not inspired to create an album by any other albums, musicians, or music. Now, I already know what I want. But the ‘Rosendals Garden’ is definitely a very Swedish album because it features Swedish musicians, was recorded in Sweden, and is about Sweden. So, the only non-Swedish person there is me. [laughs] [laughs] Everything else is Swedish. [laughs]
Alex Li: Yeah. And I want to talk about the studio that you chose. I actually didn’t know that Benny had his own studio. Was that intimidating to record there, or was it more inspiring?
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. Benny chose that piano, Fazioli, that I recorded on. He recorded his piano solo album on that piano, and there are videos of him playing it. When you are in a studio, even though there are some instruments that ABBA used, like a white synthesizer or whatever, you don’t really feel you are in the presence of ABBA or Benny Andersson.
Alex Li: Oh.
Yelena Eckemoff: But the way, the sound engineer Linn Fijal, Benny chose some years ago, to actually build that studio in a warehouse. So, he decided that she would manage it. She built that studio for him. She studied music engineering with his son, and basically, it’s why he chose her. In 2011, when we were in Denmark, we decided to take a wide loop through Sweden. We visited Stockholm, and we met with Linn. Wherever my husband and I go, we always check the studios [laughs]. She was younger, and we visited that studio, and then I talked to Svante Henderson, cellist and bassist, the same year, I think, and I really liked how he played his instruments, you know? And I thought maybe we could work together, but it never happened until 2024. In the back of my mind, I always had Svante Henryson as someone I was interested in as a musician. And then I just thought, maybe we can work together on the project, and then I thought, well, if we record together, we’re going to record in Sweden. And then he recommended the drummer, so I created the whole album for us. Well, I always conceptualize albums. For me, it’s storytelling, and it’s very important. I know music can be just music; you don’t have to know what it’s about, and yet I am really inspired by the images, feelings, and everything I try to express in my music. I process everything through myself and express it in the sounds, the best way I can. And when I thought about the concept of this album, of course I thought, well, I’m recording with Svante, finally I’m recording in Sweden. Why don’t I make a record about Sweden? Because we’ve been there quite a few times, and we’ve visited all those places that I could express musically. And I had feelings about all those places and experiences. So, there was a very logical way to [laughs] go about it.
Alex Li: So, when you were creating the album, were you thinking about these places that you visited in Sweden?
Yelena Eckemoff: We’ve been to the natural reserve, Storanden, for example. And it’s not open to the public. It’s closed to the public. It’s completely natural.
Alex Li: Oh.
Yelena Eckemoff: So, there’s a road going through it, which is closed to traffic. You could not drive on it. So, we walked, and it’s a very big place, and even though there is a road through, it’s complete wilderness.
Alex Li: Oh, wow. So, it has a natural feel, and it’s not touched by buildings, concrete, or anything like that?
Yelena Eckemoff: No, just that road, which was maybe used for a while, and then they closed it for some years. So, it’s completely wild. I was trying to express this in the music, all those sounds of nature and the feel. Do you have the physical CD?
Alex Li: I don’t, no.
Yelena Eckemoff: Oh. I mean, if you want, we can get you one.
Alex Li: Yes. I would love that. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Yes. Sure. I’m going to talk to David Brennan.
Alex Li: Awesome. I would love that. I’m old school, I love having the physical copies, but I know everything is digital nowadays. But you can’t match the feeling of that CD in your hand.
Yelena Eckemoff: No. It’s expensive, but I always produce physical CDs. Will try to do it for as long as I can afford it. You know, it’s getting more expensive. But if you want to, I can send you this one and ‘Scenes from the Dark Ages’.
Alex Li: That would be awesome. I love adding stuff to my collection. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Sure. And so, I have the liner notes in that CD, which I wrote about each track. Not much, but I usually do storytelling, and some of my records are based on my stories.

Alex Li: Oh, wow.
Yelena Eckemoff: Like, ‘Adventures of the Wildflower’ is the story. ‘Lonely Man and His Fish’ is a story I wrote. But anyway, if I don’t have a coherent story, I might just do some kind of poetic notes about tracks. I mean, I don’t have to do this, but it excites me. So, about the package: painting the pictures for the artwork, and, of course, doing the music. Music is prior, of course. Everything else what I want to express with the album is done from different angles.
Alex Li: Honestly, I love that because it adds a little bit of customization, you get something extra. So that’s really cool. I love that you put that little personal touch on it. Is that something you’ve done from your first albums, or is it something new that you just started doing?
Yelena Eckemoff: My first several albums, I didn’t do that for, the writing about the tracks started from the ‘Glass Song’ album, which was released in 2013, I think. The promoter asked me, “Can you write something about each track?” And I did, and then he said, “Well, it sounds good.” I published it in the booklet, and then, in 2014, I recorded the ‘Lions’ album. And, it had a story also, the story of how I became a lioness.
Alex Li: Oh, okay. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: And how I lived with lions and how I saw their lives. [laughs] I was looking for a photograph, because my first album’s covers were photographs. The ‘Cold Sun’, ‘Grass Catching the Wind’, ‘Glass Song’. Nice photographs. But I couldn’t find anything that would work with ‘Lions’. I even went to the zoo, and we observed two lions there: a lion and a lioness. And I made pictures, but nothing really worked for my story. And then I decided to paint it with oils, because I do paint, not professionally, of course, but amateurly. I’ve always been painting, but not that often because I’m a musician. And I painted the cover for ‘Lions’. I don’t pretend to be a painter, an artist, you know. I’m just painting the way I can, you know. I don’t try to be original, or try to create something new. [laughs]
Alex Li: Yeah, for sure. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Well, I painted that ‘Rosendals Garden’ cover; it was the best I could do. [laughs]
Alex Li: Well, honestly, the great thing about art is that there are no rules. Sometimes I use a lip brush for my eyeshadow because it works. Like that, there are no rules in art. You can do whatever you want, and that’s the beautiful thing about it. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: I’m not an abstract artist, not in music, not in painting, not in anything. I’m not a hyperrealist either. I’m very professional in my music. I studied all the styles of classical music and other music genres. But so, I have great knowledge about all of it, but I’m not listening to avant-garde music even though I know it. I think it’s with avant-garde composer Sean Burke and others that classical music pretty much died. In my opinion, it’s just that there’s no way to go from that. It’s just a wall, a brick wall, and there’s no way of going backward too. The same, I think, happens with jazz when jazz becomes completely noise.
Alex Li: Yeah.
Yelena Eckemoff: I think it’s a death of it. There are maybe people who like it, but I’ve never met anyone who does. [laughs]
Alex Li: That’s true. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve met anyone, either. I love classical music. I love all of the old stuff, Vivaldi and Beethoven. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Well, and because there’s a melody, there’s a logic in it, there’s a feeling in it. But when the saxophone player starts blowing whatever comes to mind, and the drummer does whatever comes to his head. There’s no logic, there‘s no feeling, there’s no image. There’s just noise, and I don’t know who might like it.
Alex Li: Yeah. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Maybe there are people who do. There’s always something for everybody, I guess. But I think it’s very important to have melody and harmony, and sometimes you might venture into more avant-garde-ish if it’s a free solo. But those things should not be the only things that you wear. They should be like jewelry, unusual things that you wear. You don’t dress yourself up with just jewelry and go out.
Alex Li: Yeah. And do you incorporate that when you’re creating the album as well?
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. There are a lot of free solos in the ‘Rosendals Garden.’
where we don’t play anything written. We just play freely and listen to each other. When I design my structures, I say, “Okay, in here we’re going to do a free solo.”
Alex Li: Yeah. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Free group solo. And not only on this album, but on almost all my albums, I have thisIt sounds more adventurous, a little bit more random, but it’s part of the bigger structure.
Alex Li: Yeah. [laughs] And I want to ask you about this photo behind me. This is actually from one of your photos.
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah.
Alex Li: I’ll step aside so everyone else can see.
Yelena Eckemoff: Yes, of course. [laughs] [laughs] This is in the ABBA Museum in Stockholm. And there is my track ‘ABBA Museum’. You know, we went there, and there is a photograph of the ABBA band. And there is a bench in front of it, so I sat on the bench, and my husband took that [laughs] photo. [laughs] So I think it’s cool. [laughs]
Alex Li: Well, it looks like you’re having fun. I didn’t know there was a museum. I feel that I should know that. I love ABBA. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah, and this is a very nice museum. If you ever go to Stockholm, make sure you visit because there’s so much information about ABBA there. And there’s music playing, videos, and all those actual things they had. I mean, there is the room that was made to look like their room. So, it’s very interesting. A lot of people go there; it’s actually very, very busy.
Alex Li: Yeah. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: So, people still pay tribute to ABBA. And listening to ABBA was one of my experiences when I was young. Growing up in Moscow, we had a very restricted pool of what came from the West. The Cold War West, made of the bad, bad countries, [laughs] enemy countries. So, you see, basically we didn’t have that kind of music. But still, people copied it to tapes; it was illegal, but they would [laughs] exchange tapes. So, even though this kind of music wasn’t really allowed or sold in stores, we did hear it. We did hear. Not everything, but a lot. So, I heard ABBA and always liked their melodies. To me, their bold melodies were the most attractive thing. And of course, their vigor, and the quality of their shows. Those shows were really impressive. It’s not my favorite music. But it’s something I really appreciated as part of different styles, and, of course, they were part of Sweden. You know, if I do an album about Sweden, how can I miss ABBA? I couldn’t miss it. [laughs]
Alex Li: Yeah. You definitely don’t want to miss that. [laughs]

Yelena Eckemoff: No.
Alex Li: So, I have one last question about the album. Are there any recurring emotions or life experiences that helped shape this album? Any sort of emotions or life experience that helped you create it?
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. Well, definitely it was the case. It’s about landmarks. It’s about places that are pretty well-known, except for Storanden Nature Reserve; probably no one outside the immediate area knows about it. And Rimbo, a small town close to that nature reserve. I have a ‘Sunrise in Rimbo’; I don’t think many Swedes know about Rimbo. It’s just a very small town. [laughs] Unfortunately, we never went to Sweden in the winter, which would be very interesting, you know?
Alex Li: Very cool. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: That would be cool, and also in the north, where you could see the Northern lights. But traveling from the United States in the winter is not a good idea because when inclement weather hits, you won’t go anywhere; you stay home. That’s why I don’t have the winter tracks. But most of my tracks are connected to pretty well-known places, which we visited. I did not write music about anything that I haven’t seen. For example, I didn’t write the ‘Northern Lights’ track [laughs] because I have not witnessed it myself.
Alex Li: Well, it sounds like a good idea for the next track. You have to at least see them. [laughs] [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Yeah. Well, maybe. [laughs] I don’t know. [laughs] Yeah, that would be cool. Alex Li: [laughs] For anyone who’s interested in checking out this album, the great thing is you guys don’t have to wait. I’ll link everything below so it’s super easy. It is from L&H Production, and it’s already out, and here’s a copy of the album if you guys want to see what it looks like. And I want to thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview.
Yelena Eckemoff: I thank you. I sell every record on Bandcamp, and it’s available in both physical and digital formats.

Alex Li: I will put that down below, too, so no one has any excuse. [laughs]
Yelena Eckemoff: Well, Alex, thank you so much. I was looking forward to talking to you. Because the people who follow your YouTube channel and other channels, they probably listen to metal. For me, this is very exciting if they try listening to some of my music to see if it’s something they might listen to all the time. [laughs] [laughs]
Alex Li: Well, I loved your record. I think it is very relaxing, and especially, you know, when you’re getting ready for bed, just listen to it. I loved it. The fact that someone composed it, that you brought all of this up, I’m like, “That’s amazing to me.” [rock music]