Dark, monotonous, depressing: With „Call Down The Sun“, KONVENT have not exactly released a collection of happy tunes, but a violent and violently atmospheric work of nasty sounds. After their debut album „Puritan Masochism“, the four Danish women were able to stir up the death/doom underground with their second album. We talk to drummer Julie Simonsen about the best „Call Down The Sun“ weather, the most important elements of the sound and the search for happiness.
Hello Julie, thank you for taking time to do this interview. Congratulations on your great album “Call Down The Sun”! How are you these days?
We’re good and busy! So amazing to play shows again after lockdown.
With „Puritan Masochism“ you have already caused quite a stir in the underground. How did you perceive the reactions and the attention regarding „Call Down The Sun“ and was it as you wanted it to be?
The reactions for ”Call Down The Sun” has been amazing and everything we’ve hoped for. We have been working so hard on this album, so it feels great that people enjoy it, just as much as we do.
I think „Call Down The Sun“ is more powerful and violent than the debut and again an improvement in all aspects. How do you think you have developed further?
Thank you so much! We were much more confident writing ”Call Down The Sun”, and really tried experimenting with our universe and sound. We’ve been challenging ourselves on our instruments, which has just made us come together as a whole. We hope to continue that way!
The vocals have become even more voluminous and fearsome, which makes the album even more like a punch in the gut. I find that the songs are even more threatening and convincing, although I have also heard voices that do not like it so well that the lyrics are now less understandable. Was this vocal development planned that way?
Rikke is has worked a lot on doing deeper lows and higher high pitches, which definitely has contributed to the eerie vibe.
The brutal vocals are an important element of why your music is so compelling. What would you say is the most important element in your sound?
I think the most important element in our sound is having no rules. Just making groovy evil music, without having a specific way of writing music. We prefer creating a universe with our sound, than trying to impress with technical skill.
The album was made during the worst Covid period, while the debut came out just before the pandemic. How did this time influence the new album and you personally?
Writing during covid was frustrating. Usually we try new songs at shows, before putting them on a record. So putting a record out, where we’ve never played any of the songs in front of a live audience was nerve racking!
Even if the pandemic is not over yet, given the number of cases, clubs are finally opening again throughout Europe and restrictions are falling away more and more. Does it start to feel like normality again for you with the prospect of all the concerts in the summer and the removal of all the health safety precautions?
It really depends on where in the world we’re at, because here in Denmark where we live, it’s all back to normal and has been for a while. So when we’ve been touring it feels like covid never happened, and all of the sudden we’ve been crossing a border and having to wear masks again. So it’s very different in each country.
Spring came slowly at the beginning of March, first crocuses shot out of the ground and the sun came out more and more often – and then you come around the corner with such a gloomy, nasty album! How does „Call Down The Sun“ fit to brighter and more beautiful days?
We’d like to think any weather is ”Call Down The Sun” weather! You can listen to gloomy nasty metal stuff all year round. I know I do!
„Grains“ and „Pipe Dreams“ have a very dynamic rhythm, while most tracks like „In The Soot“ and „Fatamorgana“ are very slow and monotonous and go more in the direction of Funeral Doom. Did you try to create a certain variety in the songwriting?
I think it comes naturally for us after finishing a slow doomy song like ”Fatamorgana”, and then wanting to writing something more up-tempo groovy in-your-face.
The lyrics seem to be superficially about vast deserts and loneliness, but also about helplessness, self-discovery, and trying to keep or regain one’s drive despite difficult situations. How would you describe the lyrical theme of the album and would you call „Call Down The Sun“ a concept album?
”Puritan Masochism” has a lot of water metaphors and Rikke wanted to do the same thing, but with sand and the atmosphere of the desert. The mystery of the dessert is very intriguing to us.
Are the lyrics influenced by personal experiences and thoughts or where do you draw the main inspirations for your dark lyrics from?
Rikke is the one writing all the lyrics. We usually have ideas for topics, that we discuss together and then Rikke create amazing lyrics. Most of the songs are about the internal search for happiness, but without achieving it. Not facing the reality that’s around you.
Your videos, especially the one for „Grain“, are mostly very minimalistic and mainly underline the dark atmosphere of the songs. How important are the visual presentation and music videos in themselves? Nowadays they are probably essential for promotion and to reach new listeners.
They definitely are! We want our listeners to interpret our songs and don’t have one way to explain our songs. So when creating the music videos, we didn’t want to do a detailed specific storyline. We kept it minimalistic so the listeners could still create their own meaning of the song.
Let’s conclude with our traditional brainstorming. What comes to your mind first when you read the following words?
Current favorite album: Black Sabbath – Sabotage.
Ukraine: What’s happening in Ukraine is absolutely horrible and we hope everyone in Ukraine is doing well and keeping safe.
Best Movie-/Series-/Book-Universe: ”Lord of the Rings”.
Something that makes every bad day better: Beer.
Best way to spend free time on tour: Beer. (laughs)
KONVENT in ten years: Old and hopefully still busy with music!
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14. November 2022 Stefan Popp
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