1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Hi, and thank you for having me. I’m currently at home where I write and record music among other things. As for my surroundings, I have all the predictable items surrounding me: an acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, digital piano, recording device, etc. This is where I spend a substantial portion of my time.
2. Your music has been described as Atmospheric Black / Dark Ambient. Could you introduce the band in the most spontaneous way?
I suppose my music has a heavy depressive element to it, although I was initially reluctant to call it depressive black metal. I did end up assigning it this label nevertheless since it seemed to be the most honest way of categorizing my music. Essentially, SHV is my way of relaying feelings, thoughts, and views that I possess without having to directly spell them out to another person. My internal workings are quite repetitive so this is a reliable method of outputting them without having to initialize a mouth-to-mouth discussion.
3. SHV is essentially a solo project, right? How much exposure did you have to extreme music growing up?
Yes, SHV is a solo project. I didn’t have much exposure to extreme metal at all in my earlier years but as time has passed and I’ve explored what it is that I prefer, I’ve developed an obsession with very specific flavors of metal (and other atonal types of music on occasion). It’s been a persistent trend that I am consistently obsessed with one or two bands at a time for years on end before eventually finding a new band or artist that speaks to me more intimately than the last. Of course I am familiar with more than one band at a time, but my interest generally only persists with one or so. I don’t know if it would be accurate to label myself as a music lover since the majority of music makes very little sense to me, but it suffices to say that there are always one or two artists who interest me more than anything else music-related or life-related.
4. What were the main challenges you faced in learning to mix music and how did you overcome them?
Production, mixing, and mastering aren’t things that I put much emphasis on, nor are they things that come naturally to me, although I’m slowly learning through repetition as time progresses. My main goal is to just write songs and allow for other (hopefully) redeeming qualities to carry the music on their own. Whether or not I succeed in that regard is likely irrelevant as my primary aspiration is to simply create music that makes sense to me.
5. Did the black metal come with time as a natural choice for expression of your ideas or you were straight forward right from the start and decisive that you want to play black metal definitely?
For quite some time I was a bit confused as to why I didn’t enjoy black metal since bleakness, dissonance, and dark overtones were always traits I had valued in music ever since initially developing strong listening preferences. However, I eventually did gain an interest in black metal, both in terms of listening preference and in terms of musical influence. I don’t anticipate that this genre will always be something that I gravitate towards, but I struggle to think of a style that is more fitting at the moment.
6. What challenges have you faced as an independent artist, and how have you overcome them while maintaining Soul harm Vessel's uncompromising vision?
The biggest challenge I’ve had thus far has been having to learn how to do everything myself, but this may also become a strength in the long run. It isn’t always straightforward having to manage all instruments alongside other miscellaneous skills needed for music production. That being said, I prefer this infinitely over working with others since very little to no compromise is needed when you’re doing it yourself. I’ve attempted for years before to find others who would be interested in working with me but it has consistently failed for a plethora of reasons such as flakiness, inconsistency, stylistic differences, etc. Overall, I consider working alone to entail more benefits than deficits.
7. Looking at your artwork, songtitles and such; there are certain visible psicological aspects related to negative states, animal suffering, philosophical..etc. What draws you to this and how does this relate to your music?
Like I said in the second question, all the subject matter that my music covers is essentially an attempt to transmute my inner happenings into an audio format. It doesn’t feel therapeutic or cathartic for me but it does give that which I find undesirable a function of sorts, even if that function only does so much. Whether it is an insufferable thought or feeling that I keep having day in and day out for months on end or my frustration with the human race’s inability to see valid solutions for life’s most severe problems, it will find its way into my music because that is the whole point for me. I have made the decision not to include lyrics with my releases for now but I do hope that the sound speaks for itself to some extent.
8. As the sole member behind SHV, how do you manage the creative process of writing and composing music, lyrics, and playing multiple instruments?
Well, guitar is the instrument out of the bunch that comes naturally to me, so I would say that first and foremost, the creative process begins there. I typically come up with some sort of arpeggio or chord progression and build upon that. Next, I’ll usually write a guitar melody to either layer over or blend into the first one. Then follows the bass guitar, drum machine, and finally a choir and/or piano track to finish things off. Lyrics aren’t typically planned in relation to each specific song. I find myself writing something akin to a poem here and there. Only later on do I refine my writing and decide which track would be most fitting for each piece of text based on length, sound, etc.
9. Let´s talk about your latest album “Nothing Works: Stockholm Syndrome in Nightmares”, What do you consider the strengths of this release?
Its biggest strength must be that it is both honest and genuine. To put it another way, it is very unfiltered where it matters to me. Opinions will vary but I find this to be its best quality. I can’t really think of any other strength that isn’t subjective. I could say that I like the guitar work I did on track so-and-so or the choir during the outro of track 3 for example, but realistically I get bored with the songs I make pretty quickly and that typically drives me to write more. I can almost always appreciate the melodies immediately after finishing a song, but before long it’s on to the next one.
10. With seven distinctive tracks on the album, how do you ensure that each song stands out individually while also contributing to the overall flow and cohesiveness of the record?
I do try to find something new to do with each song to an extent, but it almost surely takes a nuanced ear to pick out what I may have done differently with each song. To someone who doesn’t enjoy listening to music that sounds like mine, all the songs would likely be perceived quite similarly. As for the overall flow, I’m not too sure what to say. I typically create an intro and outro track somewhere along the way since this appeals to me personally. I put thought into which song should go where too, although this seems to be based on personal preference as well. Overall, I just follow my intuition when I think about cohesiveness and flow. Sometimes I have a stronger intuition in that regard and other times it just doesn’t come across as something that I’d like to consider much.
11. How challenging were these songs to play compared to those on past album “Tropes of Mind”?
To generalize, the instrumentation on the new release was less straightforward to me. The guitar in general required a bit more stretching of fingers than I used on Tropes of Mind, but that being said, I don’t think that the songs are too complex. I don’t consider myself to be especially talented but just like I mentioned when you asked me about mixing, I would have to say that it is all just an ever-persisting learning process. The trend that I have observed has been that I write songs for one release, get comfortable playing them, and then try to challenge myself a bit more for the next release.
12. What is your creative routine? Is there some piece of gear you wouldn’t be able to work without?
As things currently stand, I only have a creative routine for half of the time or less. For a certain portion of each year, I seem to become very obsessive about composing music to the extent that it is all I can or want to do, while for the rest of the year, I lose touch with any infatuation that I previously held for it. Each time this happens, it feels as if it will be this way for the rest of my life. However, like clockwork, I seem to cycle back and forth. As for equipment, I suppose I would have to change my approach to some extent if it wasn’t for the amp modeler I use to record guitar. To be honest, I run more than just my guitar through it. For the time being, I wouldn’t want to do without it.
13. How do you see the black metal scene nowadays? So many subgenres, so many bands… Where is the border between the trve and untrve?
The distinction between trve and untrve black metal has never meant much to me. I suppose the terms are simply used to distinguish between black metal bands that do remain loyal to a certain notion of how it should sound/what it should stand for and those that don’t remain loyal to those notions. I think music can be enjoyable or obnoxious for a plethora of different reasons. I don’t necessarily think that trve equals correct when it comes to making black metal. I tend to enjoy bands that stray away from that which I am overly exposed to anyway. I don’t necessarily think that it is praiseworthy to be “trve”. To sum things up, I find these terms to be a bit irrelevant to me.
14. What kind of bands you are listening to nowadays? Can you give some names? On the other hand, there can be also new bands that you can recommend?
I haven’t listened to much music in quite a while now. Still, if I had to think of some bands and artists that I have taken note of, I’d list off: Истина, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Endless Dismal Moan, Sår, and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Those are all notable ones to me.
15. Before we wrap up this interview, I like to thank you for your time into doing this. Any final thoughts or words to the fans reading this?
Thank you for your time as well.