The French Black Metal scene features some of the most unique, experimental bands of the whole genre – among them is a trio called NYSS. Following the recent release of their second record „Dépayser“, singer Lee and multi-instrumentalist Þorir gave insightful answers to our questions which – among other things – concerned their various influences, only some of which are found in Black Metal, their perfectionism compared to most of their genre peers as well as the importance of handmade art.
You make use of different musical styles, ranging from Black Metal and Post-Rock to Ambient and Noise. Are there other music styles that you’d never integrate into your sound?
Þorir: Good question. I can’t imagine NYSS incorporating Reggae music into our sound, but I’d never rule anything out. I’m a big fan of Afrobeat so I guess anything is possible. (laughs)
Lee: We take nothing off the table – but there is still a tight control of the overall vision. We are not here to produce vapid and vacuous music – there has to be depth. So, by default, some styles are unlikely to be incorporated.
Because of your unusual combinations of sounds it’s not that easy to recognize your sources of inspiration. Which musicians and bands would you cite as an influence on NYSS?
Þorir: For me personally, my main influences haven’t really changed for many years. Magma, the French Jazz/Zeuhl band, are definitely at the top of the pile. I have studied their music for a long time, learning a lot about texture and emotion within sound. They also have a darkness without being ‚evil‘ which I still find beautiful and refreshing. Their musicianship is without doubt some of the highest in the history of music, of any genre.
Another huge influence is John Coltrane, who also inspired Christian Vander of Magma, in fact he was taught how to play drums by Elvin Jones!
Still on the Jazz thing, there’s a few guys that I think changed how an instrument can played, the unorthodox Derek Bailey and Peter Brötzmann. Derek’s guitar playing techniques were very unconventional which helped me in terms of breaking the rules a little within the realms of Black Metal. And Brötzmann, well, the guy is a fucking genius.
I would also like to mention the bands Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten, Death, Psychic TV, Death In June, Yes, King Crimson, Fela Kuti, Shellac, Killing Joke, Whitehouse, Sonic Youth and Faith No More. These artists are important to me and I certainly hear their influence in NYSS, under the surface. Of course, I could talk for an eternity about influences and as much as I love Metal, and have done all my life, it’s not a huge influence where NYSS is concerned. Black Metal… even less so. I view the works of Anselm Kiefer, Béla Tarr and Francis Bacon as much of an influence as any music. Music is more powerful when influenced by other art forms, I find. Black Metal influenced only by Black Metal will be stale. NYSS uses Black Metal as a lens, not the focus.
Lee: As has been said, self-referencing influences are pointless. We have the spine of Black Metal, but it is merely a scaffold upon which other influences are built. For me philosophical influences and writers play more of a part. Sartre, Camus, and Nietzsche to Charles Bukowski and William Burroughs and the Beat Generation. The overriding philosophy is existential – alienation from the modern world, the futility of searching for meaning and a general weariness with the world and its institutions – and killing the old gods. I am reticent to use the term “Nihilism” as it has some many tiresome connotations – but there is a certain strand of that.
Of course, some musical signposts come into play – but surprisingly few are Black Metal – and those that are, are the more intelligent and deconstructed versions. For me the main musical signposts are Magma, Death In June, King Crimson, Christian Death, Fields Of The Nephilim, the more experimental outputs of Mayhem, Ulver, Burzum, Arcturus and Meads Of Asphodel. Really though – when we write, we are not thinking of other bands. We are thinking of themes and aesthetics that interest us. The beauty of Black Metal is that the rule book has long been destroyed.
Many Black Metal bands prefer to stick to already established song structures and instruments. Would you consider such a conventional approach boring?
Þorir: Without doubt. I hate obviousness and mimicry. That very question highlights the biggest issue within any scene. As Don Van Vliet once said „if you wanna be a different fish you have to jump out of the school“. Real art stands alone, and great poets die in steaming pots of shit.
Lee: Any musical style that is afraid to experiment and try different approaches will die on the vine. Authentic vision is what matters not people pleasing.
In Black Metal, atmosphere is usually deemed more important than complexity, so the flawlessness of the recording isn’t always paid that much attention to. However, to my ears you play your instruments quite precise. Why is this perfectionism important to you?
Þorir: Atmosphere is still very important with NYSS, but it’s just another ingredient. When one theme or ideology is the main focus in music and art something else will be sacrificed, making the final piece one dimensional and essentially dull. When it comes to perfectionism I have to admit, I am obsessively anal. I like to advance as a musician and artist, also as an audio engineer and this may sound somewhat snobby but, why not try your best? Why not put your whole attention, thought and love into the art? And why not let people hear what’s actually going on rather than clouding over the lack of focus and vision with ‚raw production’. Of course, in the early days of Black Metal, the second wave specifically, the ideology was anti-trend, anti-clean production, but guess what? They could still play their instruments very well! I think to myself when making music… this has to be the best I can do at this moment in time. I hear a lot of ‘that will do’ in music these days.
Lee: NYSS has a high level of musical and performance quality control – that’s the nature of the band. There is no attitude of “that will do” – you do that and I guarantee you will never be able to listen to your recordings again. There are many bands I like that released lo-fi, raw recordings, but they still produced interesting stuff, even if their musicianship was limited at the time. That’s the key – do something interesting and engaging! Don’t just try to be Darkthrone and expect everybody to kiss your ass – Darkthrone stood alone. That is why Darkthrone were and are fucking special!
A while back you recruited François Boyenval as your new cellist into the band. Were you intentionally looking for someone to play this instrument, or was it the other way around in that you wanted to get François on board and therefore came up with the idea of incorporating a cello into your songs?
Þorir: François contacted me as a fan of our first record. We got talking about music and art, and that guy knows his art! We quickly became great friends. As usual I always take an interest in the people that contact me, especially if they are also musicians. When he told me he played cello and then I heard it, it just had to be. He had to join. His vision and personality fit perfectly with NYSS. I didn’t give him and rules, restraints or sections I wished him to play on, he had free reign. I wanted his personality to be part of the music. Although the songs were already completed but without vocals when he started to record his parts, the texture and emotion he added is colossal.
Do you consider also using other new instruments in your songs in the future?
Þorir: Oh, definitely, I am in the process of building a few instruments from large sheets of metal to use in all manner of ways: scraping, hitting, tuning. I may continue to add more Saxophone and most likely I will even drop main instruments entirely, such as guitar. The song dictates the part. We have no rules.
Lee: NYSS is largely about deconstruction and taking an almost postmodern approach to Black Metal. What is Black Metal? What is the substance of it? Is it the sum of its tropes? Does it really matter? Is it insight, darkness and depth that are more important than the medium through which it is expressed?
Has François joining the band also changed your approach to songwriting and recording?
Þorir: It certainly will change some elements, we are about to begin the next album and instead of me creating the whole thing first it will be more a collaborative experience, which is new for me in NYSS musically. I’m very excited to hear the results. There will be a lot of experimentation before we get an idea of the direction the music wants us to take.
Lee: François’ contribution can in no way be underestimated; he has fundamentally changed and expanded our sound. I feel he has brought almost a cinematic arrangement to the songs. Personally, this pleases me greatly…
According to your label you improvised and experimented a lot while creating your new album „Dépayser“. How exactly did the process take place in the course of which you turned the results of these experiments into coherent songs?
Þorir: I don’t ‚write‘ music in a conventional sense, I only improvise. I get ideas from I don’t know where, messages, visions, it’s somewhat spiritual I guess. Then I build up these ideas with layers and texture until the song stops talking to me. It is the song that dictates everything, it has its own way. I feel more like a messenger. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, and those pieces go in the trash. Thankfully, most of the time they open into something I find beautiful.
When it came to the lyrics and vocals Lee and myself sat in the studio, he had pages and paper everywhere full of lyrics and prose and he followed what the song was asking, he’d manically write down some scribbles and say “RECORD!” then put his headphones on. An amazing creative experience.
It’s a pure and honest record, captured at the right time.
Lee: The creative process is atypical of the way “normal” bands work. In many ways we work in fragments that appear as flows of consciousness and flows from the subconscious. Our biggest anathema is formula; no throw away lyrics, every line, every word is fucking agonised over and often has to be captured right there and then before it disappears into the aether. Often you have to just let go and let the material guide you into what needs to be done. Preconceived notions must be tossed out – let go of the ego.
Your songs are quite extensive and differ in length – some last seven minutes, some even twice as long. How do you know when writing a song that a track is finished and should not be lengthened any further?
Þorir: Like I mentioned, the song becomes kind of sentient. I don’t sit there in the studio and say to myself… this song will be 14 minutes long. I see that as a restraint. I think that kind of work ethic diminishes art. I know people that do that though and with good results. But I have no idea how long or short a song will be. It’s done when it’s done. Let it breathe.
You also use some spoken-word samples on „Dépayser“ like you already did on previous songs. Where did you get these recordings from and what made you choose them in particular?
Þorir: The spoken samples are from great artists and writers. People that have had a massive impact on my own visions of art and literature. William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski and Francis Bacon are the people you have heard on the albums. I know NYSS would not sound this way without their works.
Lee: Lyrically this album was an attempted channeling of the rawness and weariness that Bukowski brought to the world. I thought a lot about him and my own struggles when writing the lyrics. It was essential to us that the man himself said a few posthumous words on this record. And we say that with the upmost respect.
Generally speaking, for what reason do you use these recordings for certain passages instead of singing or screaming them yourselves like the other lyrics?
Þorir: They are the words of that particular artist, and their voices say it better than anyone else could.
Lee: There is a gravitas to these artists’ words that I can provide no substitute for, at those points, in those songs.
As the title suggests, on „Dépayser“ you sing about a world of alienation. How exactly does this feeling of separation manifest itself in the subjects that you sing about?
Lee: Alienation from the modern world is the central theme of the record! The main track that highlights this is „Bitter Tears And Grave Dirt“, this sets scenes of rundown bars and lonely people drinking and fucking their pain away, with knives still poised at each other’s backs because they can never be rid of the pain, the damage and the corruption. There is a need for human warmth and connection – any connection; but it’s never forthcoming in this empty, anonymously cold world.
The album sounds very rough and mechanical, but not lo-fi. What is the idea behind your decision to make the record sound like this instead of a more organic approach?
Þorir: I guess a lot of that comes from my influences, Throbbing Gristle especially. I love that pulse from (old) industrial music. Also, I play all the instruments other than cello so creating an album that sounds like a drummer, bassist, 3-4 guitarists, keyboard player, saxophonist all jamming in a basement is rather difficult. But the result is one that I really enjoy. It’s the sound that ‘happened’.
The artwork of „Dépayser“ shows an elaborately produced art installation. Did you give the artist complete freedom concerning the design or did you give him certain guidelines?
Þorir: I made the art myself. The process was quite a lengthy one. I gathered materials from various places, things that caught my eye, like large flakes of rust from a huge old oil container and an antique clock chime. I burned hessian, chicken bones, card and cut up beer cans to make various parts. There’s a LOT of mud and dead bugs in there too.
Today, most album covers are created digitally. Would you say that this development also has a positive side to it or do you consciously oppose this trend?
Þorir: I use digital media occasionally too, but I much prefer something physical, I’d rather own a vinyl record than an MP3. But, trends are exactly that. They come and go. I think there’s a positive and negative side to this. On one hand with digital media the possibilities are endless, and achievable with little or no money. But then the art has no value, it’s a file on a computer. It’s used as a cover and then that’s it. I know a lot of work goes into the creation of digital media, it’s not a quick fix by any means.
In times of online streaming and declining attention towards albums as a complete body of art, artworks also seem to be losing importance. Does it bother you that the great effort and thoughts behind the visualization of records go unnoticed by many listeners?
Þorir: Yes, absolutely! Everything is watered down and rushed out. Cut, copy, paste. I’d rather: control, alt, delete. I mean, almost ALL new Black Metal releases look like other Black Metal releases. But, that’s what people obviously want…. The same, the familiar. Box ticking isn’t NYSS.
To my knowledge, NYSS is a pure studio project, isn’t it? Is there a specific reason why you don’t want to play live shows?
Þorir: Other than the fact that it’s physically impossible unless I hired a bunch of musicians and rehearsed for months, I just don’t enjoy playing live anymore. Myself and Lee have been in bands for 20-25 years, touring all over Europe etc. It’s just not the life for me. Also, there’s some ego involved in playing live that I can’t stand. I don’t believe in Rock n roll. (laughs)
Lee: At this point of my life I have zero desire to go out on the road again, living out of a suitcase, stinking of shit for days on end, getting ill half way through, freezing my ass off in the back of a van, to play venues with shit sound and for rip off promoters. The logistics of a NYSS show would be prohibitively expensive and uneconomical to do. I have no interest in the narcissistic parasitism that comes with playing live and the egotistic rockstar posturing can fuck off.
We are approaching the end of the interview, I just want to go through a short brainstorming with you. What comes to your mind while reading the following terms?
French black metal: Þorir: Never heard of them.
Lee: And?
Hope: Þorir: Nihilism
Lee: Cruelty
Carola Rackete: Þorir: Brazzers??
Lee: I don’t care…
Current favourite album: Þorir: Víg Mihály – Filmzenék Tarr Béla Filmjeihez
Lee: Mgla – Exercises in Futility, Verdunkeln – Einblick in den Qualenfall
Nihilism: Þorir: Hope
Lee: Inevitable
Avant-garde art: Þorir: Why You Never Became A Dancer
Lee: Metgumbnerbone
Again a big thank you for your answers. I would like to leave the last words to you:
Þorir: Thanks Stephan and Metal1!
Lee: The pleasure was ours – thank you for very thoughtful questions…
24. Juli 2019 Stephan Rajchl
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