Introducing: Fig Tape

With a huge co-sign from Zane Lowe and early support from Notion, Wonderland, and Spotify, Norwegian indie-electronic riser Fig Tape steps into the spotlight with his debut album Forcefed Serenity. Blending shoegaze haze, jungle rhythms, and punk grit, the record captures the chaos of growing up online — overstimulated, self-aware, and still chasing calm. We sat down with Fig Tape to talk about existential overload, creative catharsis, and why true serenity might be the hardest thing to find.

1. Zane Lowe has given you a huge co-sign—what does that kind of recognition mean at this stage of your career, and how has it shaped your confidence going into Forcefed Serenity?

Getting the recognition from Zane has been wild. I remember the first time he featured my song ‘’Take A Walk’’ from my 2024 EP on his Apple Music radio show. It was on a trip to Spain with a lot of friends that also do music. During one of the days I got tagged in an Instagram story from his co-host, Hanuman Welch, showing us that I got featured in their show. My co-manager even bought Apple Music subscription just to listen to that episode, and those kind words will never be forgotten. It’s been really nice getting that industry backing going into the album release, and it made me trust my sound even more.

2. The album explores the chaos of information overload and growing up during a cultural shift. How did your own experience of the “digital golden age” shape the sound and themes of this record?

I was really inspired by the thoughts I had as a kid writing this record. Growing up in the digital golden age was crazy, and you could truly see the downsides of how technology and the internet evolves at such a dramatic speed, and also how we all got exposed to it in both healthy and unhealthy ways. I would say I was a real explorer of the internet as a kid, lurking into every single corner of it, watching niche YouTube channels, reading forums and playing social multiplayer games such as Habbo Hotel and Club Penguin. I still feel that our age group had a really healthy exposure to the internet since things were looked at as kinda ‘’unavailable’’, and having access to content was looked at as a privilege. Now we can basically do whatever we want whenever we want, as things are probably not as amusing as it once was. Looking at the cultural shift from a dystopic point of view, it really helped getting those emotions in place, focusing on keeping that grit and punkiness to the record.

3. Forcefed Serenity spans shoegaze haze, jungle rhythms, punk grit, and tender love songs. How do you balance those extremes while keeping the album cohesive?

I started working on this album right before the summer of 2024. At the time I had listened to a lot of new music that really inspired this record. Weird jungle songs appearing in my Discover Weekly, small, british shoegaze bands, and older stuff from the 90s that my friends had shown me. I think everything just made sense at that point- I had been struggling for a while figuring out what I really wanted to put out. I was so tired of making things that was looked at as club music, and I just wanted to be in the studio, play guitar and record live drums. When I was a kid I dreamt about playing in the coolest band ever, not standing behind DJ-decks with a mic in my hand. Before, I used to make music within genres that I actually didn’t listen to. Now I’m onto something that feels way more personal. I think this underlying desire to work with organic sounds and having an act playing in a band format really shaped the sound for the record, and it’s a really good sign that I still love the songs as much as I did when I made them. I feel like that could be rare as a producer- constantly making new music!! To keep it to the point, I feel like the love of all these genres and styles together kinda makes it cohesive in a natural way, and it kinda ended up sounding like a blend without even thinking too much of it.

4. Tracks like “Miracle” and “Forcefed Serenity” take on climate collapse and the pressure to “be fine” in your 20s. What role do you think music plays in confronting—or escaping from—those kinds of anxieties?

Music definitely plays a big role in that. You can find a certain genre that you really identify yourself with, that makes you feel some kind of comfort in this weird age we’re living in. I think it’s really cool to see the rise of mid 2000s aesthetic and sound, such as the band After that plays on frutiger aero and frutiger metro, while releasing sick trip-hop / soft pop tunes. I feel like this really resonates with people because they grew up with these sounds and aesthetics, giving them some kind of nostalgic comfort. In times of uncertainty I think people will return to certain genres that gives them some kind of peace, taking them back to a mindset when life was better.

5. You’ve collaborated with Alvah, Botaii, Sam Florian, and Bearson on this record. What drew you to these artists, and what did they bring out in your sound that you couldn’t have reached alone?

I’ve been producing and writing for Alvah’s project for the last few years. She is truly an amazing artist, vocalist and songwriter. She has an ear for musical references and a musical intellect that I haven’t experienced with a lot of artists that I’ve worked with. I wrote the first version of ‘’The Unbelievable’’ last fall, and it was perfectly natural for me to have her as a feature on that. I sent her the bounce with the open verse and she instantly wrote and recorded the voice memo of the verse while sitting on the Oslo tram. It was so instant. 

Me and Botaii have known each other for a couple of years and we basically really love the same music so it’s just natural for us to collaborate. We’ve also been starting to do a lot together for other artists and we just went to the US together! Working with all of these Scandinavian writers, artists and producers has been an amazing experience, and they brought their touch on the songs we did so they really stand out. ‘’Hedgehog’’ could never be done without Sam and his crazy guitar skills, tone, but also his amazing personality that just makes him the best person to hang out with.