1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
V: Gyre of Incandescents is new black metal project from Finland and Canada. I started it because I wanted to make very raw, monotonous and ritualistic black metal. Mia joined me to sing female vocals and help with lyrics. I couldn't do it and I didn't want to do it with my other projects & bands, so I started Gyre of Incandescents (GoI). With this project I want to experiment with different playing, recording and songwriting techniques in order to create interesting and hypnotic soundscapes.
2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
V: Steady, repetitive and ritualistic. Before I wrote all these songs, I wanted to combine drone music and black metal by putting them together so it would have been drone with blast beats hah. Later I noticed that the idea was too extreme for me.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
V: Lyrics are about pictures in my head. Pictures and scenes with and without humans. I see music and sound as abstract pictures, shapes in my head and with lyrics I try to find a home for them. Most of the time the home is in nature. Forest, nature, loneliness.. They are all great topics if you think about it. Nature is the best place for rituals.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Gyre Of Incandescents'?
V: It's the main shape and picture of the sound I want to achieve.
5.One member lives in Finland while another lives in Canada, what effect does this have on the musical style?
V: I think it doesn't matter. Normally I just show my ideas for clean vocals to Mia and she follows them but she is very talented singer and songwriter and I would be interested to hear her ideas too.
6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding your line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
V: I am extremely happy with our current line up.
7.On the album you had done a 'Akitsa' cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?
V: L'homme De Fer is very important song for me and it's beautiful. I think it fits perfectly with the rest of the songs in that album. Primitive, repetitive..
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
V: The feedback has been very positive. Our musical style is not for everyone. Even some people who are familiar with black metal can't understand it but still most of the feedback has been good.
9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
V: Right now I think we are not going to change musically. More ambient, drone tracks will be heard in the future along with black metal. I will concentrate on production and mixing because there are so many ways to do things nowadays. I think the next album will be uglier when it comes to black metal but those smooth ambient tracks will give some contrast to it.
10.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?
V: I'm not going to tell any names. Lo-fi music, lo-fi black metal. Nowadays I'm listening lots of non black metal bands but they are still pretty lo fi and primitive. I just love the sound. You can never find that atmosphere from modern studio sound.
11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?
V: It's interesting but I'd rather go to the forest and find the answers from there.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
V: Some artists think that when they make lo-fi music, it doesn't matter how you record them and they pick the first mics they find and use whatever technique that first comes to mind because "its lo-fi it doesn't matter". Yes it does. Lo-fi music is not supposed to sound bad. It's supposed to sound good because of the lo-fi sound. Good sound and good quality are different things. And thank you for your interest.
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