Interview with Vaerohn
www.myspace.com/penseesnocturnes

Pensées Nocturnes is a Classical /Black Metal/Acoustic act from France. It is not very often that I have the opportunity to present you with a French metal act, even less so with an extremely good black metal artist as Vaerohn. This hard-working Frenchmen is not only responsible for all the arrangement and instruments in Pensées Nocturnes but he’s also involved in helping the most active French metal organization Les Acteurs de l’Ombre. Just recently I had a small chat with him, where I asked him about his latest opus Vacuum, his work for Les Acteurs de l’Ombre and finally his views on the (black) metal scene and plans for the future. He revealed some interesting things, only for the readers of our webzine.


MR: Hail Vaerohn. Please tell me something about the very beginning of your personal involvement with metal music, but also about the Pensées Nocturnes.
Vaerohn: Well there aren’t many things to say about me since Vacuum is practically my first experience. To talk about Metal, I’ve played in some bands (Black Metal, Death Metal) and I’m at the moment paying the guitar in Valhôll which is a kind of Pagan Black Metal with many Brutal parts. I’m involved in the non profit-making organization “Les Acteurs de l’Ombre” which is well-known in France for the concerts it organizes. I was also used to review and interview bands but I haven’t enough time with all these interviews for the moment.
As for Pensées Nocturnes, I needed to express myself without other constraints than my imagination which is only possible in a one man band. I wrote the first song (“Flore”) in August 2009 and others came quickly. 

MR: Recently I’ve had a chance to listen to Vacuum, and I think it is a very strong offering, maybe your best work to date. What do you think of Vacuum and can you tell us something about the recording process etc.?
Vaerohn: Well, as I said Vacuum is my first experience in terms of composition, recording and sound engineering, so that’s surely my best work. I’ve learnt a lot of things and I don’t see music in the same way anymore as well as musicians. I’ve had enough time to assess this album now and there are many things I would change if I could but for a first try I’m really satisfied with the result.
 
MR: How did you come up with an idea to combine black metal with soul and classical music? I mean, for me it sounds like a very untraditional and unusual thing to do….
Vaerohn: To be honest I didn’t really planned to combine these style. I mean when I compose I try to make my imagination leading the process and since I listen to a lot of Black Metal and “Classical Music” that’s something quite natural. However I would like to take advantage of this question to make clear that Pensées Nocturnes has no intention to make what too many people call “Classical Music”. Structures are too simplistic to belong to this prestigious genre (which is something I will work on for sure). I just compose something that speaks to me whatever others do. However, I think Vacuum is still too common and the next album will be something really personal and original.

MR: What is it about black metal in particular you like so much?
Vaerohn: That’s a question that can be broadened to music in general. I listen to every kind of Black Metal (Symphonic, Depressive, Brutal, True, Raw, Avant-garde...) as well as all kind of music. I see Music as a whole and I think everything can be good. That’s why I prefer to judge bands on a case by case basis and try to avoid prejudices as far as possible. However I can give you some names to have an idea of what I happened to listen to: Deatspell Omega, Gris, Peste Noire, Arkhon Infaustus, Sombres Forêts, Reverence, Secret of the Moon, Belphegor, Obtained Enslavement, Funeral Mist…

MR: What are some of the subjects in the lyrical content of Vacuum?
Vaerohn: Lyrics deal with many differents themes among which Solitude, Nihilism, Nature, Death, but they are generaly vague enough to let listeners enough freedom. I don’t have any messages to spread, any cause to defend since I lost the hope to change the world with notes a long time ago. Thus lyrics describe most of the time atmospheres, ambiances rather than fighting for something. I don’t have the solution, the answer. I just write for me.
   
MR: Do you have any favorite track from Vacuum or do you love them all equally as it was your children?
Vaerohn: Usually when I’m asked this question I answer that we ask me to choose between my babies so you’re pretty close. Each song has its personality and its particularities and I wouldn’t be able to compare them. Everything depends on my mood and what I want to listen to.

MR: Do you follow Black Metal scene and what is your view on its current state? Is it stagnating or progressing?
Vaerohn: I’m not really original about this point. Most Black Metal bands produce the same thing again and again without moving forward, and they even often move back comparing to forerunners. However some bands have a real personality and most of the time it goes through diversity in influences. This can be explained by the simplicity and the linearity of most Black Metal productions which are also the causes of this “stagnation” as you call it. To combine Black Metal with other styles make it possible to go further, to widen the scale of sonorities and so of emotions. I think it’s the future of the genre. Some bands such as Shining, Unexpect, have understood this before others.

MR: What are some of the bands you listen to frequently?
Vaerohn: I’ve already given a list of Black Metal bands, so for music in general: Explosions in the Sky, Chet Baker, Dirge, The Evpatoria Report, Cat Power, Miles Davis, BB King, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, Bob Marley, Alvin Lee, Rocky Fuller... As for Classical Music: Malher, Tchaïkovski, Chopin, Dvorak, Moussorgski, Chostakovitch, Schonberg, Dutilleux, Prokofiev, Grieg, Berlioz...

MR: You’ve received help in promoting this material from Gerald and his Les Acteurs De l'Ombre Productions. What do you think of his work and how did you two initially come in touch?
Vaerohn: As I said Les Acteurs de l’Ombre is well-known non profit-making organization in France for organizing Metal concerts with seriousness and honesty. I know them for giving them a hand from time to time and I didn’t hesitate one second to work with such a professional organization. To be honest signing with this label has been a huge chance for Pensées Nocturnes. I don’t think Vacuum would have received as much support with any other label. It’s real pleasure to work with people led by passion for music. They bet a lot by signing an unknown band which develops an atypical music and doesn’t play live so I hope the organization will be able to make this release profitable.

MR: There’re not many metal bands coming from France and esp. not black metal. But are they any upcoming bands that you think deserve our attention? What are you personal favourites?
Vaerohn: Well maybe French bands aren’t very famous abroad but I can assure you that there are some bands that are really worth looking at here, and especially in Black Metal: Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omaga, Peste Noire, Arkhon Infaustus, Anorexia Nervosa. However I don’t really see it that way since I put music before side issues (country, musicians, concept,...) and I think with the development of the Internet this notion of nationality has no signification anymore (in music). I’m not led by any kind of chauvinism, only the way I feel the music.

MR: On Vacuum you were responsible for everything, why is that the case? Is it because you want to stay in control of things or just because you couldn’t find any other skilled musicians in your area?
Vaerohn: I’m surrounded by a lot of musicians (what was useful to have access to many instruments and equipment by the way) and I often play with them in other projects, so you can imagine that the choice of one man band was indeed led by the need to obtain something that really fits to me. This configuration gives me the opportunity to express myself without other constraints than my imagination. It’s really difficult to work in symbiosis within a band and concessions aren’t easily made when related to art that’s why I needed a project that was the exact image of how I see it. We talk about composition and performance but also about recording and production in order to control everything.

MR: Are watching sports? I guess you French are all crazy in love with cycling and Tour de France. Any prediction for this year’s Tour?
Vaerohn: I do a lot of sport but I don’t really watch it on TV. Actually I hardly watch TV. Yes French people are really found of Tour de France but I think the most popular sport here is Football (soccer), which lasts the whole year long except in summer. I can hardly help you on this one then.

MR: What about food you prefer eating most?
Vaerohn: French people are famous for their gastronomy and I had the chance to have parents and grandparents who still take time to often cook very good food. But I don’t have any favourite dish. I may say that my approach of gastronomy can be compared to my music’s one.

MR: What are your future plans, both privately but also in connection with this project, Pensées Nocturnes?
Vaerohn: I’m already working on the next album when I manage to find time between these interviews but there is still a lot to do. Thus I can’t say a lot of things except that it will be something less kind, more unhealthy and dissonant. As I said Vacuum is my first experience and I’ve learnt a lot of things. There will be a lot of surprises, something very personal. At the same time I’m working on a soundtrack for a shot film, and also other project more or less important.
As for my private life I don’t think there is something interesting to say.

MR: Btw. I always wanted to ask you what the exact meaning of Pensées Nocturnes is. Can you translate it to English?
Vaerohn: Well to make a word for word translation, it means “Nocturnal Thoughts”.

MR: Have you ever performed any of the songs from Vacuum live?
Vaerohn: No, I haven’t and I don’t know if a concert would be something suitable for this music. For the time being the priority is the band’s discography. I’m not convinced being able to share as easily as I’m able to do with an album and that’s why I don’t want to lose time trying to set up a line-up only for promotional interest or to do like everyone. It’s not a final decision but the priority is really the next album for the moment. Clearly if something has to be planned, it can’t be a common concert, something that really fits to Pensées Nocturnes. It’s too much to think about for the moment.

MR: So, I guess no chance to see you anytime soon in Denmark?
Vaerohn: Well, maybe will I go study in Denmark next year but no chance to see me performing there for the moment as well as everywhere else.

MR: Say your last words in order to close this interview…
Vaerohn: Well thank you for your time and showing interest in Pensées Nocturnes. I wish you all the best for the future, Metal needs people like you to last.

MR: Thanx & big Hails from our dark kingdom of Denmark.

Interview done by Bato