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An Atmospheric discussion
[IMAGE: Michael Montes][IMAGE: Karsten Hamre]After spending a couple of months trying to decide the best way to present this out of the ordinary piece to Sordid readers, I finally decided to give it to you as was. Here it is, Karsten Hamre, of Penitent and Arcane Art, and Michael Montes, of Zoar, discuss what they think about what they do, with a little bit of direction from Girl the Goth.

Girl:
Both of you play music that could loosely be described as atmospheric, what attracted you to that form?
Michael:
What I like about this type of music is how it can sometimes create a sense of heightened reality. (If this sounds like a description of drugs, so be it!) As a result, "atmospheric music" is sometimes able to possess a certain psychological power not found in other genres.
Karsten:
Personally I find "atmospheric music" to have a deeper sense of feelings and emotions expressed through its creations, something one seldom finds in other types of music. Don't ask me why I feel so, as it's hard to explain. It's simply the way I feel things. Maybe it's because one could say that creating "atmospheric music" is more like painting, creating a motion filled picture with the use of sounds.
Michael:
Yes, I agree with you Karsten. The "painting" aspect provokes visions for the listener. Also, by breaking away from traditional musical formats, one creates the potential for more personal and therefore more original works. My dream is to make music that no one has ever imagined before. I do not always succeed, but any small breakthrough that I can discover is extremely satisfying.
Karsten:
I might add another aspect, which I find very relevant for myself, and that's the creative freedom one has within the "atmospheric" genre. There are no distinct borders to operate within, and no limitations when it comes to instruments or sounds one can incorporate in one's creations. It is a rather great advantage for a creative being to have absolute freedom. Within "atmospheric" music it is none but the artists themselves who sets the limits. It should be quite obvious, by listening to the Penitent releases, that I enjoy the freedom to explore new grounds, and it is something I certainly will continue to do. Nobody shall ever be too certain of how the next album will sound like.

Girl:
This form of music seems to be growing, why do you think that is?
Michael:
Atmospheric music suggests unknown worlds, which can open the mind of the listener to spiritual issues of transcendence on this planet of existential godlessness.
Karsten:
First and foremost I think the growth of this form of music is a result of more people discovering the music itself, and the fact that it's getting easier to get hold of than before. Another aspect is the fact that "atmospheric music" is without boundaries when it comes to who would be interested in such music. It is music without limitations.
Michael:
I think people are also tired of the same old rehashing of verses, choruses and backbeats. The standard formats are fairly exhausted at this point. Also, I find it interesting that at the end of the 19th century "impressionistic" music appeared and became extremely popular. The end of a century seems to be a time when the dreamstate matters more to society than at other times. Perhaps we are seeing history repeating itself.

Girl:
Atmospheric generally signifies a large use of traditional instruments; in comparison to ambient which is usually mainly techno. Do you think the growth in atmospheric means that people are tiring of machines?
Michael:
Trends come and go. All that matters to me is the act of making music that tries to be honest. This involves a continual search for the unique voice in ourselves. The strongest, most sincere music seems to survive the best, machines or no machines.
Karsten:
I mainly use machines when making the music as well as during recordings, as I work with sampled instruments, so I wouldn't say people are tired of machines. Maybe people are getting tired of the hollowness you so often find in techno, especially the type of techno or dance that one find on the charts these days.
Michael:
I am interested in music that defies the timeline and I'll use whatever tools I have available, be it a synthesizer, sampler or a cello. Attempting to define the instrumentation of this "genre" seems to go against the idea of a music "without boundaries".
Karsten:
It would of course be a dream come true, if I got the chance to use a full orchestra on a recording, but as this is rather expensive one have to do the best out of things, which means using every possible resource one has at hand, be it a machine or some hand made installations. It's not important what you use but what you get out of it. Who really cares if you recorded an album banging your mother's pots and pans, twisting sounds recorded from a vacuum cleaner etc., as long as the creation sounds good and has quality?

Girl:
Neither of you stick simply to music, is it important for you as artists to go beyond the narrow confines of music?
Michael:
I find that many artists naturally experiment with different media. The gestures and energy forces are similar, the tools are different.
Karsten:
For me the multiple opportunities within art have become an important factor in my life as it gives me various grounds where I can express my feelings and emotions, be it through music, poetry, film, photo etc. It was nothing I had planned, it just happened naturally.
Michael:
It is my hope that I will be able to have the time and energy to experiment in many different areas in my lifetime. Why not try to taste all of the world's delicious flavors?
Karsten:
Somehow all art forms I deal with are a sort of painting. Music or sounddesign is painting with sound, photography/film is painting with light, and poetry is painting with words. Basically it is about creating atmospheres, which evokes different feelings and emotions within the one who views, reads or listen to the Art.

Girl:
What music, other than your own, do you find interesting at the moment?
Michael:
The Bartok String Quartets, Radiohead, Low, and plenty of horror movie soundtracks.
Karsten:
Devil Doll, Jacula, Switchblade Symphony, ERA, Madonna`s latest album, Apotygma Berzerk, Rammstein and as always the old masters of classical music such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Grieg, Wagner, Orff and so on.
Michael:
The only way that I can tell whether or not I like something is if it makes me jealous. If I hear a piece of music and I start to squirm inside with envy, then I know that I must be enjoying what I am listening to.
Karsten:
I quite agree with you on that Michael, though it is something that seldom happens. Devil Doll and its creator Mr. Doctor would probably be closest to such a description. Maybe it would be more correct to call it a deeper kind of admiration. One can feel quite frustrated after listening to the creations of such bands, as it is rather impossible to reach their level, or so it feels. It is then one must be strong and confident about what one is doing, and follow one's own path instead of falling into the trap of following another band, and that way become a bleak copy of someone else. There will always be some artist to look up to, but I do not need to become a bleak copy of them as I am Me!

Girl:
Whom would you class as your biggest influences?
Michael:
Probably literature. The narrative form is evident in much of the structure of my pieces. The vivid descriptions of Camus, Poe, Kafka and others bring music into my ears.
Karsten:
I guess the old masters of classical music have had the biggest influence on me.
Michael:
I'd have to throw in Ligeti and Harry Partch as well.
Karsten:
In addition to the already mentioned I would say that Jim Morrison, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, metal from the 80`s have had their impact on me, as well as lately I have been enthralled by the Mexican act Jaramar.

Girl:
What projects are you involved with at the moment?
Michael:
We are making a third Zoar record and it may actually involve a vocalist on two or three pieces. We decided this only because we met a singer that we simply adore purely by chance. Other than that we have the possibility of scoring a new film, a murder mystery, that calls for our aesthetic.
Karsten:
By the end of January, the 4th Penitent album "Roses by Chaos Spawned" was finished recorded, and should be released and available through Memento Mori. Due to a line-up change in Arcane Art a second round of recording sessions of the debut album was necessary. The Arcane Art debut entitled "The Cursed Artist" is still being recorded, bit by bit and part by part. It has taken longer than expected to complete the recording of "The Cursed Artist", but it will eventually be finished. The music itself could be hard to describe so I will not dwell with that here, though the music on "The Cursed Artist" do have elements from a wide variety of styles such as dark ambient/darkwave, industrial, gothic, jazz etc. What is for sure is that you can expect something unusual, mainly due to a rather special instrumentation.

Girl:
What does the future hold for Penitent and Zoar?
Michael:
I plan to keep on making Zoar music until I die. It took me a long time to find this purpose, and I believe that it was meant for me.
Karsten:
Fame and fortune would be nice, but not essential for me to continue with my art. I will for sure bring my creations with me into the new millennium. Only time will tell where we are heading!
Michael:
It is wonderful to meet other dedicated artists like you Karsten. It helps me to feel less alone in the world. Perhaps our work will be remembered as "millennial music".
Karsten:
I had a bunch of songs I was thinking of using for the 5th Penitent album, but I have so many other ideas to test out and experiment with so nothing is certain at the moment. There have been some talks of doing live shows, and it is most likely that it is Arcane Art who will appear on a stage first. This is supposed to happen in June at a local Goth/Jazz festival. Thereafter I hope offers for live appearances both in Norway and abroad comes along. Time will tell!
Related
Arcane Art - The Cursed Artist
Penitent - As Life Fades Away
Penitent - Roses Spawned by Chaos
Penitent - ...The Beauty of Pain...
Zoar- Cassandra