Regardless of meeting for the first time each time, Thor and I would talk for hours about music, music in South Africa, music in the world, music in film and then film in music.
I forget how many more times I really met Thor but not long after these conversations would turn into a great friendship and become our usual. In years to come, we’d intertwine ourselves in the local Cape Town music scene with various different projects, often frequenting the same places and achieving the same successes. We’d discuss how we were to make a name for ourselves doing what we love. I remember taking to my own projects, a mirror of how Thor would take to his. I saw Thor do the unexpected and surprise his audiences in performances, then again in his music. The most important mirror, however, has been Thor’s outlook and confidence in doing what he says and wants. The difference between us here was how we showed this confidence: Thor was confident in his ability to create or at least try everything. Where I was often, maybe only confident in the ability to show confidence.
Thor has a can-do attitude to creativity. This is what sets him apart from other independent artists following their dreams. Unlike myself at times, he is no pessimist.
On a recent call with the CEC team he confirmed this with me:
“Life is short, just do what you want to do in this life because one day you’re gonna get old and maybe not be able to? Then look back and think f**k I wish I’d done that!.. If you just take it in little bits, just start…don’t care what anyone thinks, do what YOU want to do and enjoy yourself whilst doing it. It’s cheesy basic stuff! But I stand by it.”
Talent and hard work aside, he believes in the process and the enjoyment of creating.
You see this enjoyment through his social media presence (something that he has said causes him great anxiety).
Thor shares his adoration for his gear: from live-set synth builds to his camera gear he is using on his latest films and videos.
Best we believe that it’s not all about the process with Thor, as we’ve come to know with the sheer amount of work he’s released in the past 10 years, from multiple genre bending albums to two short films with longtime collaborator and Checked Zebra frontman: Rob Smith.
Thor and I separated from each other for a bit as he broke away from the Cape Town scene and took to his art to the world, more specifically, Berlin.
In his own words, why he left;
“Within certain genres of South Africa you hit a certain ceiling and there are only so many festivals and places you can play before you’ve done them all and you’ve done them all three or four times. You have to leave, you have to travel, you have to spread your music to other audiences and any artist who’s been doing it for a certain amount of time will reach that point I feel, and find that they have to move.”
I met up again with Thor recently when he visited Cape Town this past summer. Selfishly I’d hoped my creative sparring partner had decided to finally return home but alas he’d come to avoid a very cold Berlin in lockdown and to work on another film project. We hear whispers of a feature.
Unfortunately, Thor is not returning home anytime soon.
When asked; “When I first got here I was blown away, the city was like a festival, the streets were filled with artists and people constantly making connections and making stuff together, it was incredible”
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