| Band: | Kluizenaer |
| Album: | Ein Abbild der Leere |
| Genre: | Black Metal |
| Country: | Germany |
| Release Date: | 18th February, 2022 |
| Released via | Wolves of Hades Breath:Sun.:Bone:Blood:. Records |
| Cover Artwork © | Kluizenaer, 2022 |
Hello Kluizenaer, nice to have you here! I hope you are doing alright currently. It kinda became a standard opening question, however I think it affects pretty much everyone of us. How are you doing during the still ongoing pandemic?
Hey Roman, thanks for having us.
Well, Like most bands we are currently waiting for shows to come back in
spring / summer.
Besides that we are anticipating our album release on which we have been
waiting for quite some time now.
Originally having started as a solo project in 2015 located in the Ambient and Noise spheres, Kluizenaer later on found new members and turned towards a more straightforward Black Metal project. Can you give us a brief insight in the development of Kluizenaer until the release of “Ein Abbild der Leere”?
After putting out several noise releases FFF. Started teaming up with M. And
JJJ. for small live shows as a blackened noise outfit.
This collaboration eventually evolved into the three piece black metal
constellation with FFF. on main vocals, M. on guitar and JJJ. on percussion.
This line up brought forth our 2018 EP „Das Ungebrochene Schweigen“.
Later in 2018, M. decided to part from the project to follow other endeavors.
By early 2019 the band was joined by LLL. on guitar.
It was around this time that the pandemic came up, which was when we started
writing, discarding and re-writing the material
that would eventually become our first full-length album:
„EIN ABBILD DER LEERE“.
Having followed you as a band, it is probably difficult to not identify FFF also being linked to Hagiophobic as well as Gall. Are there any other projects your band members are involved in?
Yes, both FFF. and JJJ. are active in GALL.
Besides that JJJ. Is active in Emoviolence/Skramz band NAUSIKAÄ, who are
planning on releasing their debut some time this year.
FFF. also hosts a small tape label named ULTRAVIOLET GARDEN, which mostly
functions as an outlet for experimental electronic music.
LLL. prefers to keep his other projects anonymous.
Although the major share of your releases is written in German, your band name as well as the releases “Radbraak” and “ANACHORYTH” make use of the Dutch language. What is it that connects you to the Dutch language and how do you decide whether to write in German or in Dutch?
Well, the output of Kluizenaer can roughly be divided into two periods, which
would be the first phase as a noise project (2015-2018)
And the second phase of being a black metal band (2018-present).
The project started of as FFF.ʼs first solo project, really just trying out stuff by
sampling and re-arranging audio into soundscapes.
Dutch, being FFF.ʼs second language just kind of worked with the overall
aesthetics of the project.
As Kluizenaer evolved into a full band, FFF. wanted to contribute more complex
lyrics to the music.
The decision to switch languages was merely pragmatic, German simply being
the language that FFF. is the most fluent in.
It might very well happen at some point that Dutch lyrics or song titles come
back,
but for the latest release both lyrics and titles are in German.
When trying to find out the meaning of the word Kluizenaer, the most immanent link draws you towards the Dutch word Kluizenaar that can be translated as “hermit” (German: Eremit). How did this band name come to pass?
Yes, that is correct. Like stated before the project started off as a solo
endeavor, so the theme of the recluse seemed fitting.
Beyond that, the philosophical, religious and historic aspects of the Hermitage
are highly interesting to me.
Autonomy, introspection and escapism have been a recurring theme in our
music since.
As already mentioned, the initial albums of Kluizenaer were drastically influenced by Ambience and Noise. What is it that fascinates you (FFF) about noise as an element in music or in general?
Well, having elements of ambience or noise within Black Metal is definitely not
something new,
In our case it just seemed a logical consequence of the projectʼs origin to keep
on using elements like that.
I, personally, donʼt really separate that much between „music“ and „noise“.
Both are just auditory means of invoking atmosphere and emotion.
Frankly, the atmosphere on “Ein Abbild der Leere” is extremely dense and difficult to put into words. Was there a specific atmosphere you wanted to convey on this album?
We aimed to create a sound that is spacious but not facile, extreme but not
crude.
We have to highly credit Ramon of Raiarec recordings (Webpage)
For creating such a intense sound while still being very considerate of our own
vision for the album.
One specific element in the production of “Ein Abbild der Leere” that struck me the most was the very distant production of the vocals. What was it that had you decide to have the vocals in the back of the mix as well as this specific production of the album?
When we first approached the recording, none of us expected the sound to
come out the way it did.
Our Ep „Das Ungebrochene Schweigen“ was recorded in a truly DIY manner
and ended up being pretty lo-fi, which was completely fine by us.
Most of our favorite Black Metal has terrible sound quality, which in my opinion
can be a part of the genreʼs appeal.
When we got to listen to the first mixes of the album we where a bit
overwhelmed by the thick „in-your-face“ sound that Ramon created.
Going from there we pushed the mix more and more into the direction of the
kind of atmospheric Black Metal that we listen to ourselves.
What came out was sort of a hybrid between a lo-fi atmospheric approach and
a modern, sharp and aggressive sound.
It is definitely difficult to identify specific influences that might be connected to your music. Are there any bands / projects / literature that influence your sound or songwriting in general or were especially influential for writing Ein Abbild der Leere?
We all listen to various styles of music which in one or another way has
influenced us.
I think it would be hard to point out single artists / bands.
As for the lyrics: they where strongly influenced by the poetry of Paul Celan.
Other influences may have been mystical topics such apathetic theology and
gnosticism.
The final track on ein Abbild der Leere “Stylit” opens up with a quote by German poet Paul Celan that could be interpreted as glorifying the fact of not being determined by any metaphysical entity at all. It seems as if a very specific Existentialist perspective derives from both the lyrics on this album as well as this quote especially. What perspective on the purpose of existence did you want to convey with these phrasings?
The quote says:
„No one kneads us again out of earth and clay,
no one incants our dust.
No one.
Blessed art thou, No One.“
The Celan quote is an excerpt from the poem „Psalm“, which we decided to recontextualize and apply to our music.
The way we used it, it can refer to a kind of existentialist world view, which is
one of the central topics of our lyrics.
We do not wish, however, to explain and dissect our own lyrical content too
much.
Weʼd rather leave it to the reader to find a meaning in these words.
I think it is important to understand that we do not claim to reflect the content
of Celanʼs actual poem as it was intended by the author.
Anyway this would be impossible for us, as we can not ever fathom the
experience of someone who lived through Nazi occupation whilst being an
ethnic jew, who lost his parents in concentration camps and lived on with the
burden of this trauma whilst processing his experiences in his poetry.
Needless to say that using not only the quote, but even his own voice on the
album, was not easy decision to make.
In order to give due respect to the author we decided to feature the complete
poem in the lyrics and make a clear credit to his work.
Do you consider the fact of mankind being deemed to be free to be true or do you think that the freedom we perceive is a gift?
Freedom is a rather ambiguous term, unless put into context.
We can have „freedom from“ or „freedom to“.
Whatever exists must always exist in relation to itʼs surroundings and external
influences.
So it is questionable whether there is such a thing as „free will“ or „freedom“.
The first track off “Ein Abbild der Leere” being released on the sampler Black Metal ist Klassenkrieg immediately pointed out the fact that Kluizenaer has an antifascist and anarchist background. Especially when regarding the lyrics on “Ein Abbild der Leere” and keeping in mind your political background, do you think that there is a specific connection between Existentialism and Anarchism?
Existentialism/Nihilism and Anarchism are strongly interwoven on a
philosophical and metaphorical level.
The realization that there is no higher entity to which we owe anything, that
there is no deeper purpose to our existence than the one we choose to
perceive ourselves.
This is a deeply Anarchist concept, which one can apply to various levels of
individual and collective thought.
When trying to embed Kluizenaer in the antifascist and anarchist background, what is it specifically that links those political stances to you as a band?
We are an outspokenly anti-fascist band, not because our politics are
necessarily a lyrical topic of ours,
but just because we as individuals are engaged with autonomous spaces, leftist
politics and environmentalist ethos.
To us, our ideology should not be separated from us as a band.
The very least that we want to accomplish with us being outspoken about our
politics, is to piss off reactionary metal heads.
Using Black Metal music itself as a vehicle for a tangible political struggle can
be difficult.
The concept of the music itself is ambiguous, vague and rather non
communicative.
Especially when compared to other forms of music such as Punk or Rap.
These genres are better equipped to transport a certain message and
ideological framework.
This however does not mean that the Black Metal scene and the actual physical
spaces in which this music exists, should not be politicized.
We are strongly urging people in the scene to create more autonomous spaces
where Black Metal (and any other art form) can exist without the danger of
falling prey to Fascist or capitalist undercurrents.
Apart from your music – are there any specific musical recommendations that you think our readers necessarily need to listen to? If so, feel free to tell us!
We would like to shout out to some bands whomst we appreciate as musicians
and as friends:
MINENFELD (primitive Death Metal)
MORAL BOMBING (emotive grind violence)
IMPAVIDA (criminally underrated atmospheric BM)
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of our questions. The final words of this interview belong to you!
Thanks. No last words.
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