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BACK
VIRGIN
BLACK
Deceptively Dark
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
Australian act Virgin Black’s latest release, the arresting
and haunting Sombre Romantic (on The End Records), is not for everybody.
The layers of symphonic sounds, gothic overtones and subtle keyboard
work affect listeners in many ways--some are entranced by the delicate,
artistic and dark creations of the band, while others have problems
deciphering just what the album is all about.
However you look at it, Sombre Romantic is an album worth talking
about.
"When I hear back this album, it sounds like a dream fulfilled,"
begins Virgin Black singer/keyboardist Rowan. "A lot of bands
play back their own recordings and think to themselves how they
should have changed this or that, but I don’t get that feeling
playing this back. I mean, I know there are things we [the band
is rounded out by guitarists Samantha and Craig, drummer Dino, and
bassist Ian] could do with the sound here and there, but this record
pretty much turned out the way we have dreamed it would. It feels
like my whole life has been working towards this album. It is pretty
important for me. It is quite exciting for me to know that we really
were able to make such a great album out of our own visions."
This album is very dark and creepy. How do you get such an ambient
feel to the music? How do you get those emotions down on a recording?
"It is very hard to explain. You can’t really describe
how it happens, it just does when you come together as a band. It
is very natural actually," he admits. "You are just drawing
these emotions out of yourselves. Some people say that writing songs
is 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration, but I don’t
think it is that way. I think when you are writing it is the reverse
of that. From that flow of things the music is created, but when
you go into the studio and gather up all the musicians to play the
music on record, it goes back to the other equation. It works in
mysterious ways."
In short, Virgin Black’s Sombre Romantic is deceptively simple
sounding. The album just flows with emotions, forgoing any over-pompous
styling or technical gadgetry to entice the listener. The vocals,
which vary between soft-spoken and sinister, and orchestral parts
give the album a real dark, intense feel.
"I think with the way our music is assembled, every instrument
on this album has its time in the limelight," he says of the
song structure. "No instrument really dominates our music or
is in what we do more than it has to be. The music we play is quite
difficult. I used to play in a death metal band called Discarnated
[not the James Murphy band Disincarnate] that was pretty difficult
to play, but in comparison to this material, it is very simple.
With this music that we play, if you screw something up, you really
mess things up. You become very involved with what you do in Virgin
Black and sometimes when you get too involved, that is when the
mistakes happen. It just needs to flow from you and let the songs
shape themselves."
Are you a perfectionist in the studio?
"Yeah, I guess I am. I do what I do. I have this huge passion
for making music and want it to turn out right all the time. I need
to feel something from my music and with all the hard work I put
into this band, I’m always walking away with some great feelings.
I have been very successful pleasing myself with the music here.
This is completely and utterly worthwhile for me. I just love getting
reactions from people like yourself. It just inspires me to keep
creating music."
The great thing about this record is that, as mentioned above, for
those who get caught up in the sounds of Virgin Black, the experience
is something that will truly linger within your inner self for a
good duration. It’ll mystify you and leave you coming back
for more. What is the secret, Rowan?
"I don’t really know what it is. This just comes out of
us. When it comes to what we put into the music and what we get
out of it, it all comes back to us, really. It may sound kind of
egocentric, but we do this all for ourselves," he says somewhat
nervously. "I don’t want to say that, but in a way it
is very true. If no one else heard this music, we’d still be
playing this for ourselves. This is one of the most important things
in our lives right now. I’m just still in amazement that we
can get all of these responses from all over the world about our
album. We love to let this out of us and have people react to who
we are and to get emotional reactions from our music."
He continues, "I honestly can’t say that when we are creating
music that we have the listeners in mind. We have to rely on the
fact that people out there have the same similarities and the same
mindset and will continue to enjoy what we are doing."
The End has done a good job of signing lots of good bands with different
styles, allowing them to flourish on their own without being weighed
down by a specific genre or sound.
"I think that even though all the bands on the label are different
from one another [Arcturus, Sculptured, Green Carnation, among others],
it is probably the same people buying the music, which means there
is some sort of thread going through all the bands signed to the
label. It’s good to know that the label took a chance to work
with us and help us get some exposure.
"We’re proud of everything that has happened with Virgin
Black so far and we hope that it’ll continue for us in 2002.
Every other dream has become a reality so far. Why stop now?"
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