We started working on some tracks at the end of 2017, experimenting some sounds without any ideas about the genre and without an initial concept. After a couple of month the album started to take shape and we found the name for the project, the title for the album and the whole concept. We finished the recordings in the middle of 2018 and we got in touch with Coito Negato for the graphics, meanwhile we collected some feedback among friends and other musicians and after the summer everything was ready. We had the pleasure to be part of Dio Drone's Xmas mixtape with a preview track from the album (V.I.T.R.I.O.L.), a remix of Bad Girl song taken from its last album “Borders” and another track was included in the Chandler Records' compilation “Black Solitude”. The album was released on march 2019 according to the scheduled releases of Toten Schwan Records.
2. A few months back you had released your first full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?
We choose not to focus on a specific style or genre, trying to keep our minds more focused on the mood and the feelings that lead us to create our music. The concept of the album reflects quiet well our way of composing, mixing all the ingredients of the formula trying to create something that holds all of them but also is not attributable to any specific style but dark, experimental electronic music.
3. Most of the music is instrumental, would you be open to using any vocals on future releases?
We are open to any changes and collaborations that fits with our ideas, we would like to collaborate with other musicians for the next album and, if there will be the opportunity, we could use also some vocals. There are some interesting artists close to Cameraoscura who could be perfect for our next album, like Paola Bianchi a female singer who discover the experimental world of singing already known as Femina Faber or Adriano Vincenti from Macelleria Mobile di Mezzanotte a dark jazz combo very famous in Europe. These are just the first names, the ones we've talked with last months. There are so many opportunities all around, not only in Italy, let's see what will happen, as we said we're totally opened to any kind of collaborations. The secret of a perfect sound is contamination, so why someone should be closed to others? Surely we won't.
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Cameraoscura'?
“Cameraoscura” means “dark room” in Italian; we wished to use it as a single word, like a neologism, for a place that is not of this world, where even the brightest light is not enough to rip the deep darkness that permeate it. It also seemed to describe properly the mood and the sound of the album, so we choose it easily. Translated in English it can be seen like “darkroom” all attached. As you can see, also the artwork is totally black and white, for underline again and again our dark vision of the world. Colors are not allowed in our world.
5. With both the album title and cover, you have a theme of alchemy, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in Alchemy, Hermeticism and Occultism?
The title of the album is part of the Hermetical motto “quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius” written on the emerald tablet; it can be translated as “what is below is also what is above”, but we choose to focus on “what is below”, underneath the surface, hidden in the darkest corners of our mind/thoughts. As we said we approached the composition of the songs like an alchemist process, trying to melt the sounds to create our chimera, a musical monster that represents what we experience, what we see and feel in our lives every day. It can be also intended like a mirror of our society as it is nowadays, this medieval nightmare in which seems we are drowning, so the monster could be the new millennium man. The concept is well depicted from the cover, a maze ruled by chaos and beholden by the eye of a hideous being that lies in its middle.
6. Would you be open to doing any live shows with this musical project?
We would like to play our music live, despite it is very difficult to find live gigs and match them with our commitments [we live in different cities in Italy and we both have ordinary jobs], anyway we hope to be on the road soon. For this autumn we've just talk for fixing some dates for November I think. Right now we can't tell you nothing more, not for mysterious reasons, but just because we haven't already choose any day. We're very anxious about it, because we understand the meaning and the weight of being most perfect possible those days. Luckily we've got some months for build our set as we dream it.
7. You also ran 'Toten Schwan Records', can you tell us a little bit more about the label and the type of musical genres you release with this label?
The most important thing for Toten Schwan is staying away from clientelism, a nuisance spreaded all around in Italy. The second rules is not making ourselves a "only one genre's oriented label". Toten Schwan releases any kind of music which has nihilistic approach. From more aggressive to less, it's not important destroy people's ears. It's surely better implants noise and unconventional approach under their skin. We've listen to so many aggressive music in the past [in our adolescent years] thinking that "it" could be the panacea of all evil, but right now we've learning that "faster and screamed than anything else" it's not the right way to describe our anger. it maybe has been correct think like that in the past, but now we're different people and we search for other sounds. These days we've just released our 111th album, not bad for a little reality like Toten Schwan. If we could we would like release only vinyl albums, but CD format is still the cheapest, so we can release 12" vinyls not so often as we like. Last releases are Cult of Terrorism [ambient noise] Haram [sludge] Julinko [dark folk noise] Der Finger [free jazz drone] and Empty Chalice [ambient]. And of course Cameraoscura. You can check'em at totenschwan.bandcamp.com where you can find the most part of TS releases in free download format too.
8. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of dark ambient?
The reaction has been very good in the electronic/experimental scene, we had many reviews from Italian web-zines but also from Russia, Portugal, Germany and other countries. We are glad, despite it is a debut album from an unknown band, that our music reached many people even outside our country. People understood the authenticity of our project and our uncompromising attitude. We surely know that we didn't release the best album ever in music history but we think that our sounds could be interesting for any kind of listeners because it's free and away from patterns and rigid stylistic conditioning. if people free its mind Cameraoscura can be one of better poisoning for leave this planet.
9. Are you also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
We are currently working on some collaborations among which a split with Lilith Le Morte [a very interesting female duo from Italy who released its debut album on Toten Schwan two years ago], it will be a transparent lather cut 7 inches EP, and a remix of a song from the band Black/Lava; we also have recently realized a song for a book trailer of the upcoming book “Musica sull'abisso” written by famous Italian noir writer Marilù Oliva. [E]M has his solo project Pavor Nocturnus, two album has been released with the Canadian label D.M.T. Records and a third one is on the way, a concept album about the Dutch painter H. Bosch. M[V] has just stopped his solo project Les Filles De La Mort, maybe one day, in the future it will rise again from its ashes, but right now he's totally into Cameraoscura.
10. Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
We don't know, anything can happens and change our life, our story, our dreams. We prefer don't dreaming about music, it's a strange world, where most of people doesn't deserve respect. There are, luckily, so many underground places and people like your that help reality like Cameraoscura, but believe to my words, here in Italy world music is like a jungle, only the strong survive and when we say “strong” we mean “the worst but the most sly, the ones who takes the crumbs dropped from the table of most influenced”. So, we prefer not to dream a lot into this shit. Today we're here, but tomorrow we don't know what could happen. Sometimes it's better disappear than become like the ones you hate for survive. Death is better than a ridiculous life. We hate shameless people, that's why we play this kind of deep and dark and fastidious “music”.
11. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We live in different places [something like 300 miles away each others] and we came from different life background, so our music preferences can't be the same. By the way, we can tell you that our homes are full of extreme and experimental music, even if not the same ones. We think that each one search the best antidote for everyday's oppression. One day it could be more aggressive and intense, next one everything can change and our preferences should go to other ones less intense. For sure our listening are oriented to borderline sounds which can give us the perfect soundtrack of the senseless days we are living. [E]M likes recent works of Mz.412, MaiMaiMai, Godflesh and why not Angelo Badalamenti. M[V] prefers more dated sounds taken from the Seventies like David Bowie best creative period.
12. What are some of your non musical interests?
Lots of interests. You must understand one thing. There's a difference between us of 16 years. M[V] is older and he's a different life approach. [E]M still has a optimistic vision for the future and he likes cinema, literature, theater and art in general. He wants to discover the world. M[V] stops dreaming so many years ago and prefers spending his time outside the work in lonely places away from people with good books and his dog. The only thing we've got in common [and the most important not for our lives but we think for everyone's life] is “the search of beauty” in any form. Right now, we still haven't found it but we won't stop searching it. People should destroy its technology utilities and re-discover the pleasure of being “human”. Until the world didn't change its way we won't stop playing darkest music we can. So, there's a contradiction as you can say: we dream another world but we thanks this one for its creative motivations. Life's so strange John, but one thing is important for us: never become like the ones we hate. Never and in any way.
13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for your time and support. But most of all thanks for your approach and your efforts. Music world would be better with people like you. You give us this place even if we've never meet and we don't talk eyes to eyes. In Italy something like that is unusual. Don't change your mind, keep it open, Bye.
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