[Eresjkigal]

i translated this interview some time ago, and posted it on this board but since that thread is pretty much gone, i thought i might post it again in the right section so that people who haven't read it can read it now. there are still some words i wasn't 100% sure about, so i put a (?) behind those. anyway, here's part 1:

From:
Dark Entries Magazine
Nr. 43
May 2003

It all started in 1989 in a Frankfurt goth club, where Varney met Holger during one of his sporadic outings in the human world. Holger kind of becomes the link between the introverted and tormented Varney and the outside world, and together they decide – although none of them having the necessary financial means – to buy instruments and materialise Varney’s dream music. This dream music is given to Varney by what he’s later going to call The Ensemble Of Shadows; a discerning and utmost musically talented company of spirits that, according to Varney in 1994, whispers the wonderful melodies to him in his sleep (sopor). “Es reiten die Toten so schnell”, the first demo-tape, appears in 1992 and is considered as the first part of the “Undead”-trilogy. Part two (Rufus) and part three (Till time and times are done”) will however never see the daylight. Shortly after this demo Holger leaves Sopor Aeternus. When in 1994 the cd-debut “Ich tote mich…” (see the discography for the complete title) appears, an immense air of mystery hangs around this at that time new project. Varney would’ve separated himself from the rest of the world for years, and would’ve spent years alone in a dark room. His primary food was rat meat. It therefore was a near thing that the world would never be able to meet the genius Varney. According to himself he found, totally weakened and almost blind, the way to the light again just in time. The first pictures deepened the image of a marginal, yet intelligent and self-willed eccentric person: a horrid figure, dressed in black robes, a painful grimace and curled fingernails of 15 centimetres should symbolise Varney’s way of the Cross. The music perfectly manages to complete this macabre image; the sound of Sopor Aeternus is very gothic, but above all original and well considered. Success doesn’t stay away. Anno 2003, almost 10 years after the official release, Anna-Varney (because meanwhile that’s his/her name) still belongs to the world of the living… or the undead if you want. In all these years the horrid and macabre of old evolved more to the spiritual and mystical, as from the abyss to the resurrection, without losing intensity. Nowadays Sopor Aeternus is still one of the most outstanding acts of our scene, that deserves everyone’s respect. Recently “Es reiten die Toten so schnell – or: the vampyre sucking at his own vein” was released, on which Anna-Varney goes back to the first demo; the circle is completed. Time for Dark Entries to let Anna-Varney speak about his/her brainchild.

PART 1: THE SOUL

‘I went weak, as I grew old,
and time itself has made me slow,
and as I close my hand in darkness
a thousand seasons come and go…’
(from “Résumé”)

Sopor Aeternus was founded in 1989 and released the first (and also last) demo-tape “Es reiten die Toten so schnell” in 1992. Recently the album “Es reiten die Toten so schnell – or: the vampire sucking at his own vein” got released, an obvious reference to the demo tape. Do you consider this album as an end and thus a new beginning, or more as a natural cyclic movement, a traveller who so to say comes home with more experience?

Anna-Varney: That is indeed what it is: it’s not one or the other, but both. It’s the completing of the circle or spiral, the moment when we reach the starting point again, hopefully this time on a better, more complete level. It is as always a sequel to the last album, but also a preparation for the albums to come, and a part of ‘the circle’.

‘Alles ist nur Illusion und von mir erschaffen,
doch ich vermag ihr nicht zu entflieh’n,
bin meinem eigenen Trugbilt gefangen,
und meine armen Augen erkennen kein Ziel.’
(from “The inexperienced spiral traveller”)

Most people travel to a destination. Does every spiritual journey (cfr. the album “The inexperienced spiral traveller”) also start from this point of view, or is this journey more like a comforting illusion, because our destination lies within our own experience, within ourselves? Are we in other words ‘the dead in the mist aimlessly wandering around…’?

Anna-Varney: Maybe the last is what we really are… at least, if our eyes open up to realize that we are wanderers in the mist, sleepwalkers in an endless and eternal dream from which we are spasmodically trying to awake.

Do you consider meditation as some sort of “vehicle” to obtain experience through our lives?

Anna-Varney: No, not really. I think one can only obtain travelling experiences by “travelling” effectively.

What does meditation mean to you? Where lays the difference between meditating and thinking?

Anna-Varney: I must shamefully admit that at this moment, I’m somewhat down when it comes to spirituality. I don’t meditate, not now, in my mind I argue a lot with myself. Meditation can lead to inner peace, arguing with yourself can lead to nothing but pain, as I already found out.

‘Exposed with hands as empty
as the opposite space,
crawling we move
to where the final station lies,
to whom is the debt
that we are forced to pay…?'
(from 'Birth-fiendish figuration')

Would you describe the inner experience of each individual as a journey between opposites as love/hate, hope/despair, light/darkness etc. themes that m.i. frequently return in the oeuvre of Sopor Aeternus; ‘…a polarity of inner flames…’ (“Résumé”, “Time stands still”,...)?

Anna-Varney: I don’t really understand the question.

I’ll try to formulate the question a bit differently: is Sopor Aeternus a looking for or a journey to balance in being, in life? A searching or journey that can be very confusing, and yes even cruel…

Anna-Varney: Oh that’s what you mean, yes of course. Life on it’s own (and especially Sopor Aeternus) is a permanent and individual looking for balance, peace of mind and finally spiritual enlightenment. The healing of the (sacred) wound. With Sopor Aeternus everything is, every atom so to say, a tendency towards balance. That’s why for example the music always gets happier as I’m in a sad or depressed mood. The saddest lyrics are usually the ones with the happiest and easiest tunes. Sopor Aeternus has, one or two tracks excepted, never really made dark music.

Could Sopor Aeternus be some kind of mirror that makes us look at that what we unconsciously feel and/or know, a knowledge that we carelessly put away in this hurried western society?

Anna-Varney: To a certain degree maybe…

To a certain degree… how must we actually interpret the concept of Sopor Aeternus?

Anna-Varney: It’s no use to look for the intentions behind Sopor Aeternus that would fit the intentions of the maker best. For the listener there is no “good” or “wrong”…It doesn’t matter how you interpret the music of Sopor Aeternus, as long as you get something out of it for yourself. It is true that in a certain way there’s always a concept hiding behind every album, but it’s just not my habit to explain my work…it would be useless anyway.

‘Suppression is impossible, I must live it out,
my true self is female how could I ever doubt.’
(from “Anima”)

You don’t make a secret of flirting with both the female and male aspect of your personality, hence Anna-Varney. It has been said that you actually changed gender. Personally I think that nowadays you visually have a more or less asexual personality. Does looking for balance count here too, or is it more like a constant doubt while looking for an answer to the question “who am I” (cfr. “Ehjeh ascher ehjeh”) and the impossibility to finally answer this question (as in the song “Drama der Geschlechtlosigkeit”)?

Anna-Varney: To a certain degree I actually feel more asexual…But I have no problem with that anymore. I don’t feel any pain anymore over this, it is the way it is. It doesn’t keep me awake at night anymore. Now, the everlasting question to “who am I” will however always be the theme of Sopor Aeternus, but that’s what it actually is to everyone…that question is an essential part of ‘the journey’.

‘On Satu(r)ndays we used to sleep
all motionless and still…-
while shrouded in an oppressive gloom
we’re handed over to the dream.’
(from “On Satu(r)ndays we used to sleep”)

In my opinion Sopor Aeternus uses a lot of symbolism and archetypes in the lyrics that continue to refer to specific emotions. This way the music gets a strong visual character. I see these symbols and archetypes as ‘the glue’ between inner life and the outside world, a way to make the soul become one with the body. Do you agree with this, and doesn’t using such symbols contain the danger that people don’t look any further than the symbols, and for example simply start considering “Es reiten die Toten so schnell – or: the vampyre sucking at his own vein” as an album about vampirism?

Anna-Varney: Oh no. You know, a lot of people don’t even know that things such as ‘archetypes’ exist, but that’s ok. In the end we all live in our own, different world…in which everyone is susceptible to what is important in his or her life. There is no use at all in pushing this or another interpretation on to someone else. Such things hurt more than that they do any good. Believe me.

Still you can’t deny that another symbol, dream or sleep, which you translate as ‘the little brother of Death’, frequently comes back in your work. Is it your opinion that sleep and therefore dreams are confrontations with our deepest self, and that because of that, it’s the place where Sopor Aeternus is very alive/awake?

Anna-Varney: To a certain degree I can find myself in that, yes.

‘May I kiss your wound?
Maybe that will heal my soul.
Free me from this tomb,
light my darkness, make me whole!
(from “May I kiss your wound?”)

“May I kiss your wound?” is one of those songs that return several times in your work. Must we therefore see it as more valuable or more important? While most songs are personal and individual, “May I kiss your wound” has an obvious link to an “other”. What place does this “other” have in your life…is that “other” for example necessary to know or understand your own personality/identity?

Anna-Varney: Excuse me, but I’m not going to explain the lyrics of Sopor Aeternus here. THE question that you may ask is if that ‘other’ even exists…or is only an illusion. What is it what we see, or want to believe to see, in that ‘other’? Maybe just a projection of ourselves? “May I kiss your wound”, the song that you’re talking about here, is exactly one of those songs in which the neurosis, the cause and source of the pain that already answers for(?) the song, can’t be explained. This neurosis or wound is m.i.(?) universal, a universal suffering that only differs in size and shape.

Are Anna-Varney and Sopor Aeternus one, or is Sopor Aeternus just a part of Anna-Varney or vice versa?

Anna-Varney: Of course it is one and the same. But that doesn’t mean they’re constantly united.

What is the biggest compliment someone could ever give to Anna-Varney?

Anna-Varney: Someone once wrote that ‘… if Edgar Allen Poe would be a musician from nowadays, he surely would play in Sopor Aeternus.’ I found it very nice to say so. When I read it, it even brought a smile on my face.

[Eresjkigal]

and here's part 2:

PART 2: THE MATERIAL

Would you describe the music of Sopor Aeternus as romantic, in the most obscure and dark meaning of the word?

Anna-Varney: I’d rather describe it as fragile music, music for dead children.

Your lyrics are very poetic and often make me think of gothic poetry, sometimes you also use texts from E.A. Poe…are these authentic gothic authors an important influence?

Anna-Varney: Aha, I was already thinking: when will the question about “influences” come… Well, everything we hear and see has an influence on us. Sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious. Nevertheless these influences are permanently there and shape us, our lives and so our artistic work. The direct answer to you question then is of course ‘yes’. All gothic literature – apart from everything else I’ve read, seen, smelled…- is very important for me, because it’s a part of me and my life, my past (memory) and my experience.

Your English is pretty good by the way, do you have an explanation for that?

Anna-Varney: Now I just know you’re mocking me.

Actually not, no. Do you see your music as art or just as entertainment?

Anna-Varney: I usually refer to my music as ‘the waste- products of COTU’… self-therapy, or: introvert exhibitionism. Nothing more, nothing less.

Musically a lot of classical elements got into the music of Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows over the years. Can you explain how you approach a song? How do the lyrics integrate with the music or the other way round? And how do you compose songs that later have to be played by different guest musicians?

Anna-Varney: I don’t think I have any different way of composing than anyone else who composes music. Sometimes music and lyrics come at the same time and sometimes I receive them one by one, apart from each other. It then usually takes some time to find out which lyrics belong to what music.

I still remain curious about the role that the guest musicians play. How do you recruit these guest musicians and how essential are they in the world of Sopor Aeternus? Are they an earthly translation of The Ensemble Of Shadows of only ‘instruments’ that should bring the world of Anna-Varney to life?

Anna-Varney: It may be cruel to say so… but that is exactly what they are… instruments, but at the same time they’re absolutely essential. In the past I chose the musicians just by chance or because of a coincidence. For the production of “Es reiten die Toten so schnell – or: the vampyre sucking at his own vein” the musicians got chosen by Chris Wilson (one of the guest musicians). Knowing that we recorded the album in England, we had to consider what was practically possible. It needs no explanation that for me this was a good lesson in patience en trust.

How important is the timbre of an instrument to you? On “Es reiten die Toten so schnell or: the vampyre sucking at his own vein” a lot of wind-instruments are being used, often in contrary of the original version of the songs.

Anna-Varney: I assume that when you talk about timbres you don’t really mean the production technique or the engineering process, but refer to the atmosphere or atmospheres. It is very important to integrate the right sound/instrument in the right part of the song. When you feel that a certain song demands a certain instrument/sound, there’s nothing to do about that then and you must follow this feeling. If a song screams for a guitar, you integrate a guitar and no wind-instruments for example. Period. If you want to paint a realistic portrait of a daisy, you also always use the colours yellow, white and green. It sounds stupid, but it’s true.

On the German Sopor Aeternus-fanpage (http://www.sopor-aeternus.de) I read that, leaving the most recent album out, “Dead lovers sarabande – face 1” is the most popular Sopor Aeternus-album and “Tanz der Grausamkeit” the most popular Sopor Aeternus-song. A reaction?

Anna-Varney: I don’t pay too much attention to this, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the usual question to the incontestable, individual perception of things. We already talked about this earlier in this interview.

If you had to choose for yourself, what would be your favourite Sopor Aeternus-album and your favourite Sopor Aeternus-song at this moment?

Anna-Varney: I don’t really have a favourite album... and absolutely no favourite song. All songs have a meaning and played an important role, kept me alive and mentally sane. Now, after having everything sorted out, I admit that – despite the importance the album has had – “The inexperienced spiral traveller” is about the worst I’ve ever recorded. This means that sooner or later I’ll have to return to it.

How important are fans to Sopor Aeternus?

Anna-Varney: My attitude towards fans is somewhat ambivalent. On one hand we’re very grateful that there are people who are not only interested in Sopor Aeternus, but also effectively buy our albums. Where would we be without them? But on the other hand it can also be very annoying. Some people claim us, believe that they know us very well and adopt a very demanding attitude, as if Sopor Aeternus is some kind of possession of theirs on which they can claim by demand. Sometimes it’s even sickening.

A long time ago you covered two Black Sabbath-songs (on the compilation “Jekura – deep the eternal forest”). Will there ever be any more covers made by Sopor Aeternus?

Anna-Varney: Perhaps, who knows.

“Es reiten die Toten so schnell – or: the vampyre sucking at his own vein” is old material in a new coat. Are there any plans for new material from Sopor Aeternus?
Anna-Varney: There sure are, but I can’t say anything about that yet.

All the albums of Sopor Aeternus appeared by the German label Apocalyptic Vision of Alex Storm. How did you get in contact with each other?

Anna-Varney: Believe it or not, but this is one of those things that I don’t remember anything of. It’s only because of reading an interview with Alex Storm in which he talks about how we met, that it all came back slowly. What more can I say about it… it were my ‘dark times’, full of pain and depression, no wonder that I can’t remember everything of it. Maybe you should ask Alex Storm, I think he’ll tell you the whole story with pleasure. (Nvdr: We contacted Alex Storm (label owner of the Trisol-group), but still he hadn’t enough time to tell the whole story, because – so he said – ‘it really is a long story’…If we’re able to catch mister Storm sometime, you’ll sure read the story in Dark Entries!)

If Anna-Varney didn’t make music, what would she have done?

Anna-Varney: Of course she’d be dead.

Do you have any advice for our not-so-musically-talented readers, how can they keep themselves alive?

Anna-Varney: Be yourself, be true, because with each lie you kill a part of this world, as you kill a part of yourself.

[3Beast]

I dont know,...but on each new interview that I read, i can see the same questions, and the same answers...

Perhaps the magazines no asks nothing new....perhaps AV dont want answer nothing new...

And yes... of course AV speaks of their new works, in any new interview... but always I it has left to that doubt... because the so many repeated questions and answers...like a "copy and paste"...

Thanks for the Translation Eresjkigal...