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SHRINE |
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Stark:
Could you shed some light on
SHRINE's history? How does it all started? |
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Hristo:
"Hello
everybody. I've started with SHRINE in autumn'2003 - after several
years of playing various acoustic instruments I've finally turned
into sampling. The idea of the project was earlier actually, but
at that time I have finally collected the equipment I needed -
devices, software, samples..." |
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Why "SHRINE"?
Does this name have any special meaning for you? |
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"I chose this
name because of my interest in the History of Religions. I wanted
a name that's not connected to some certain type of music, but
connected to myself. This means that I'm free to experiment in a
lot of different musical genres under the same moniker - SHRINE.
So I don't need to start another project with a different name
every time when i decide to compose some different music" |
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What is so
special in dark ambient genre, that you've decided to create this
kind of music? |
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"Melancholy
is the perfect state of mind"
Well, if I'm honest, I'm not much into dark ambient music. I'm
listening mostly to organic ambient works, anything drifting in
the vein of ALIO DIE and NECROPHORUS, and also a lot of "chant"
ambient - RAISON d'ETRE, DESIDERII MARGINIS, LETUM, CAITHNESS,
SKADI... Of course if all these subgenres should be united under
one single moniker, I guess that should be "dark ambient", but
actually they are so different from that "lustmord" type of sound
which is a standard for dark ambient.
Most of the people define SHRINE's music as "dark ambient", but
that's only partially true." |
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Why "Harmony,
Bliss, Rust" was released on netlabel? Don't tell me that no one
wanted to release it on CD, because I won't believe you ;) |
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";) Eh, so
many people ask me this question. Sometimes I feel like I regret
about that because "Harmony, Bliss, Rust" is a very original album
and it could be a very successfull cd indeed. On the other hand, I
think that this is the right way for a completely unknown artist -
to start with a free release. You can't just rise from nothing and
say "Buy my cd please, it's really great"...
"Harmony, Bliss, Rust" is my second work actually, recorded in
2005. I created it while I was waiting for Corvus' decision about
"The Final Asylum" (which was recorded in 2004) with the idea to
release it on a netlabel for free. So my second work became my
first release." |
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What's your
opinion about netlabels? |
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"They can be
a good promotional tool for the unknown artists. At least the good
ones." |
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In "Rust" I
hear some guitars which sound a little like BURZUM for me. Do you
listen to metal stuff? |
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"Are you sure
that this is a guitar ;)
My current interests in the "metal" field are only about the
drone-doom stuff - NADJA, THE ANGELIC PROCESS, UNCERTAINTY
PRINCIPLE... I've stopped listening to black metal bands in year
1998. In my oppinion the last good year for the black metal stage
was 1996, but as you know, there is always some inertness with the
listeners. Still, the greatest black metal album (along with the
legendary BURZUM's releases in 1994 and 1996 of course) came in
1997 and that was "The Madrigal of the Night" by ULVER. This album
was also my first encounter with some dark ambient/machine
industrial music, if you remember those amazing interludes between
the tracks. I'm still thinking that those short additions are the
best "metal on metal" sound ever created." |
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In your
opinion, why so many people from metal circle start to listen or
create dark ambient music? |
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"Hm, very
interesting question. It's a process of maturing maybe, isn't it?
The black metal and the dark ambient have in a way some simillar
features. They are both about negativity I think, but in the same
time about dreaming. The big difference between them is that the
black metal is too much demonstrative - hairstyles, facepaints,
requisite symbols... and this model is so much constricting. ok
then, what if you don't like long hair and love to wear light
clothes, can you start a black metal band normally? I don't think
so. And this is why the black metal died. The people are tired of
that pose.
In the same time, there is no "face" behind the ambient music.
It's completely shapeless. No hairstyles, no "make up"s, no
symbols... just music. And that's great. You can listen to it free
from any other associations. There's no even a general idea for
ambient music (unlike the black metal that proclaims a denial of
Christianity in general). In fact, the ambient music is
researching in a much more deeper levels of the human
consciousness." |
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"The Final
Asylum" has very interesting concept. There are five stories about
"world of iron plants, mechanical birds, unreal, hushed in his
rumble, waiting for his silent end beneath the rays of dying
artificial suns". It sounds very intriguing, could you tell
something more about that?
Is this concept connected with some book or movie? |
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"The idea
came from a drawing maded by a friend of mine, but in general it's
a representation of some of my thoughts/fears/hopes about the
mankind's distant future." |
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When and how
our world will die? |
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"Who knows?
If you try to analyze the current world politics (not recommended,
really) you'll find that there are some people that seem to be
much interested in finishing with it (the world) as soon as it's
possible." |
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On "The
Final Asylum" there are moments which remind me of NECROPHORUS,
RAISON d'ETRE,
but also BAD SECTOR (on last track). Which bands are the greatest
inspiration for you? |
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"This is
definately the hardest question in this interview ;)
I'm listening mostly to ambient music and to some Balkanian and
Mediterranean folklore too. The greatest musical achievement of
the mankind for me is the music of DEAD CAN DANCE. But if I want
to write here everything I really like, it will takes 2 hours
maybe or even more. RAISON d'ETRE (especially his middle period),
ALIO DIE, AIDAN BAKER, "Drifting in Motion" by NECROPHORUS,
STEPHAN MICUS, LETUM, DESIDERII
MARGINIS,
ULVER (with their "nova-days" creations), LABRADFORD, ARCANA,
ORDEAL, THE OTHER SIDE OF AADOM (THO-SO-AA), ASMOROD, BAD SECTOR,
HEATH YONAITES, KARNNOS, the polish project BUSSO DE LA LUNE,
SKADI, CAITHNESS, ANASTASIA (the macedonian band of course, not
that U.S. pop-star), KAMMARHEIT's "Starwheel", MOGWAI, THOMAS
KONER, OOPHOI, ARGINE, MAEROR TRI, EINHEIT (ex-MORTESIUM),
TROUM, BURZUM, IRFAN and many many others.. " |
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What people
say about "The Final Asylum"? Or is it too early to talk about
that? |
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"The comments
are completely positive so far" |
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Tell me
something about your cooperation with Corvus Records. |
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"Emil is a
very active person. He is doing a lot of things in connection with
the musical underground here in BG. I met him by accident actually.
I did knew about him since before, but I thought that he is
interested in metal stuff only. This is because of his previous
activities with Counter Attack (another label). With Corvus he is
doing mostly folk ambient releases, but he did like "The Final
Asylum" (a work apocalyptic enough for him obviously ;)). So after
a little dispute about the cover artworks (with some compromises
from both of us) the cd was released to be coinciding with the
coming of RAISON
d'ETRE
in Sofia." |
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I know that
you've played a gig with
RAISON d'ETRE
in Sofia few months ago. Did you talk with Peter Andersson? What
impression did he make on you? |
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"Of course, I
talked with him several times. That wasn't very easy actually,
because everybody in those club were trying talk with him in the
same time when he was outside of the stage. Damn, it was really
hard to reach him for a little conversation ;). But I met him at
first on the soundcheck before the show. We talked about the
equipment and some daily things like "Do you have children?" etc.
The same evening I performed live a remix of his "Deep Enshrouded"
track (it's included in "The Final Asylum"'s special edition as "Emphasis")
and that was fun for both of us. I can say that Peter is a really
nice person.
I didn't miss to ask him the most important question (for me)
about RAISON
d'ETRE
- why his music is changing into a machine industrial in the years,
why he is leaving the gregorian chants with RAISON
d'ETRE?
But that conversation is a secret ;)" |
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Do you like
to perform live? Or do you prefer to create music in studio? |
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"The
composing in studio is much more important, at least I'm thinking
like this. The live performing is only an experiment, but it's
still a nice expirience." |
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What is the condition of dark ambient scene
in Bulgaria. Could you
recommend
some interesting acts from your country? |
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"Concerning the creation of dark ambient
music, I have only one (but very nice) recommendation and that's
ABANDONED SHELTER. I think that one of his works - "Yersinia
Pestis" - will be released on the slovakian cd-r label Construct
Destroy Collective very soon. He's a very good composer and I wish
him luck with that." |
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What would
you like to achieve with SHRINE? For example, releasing an album
on Cold Meat Industry would satisfy you? |
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"CMI? No, I
don't think so. Actually I am much more attracted to the labels
started by some of my favorite ambient artists - Drone Records,
ran by Stefan Knappe (MAEROR TRI/TROUM), Hic Sunt Leones, ran by
Stefano Musso (ALIO DIE) and Yantra Atmospheres, ran by Peter
Andersson (RAISON
d'ETRE/NECROPHORUS).
A SHRINE's release is already preconcerted with Drone Records for
year 2007, so two other releases - on Hic Sunt Leones and on
Yantra Atmospheres would be very satisfying. Unfortunately this is
not very possible for the present moment - it's really hard to get
on Hic Sunt Leones and it's impossible to get on Yantra
Atmospheres according to the fact that this label is currently
releasing only Andersson's own works.
A funny thing is that the river passing through my hometown has
the same name - Yantra." |
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Could you
tell me something about the place where you live? Does your
hometown inspire you in any way? |
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"My hometown
is a great looking place and iI'm really glad to live here. It is
the old (medieval) capitol of the country and it has a big value
of cultural heritages and archeological evidents. What is the city
of Krakov in Poland, the same is the city of Veliko Tarnovo in
Bulgaria. The name literally means something like "The_Great_Thorn[place]".
Most of the remains here are coming from the 12~14th century, from
the time before the turk invasion on the Balkans.
Yes, the
town is in a way inspiring for me, there are few real shrines here.
When somebody orders a cd directly from me, I'm applying to the
album a cd-r with about 200 hi-res pictures taken by me from the
old part of the city (and another one with different unreleased
music by SHRINE). " |
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In 2007 I'd
like to go to Bulgaria on holiday. What is the most romantic place
in your country? |
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"Well, if you
want to get some lazy days and a little pleasures you can stay at
the seacoast. I know that the people from Northern Europe love the
southern coasts. But my personal advice is to find a way to make
some trackings in the high mounts here - Rila or Pirin. There are
some breathtaking places up there..." |
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What thing
has the greatest value for you? Is it love? Money? Or maybe
something else? |
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"I don't
believe it's possible to answer this question in only one word,
but if I have to, I would say that this is the Freedom." |
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What is the
greatest dream of Hristo Gospodinov? |
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"My greatest
ever dream is to live through doing art - music, photography,
visual and web design... All the jobs I had so far were not very
artistic but this is going to change." |
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Could you
tell me about your future plans? |
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"At first I
have to finish with the Shrine's website that I'm building in the
moment. Then I have to complete the new audio material for Drone
Records (the work will be probably entitled as "Distorted Legends").
In the meantime I have to search for a label that would be ready
to release my latest ambient work - "WANDER" (recorded in this
summer). The problem about this new record is that it is only 24
min long. It should be released by Stefan Knappe on Drone Records
actually, but he has informed me that 2x12 min is too much time
for a 7-inch vinyl and I didn't wanted to shorten those tracks. So,
I'm going to create another material for Drone Records and I'll
try to release the "Wander" somewhere else, but if I'm honest I
don't know where. In general the labels are not accepting records
with a short duration. Some solution is to add the tracks into
another work, but I won't do that because their unique concept &
atmosphere will disappear this way. It is possible to leave the
tracks unreleased as they are. In this case they will become an
extremly rare extra accessible only to the people who are ordering
cds directly from me. I don't know. Any advice about that will be
greatly appreciated.
Something else about my future plans is that I'm slowly recreating
the material from the live performance with Raison d'Etre into a
studio album. It will be probably entitled as "Exile" and it's
concept will be much more social than the rest of my works." |
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Thank you
for your time. Last words are yours. |
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"Thank you
very much for your time and attention! I hope my english was ok ;)
If you have any questions about Shrine, drop your e-mails at
Shrine@abv.bg
Goodbye and Good Luck!" |
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[ Stark ]
Photos by Hristo
Gospodinov.
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