Silent Carrion Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the project for those that have never heard of you before?

Silent Carrion is a musical project founded in 2010. I’m the only official member (songwriter, instrumentalist, lyricist, voice, graphic designer, producer).

The two albums published so far are both self-produced (“Ruins” in 2010 and “Andras” in 2012) and are available for free on the band’s official website.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

The definitions that best describe the music are probably the words ‘Drone’, ‘Noise’ and ‘Ambient’ but it is not easy to define an exact genre. The songs are mainly instrumental with spoken or whispered parts and they try to be experiments in sounds and rhythms. The production is lo-fi, since I don’t care at all about nice and perfectly produced music performances: in my opinion what’s really important is the message you want to express more than the fact that you convey it in a polished and “immaculate” way. The main purpose of Silent Carrion’s albums is to create an atmosphere of decay and anxiety and to make people think about important and underestimated topics such as suffering, death and fear.

3. What are some of the concepts that you bring out in your music?

The lyrics focus mainly on mental illness and on the concept of death. The album “Andras” deals specifically with war and occultism. The future albums and EPs will probably follow a similar path.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the projects name?

I come from Italy, where the word “Carrion” can be easily confused with the French word “carillon”. I liked the contradiction between the two similar sounds and their far different meanings (a nice tune played on bells vs. the carcass of a dead animal). I decided to add an adjective to the word “Carrion” and I chose “Silent”, which is also an oxymoron if you’re dealing with a musical project.

5. Currently you are solo, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you choose to remain solo?

There are two main reasons why I’m solo at the moment and I’ll probably never expand the line up. The first reason is that basically I’m a misanthrope: I could only share the project with people I know very well and I completely trust, but my few close friends already play in other musical projects which are very different from what Silent Carrion does. The second reason is that I always want to have full control on what I do (music, lyrics, artwork, etc.) so I guess it wouldn’t be easy working along with me.

6. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label and if so what kind of label do you feel that would be a perfect fit your your music?

I could answer in the same way I did for the previous question: I need to have full control on what I do without any intermediary, that’s why at the moment I’m not interested in finding a label. This situation could change in the future if I found people I could trust. Or maybe I should just change the negative approach I always have towards great part of the human race.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of dark ambient and drone?

Well, to be honest the project Silent Carrion is pretty unknown anywhere in the world. I got some feedbacks from interesting reviews published in very good underground webzines. I find them very useful and interesting, because they give an objective point of view on the project. Some reviewers found the album interesting, while some others really despised it (especially for its technical aspects).

8. Are there any other musical projects besides this one or is this full time?

Unfortunately I don’t have enough time to concentrate on other musical projects. I try to put all my effort into Silent Carrion.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

I’m working on a new EP at the moment, and I think it will be followed by two other EPs before focusing on the next full album. I’m trying to experiment with new sounds, effects and atmospheres without repeating the same stuff over and over again.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

When I started making music (or noise, call it like you wish) I was listening to a lot of Scandinavian black metal bands. I come from a small village in the middle of the mountains, where the winter is very harsh and the way you look at life is not very positive, so when I first listened to masterpieces such as Transilvanian Hunger or In the Nightside Eclipse (and many others) I felt like home.

Later, I fell in love with bands such as Earth and Sunn O))) and their ability to create a creepy and almost transcendental atmosphere. I’ve always admired experimental bands like Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot, too.

At the moment I’m listening to many different bands and genres, usually related to metal (in particular Death, Black, Grind and Doom) or noise/experimental rock.

11. How would you describe your views on Occultism?

I put references on Occultism in my songs, but my knowledge of the subject is actually quite poor and incomplete. For this reason I don’t feel like giving a clear opinion about it. Perhaps I will be able to give a better answer in a few years.

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

I like very old movies (German expressionists of the 20s, for example), great European writers of the last three-four centuries (Conrad, Joyce, Kafka, etc.) and the entire history of visual art. Among other interests I can’t help but mention good Italian wine and Scotch whisky.

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

I just want to give my support to all the webzines around the web that give space to almost unknown genres and bands. People will always need to have a place where they can find information about non-mainstream music. 

https://www.facebook.com/silentcarrion