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“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.”
– Democritus
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EOS, the debut album from US atmospheric / ambient collective Starless Domain, took me by surprise upon its release in back in January. I was familiar with the trio of JR, AW and AEF‘s other works in Stellar Descent, Twilight Falls, Boreal and Bergtagen but the awe-inspiring, somber magnitude of their self-dubbed “Deep Field Black Metal” landed one day without warning and almost immediately proceeded to completely and utterly captivate me.
A singular, sprawling, unhurried study in the vastness of our universe, EOS remains mesmerising for the entirety of its hour long presence. The largely synth-driven piece begins with three minutes of slowly building cosmic ambience and disembodied howls before the inherent electromagnetism of reality forces the inevitable crash of elements together into a blasting rush of slow-burning, entropic fury – a dynamic that plays out repeatedly over the duration and only serves to enhance the trance-like nature of this dense and ever-evolving rhythmic journey. And it will put you in a trance, transfixed as it slowly reveals myriad buried secrets; it’s a joy to experience the intricately layered composition gradually unfolding in subtle increments as haunting melodies and recurring themes escape the maelstrom, resonating out into infinity and inviting contemplation in the listener. The triumvirate have crafted a record that once submerged in is not only extremely enjoyable but challenging and even mind-expanding, as it forces our consciousness through depth of sound to confront the sheer overwhelming vastness of space – and the eerie violence inherent in its endless beauty.
This thing is easily one of the records I’ve listened to the most this year, definitely top five and possibly even top three in terms of total repeat plays; so if you think I was going to pass up the opportunity to have a chat with two thirds of the trio you are sorely mistaken, my friend. So grab yourself a cuppa, settle in and read on below as JR and AW unveil the mysteries behind one of the sleeper hits of 2019. Hails.
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Hello Starless Domain! Hope you are well, it’s great to be speaking to you today. Your debut album of cosmic black immensity EOS launched digitally in January and is now becoming available on tape via Pacific Threnodies and Black Horizons, with a CD to follow soon on Aesthetic Death. An excellent occurrence, as it definitely deserves a wide physical release. I’ve read that it was the “fate of the infinite universe” that brought you all together as Starless Domain, so tell us – what was the journey like with this project to get to the point you’re at now?
JR: I wouldn’t really say it was the “fate of the universe” so much as an inevitability. AW and I have been making music together for a few years now, and AW and AEF have been making music together for even longer (dare I say much longer). It was only a matter of time until the three of us did something concrete together.
As far as the actual birth of the project, it was one weekend when AW sent me a working draft of an album he and AEF had started working on the previous day (as expected, it was already 22 minutes long), asking if I could record bass. Why not? We’re all friends, it will probably be cool. And it was! The next day, what would eventually become EOS had blossomed into the hour long titan we know today. However, from my perspective, this was all done from the comfy chair in my prior apartment’s living room. Not very ceremonious.
As the press release states, Eos was a Titan goddess in Greek Mythology – “the personification of the dawn”. Is she who the title is referring to?
JR: We actually meant EOS as an aurora, which is a manifestation of Eos, the Titan goddess of dawn.
AW: JR suggested EOS as the album title. And we all loved the idea. I also really loved it because Eos is also the title of a publication from the American Geophysical Union.
The album is a mesmerizing, flowing beast of shifting moods, varying in intensity and filled with gorgeous ambient passages that break up the black trance. Given especially that it’s such a lengthy and involved piece, I’m curious as to the creative process between you. Did you all immediately know that you were on the same page in terms of theme and writing in longform, or did one of you perhaps handle the bulk of composing?
AW: AEF and I had been generally discussing starting this project for some years. But we just hadn’t found the time. Recently, however, AEF moved to within driving distance of my house. Shortly after moving, he came down to visit for a weekend. And he brought his synthesizers.
We just set everything up and started recording. We recorded
EOS around AEF’s synth work. He wrote and recorded synthesizers, and I wrote and recorded rhythm and lead guitars around the synthesizers. As I was writing and recording rhythm and lead guitars, AEF was writing the next synthesizer progression. We recorded about half the album the first night and the rest a couple days later, right before AEF left. We sent a draft to JR, and he recorded bass. And then shortly thereafter he recorded vocals as well.
The vocal attack is extremely impressive, and I believe all three of you contribute your talents in that department. I’m especially taken by a certain piercing scream/howl that appears semi-regularly throughout – it sounds absolutely throat-shredding. Which of you was responsible for this particular vocal?
AW: JR performs almost all the vocals. His vocals are very high pitched and absolutely perfect for Starless Domain.
JR: This isn’t to discount AW and AEF’s vocals, which I feel appear at pivotal points in the album.
You have dubbed your sound “Deep Field Black Metal”. What ‘deep field’ actually means and how it relates to your compositions is quite fascinating – could you tell us in your own words what it’s all about, and what inspired you to use this approach on EOS?
JR: In a nutshell, the Hubble Deep Field is a region of space found within the space between the stars in Ursa Major, “The Big Dipper.” Though “small” in its captured region, the galaxies which comprise the Deep Field are incredibly far away, and, as light takes time to reach its destination, incredibly ancient. We wanted EOS to reflect this distant emptiness, but also the colors of the treated Hubble photos (it should be noted that any colors in NASA or Hubble photos are added after the fact).
AW: One of the really interesting things about the Hubble Deep Field is that it’s not actually interesting at all. It’s just a random part of space that otherwise holds no particular interest. That’s why it was targeted. The idea was to select a random portion of space that looked just like everything else and then dedicate unprecedented time for the Hubble telescope to photograph it. So the only thing special about the Hubble Deep Field is the amount of time dedicated to photographing it. It was that unprecedented observation time that allowed us to discover that nearly every dot of light seen in this random little chunk of otherwise boring space was itself an entire galaxy. It’s a trip.
Cosmic black metal is as popular than ever (possibly even more so, depending who you talk to), I even recently spoke to Evergreen Refuge who also found particular inspiration in stargazing for his latest opus. Space continues to be a great wellspring of inspiration for black metal – why do you think the themes blend so well with this genre, and what are some of your favourite releases by artists who operate within these realms?
JR: Black metal is all about atmosphere, and what is more atmospheric than the vast emptiness and colors of outer space? It’s all so mysterious and wondrous — black metal and outer space are like two pieces of some greater puzzle.
As far as artists I enjoy: Darkspace, by and far. I’ve also recently been enamored with the new Darchon album. I would also say some of the astral projection themes found in Paysage d’Hiver could count as “cosmic.”
AW: A little over a decade ago, I was just finishing up my time at the university. I had been a pretty awful student. I switched majors a few times. I didn’t attend classes regularly. I flunked out for some time and instructors had to sign what were effectively waivers indicating that they understood I was a piece of shit who was likely going to just waste their time and take up space. That all changed at the very end, when I switched majors one last time and got my shit together to put in an honest effort.
Toward the end of my major, I found myself in field camp. We were out in the desert. Camping for some weeks. Mapping outcrops, studying stratigraphy, trying to piece together the geologic history of our study area. And getting drunk and high every night. Most nights, I’d get really high, climb to the top of an old granitic outcrop just south of my tent, and lie down on my back, staring off into space, listening to music.
Around that time, AEF had sent me a draft of Abyss, which was a new album he had recorded for his project Boreal. I was immediately taken by the music. It was extremely dark and psychedelic. And guitar distortions sounded almost fractal. Especially when high, it sounded like there were entire universes of music inside each note. And so that’s what I listened to every night, staring off into space, drunk and high. And that experience means so much to me now personally and musically.
I don’t know that AEF meant for Abyss to have such a cosmic interpretation. But that’s how I experienced it. And that’s probably when black metal and space really intersected for me. My inspiration for Starless Domain really is rooted in that experience, and it grew over the years as AEF started experimenting with analogue synthesizers and I started listening to bands like Darkspace.
As previously mentioned, Pacific Threnodies, Black Horizons and Aesthetic Death are handling the physical release of the album. This must be pleasing; they’re great labels that have all recently put out some wonderful hidden gems. How did you come to be in contact with all of them?
JR: I have known Ross from Pacific Threnodies for just about a decade at this point. A chance meeting through Metal-Archives, of all places. James and I met a few years later through his amazing work with Black Horizons. Stu from Aesthetic Death is someone I met through my press work during my tenure at Invisible Oranges, but I’ve been following Aesthetic Death for as long as I can remember, I mean, that label’s given the world Fleurety, Esoteric, Wreck of the Hesperus…
AW: I met James at a show in the Bay Area. That’s when I discovered Black Horizons. I bought a few releases and was immediately impressed. And I met Ross some years ago at a metal festival. We have chatted infrequently since. I’ve followed his various musical projects with great interest. But I don’t know either very well and I don’t know Stu at all. And in general, I’m not well connected and don’t know that many folks. So most the label coordination for Starless Domain has been orchestrated by JR, who seemingly knows everyone after years of involvement with countless projects and publications.
The tape edition will also include something that sounds quite interesting: the B side will be a “kosmische synth version” of the album. I have several questions here – does this refer to the analogue synth emulator or is it EOS, Krautrock style? Either way, colour me intrigued… what’s the story behind it? Is it likely to be made available to hear anywhere else in future, or will it remain a cassette exclusive?
JR: The latter for sure. AEF’s performance is all analog synthesis, so think more Klaus Schulze than a digital version of the master.
This was actually Ross and James’s idea — what can we do to make the tape edition different from what is already available? We already digitally released EOS, which makes it difficult to meet the “new album” demand which comes with an album that has a full “exclusive press cycle.” Thus gave birth to Phantasma, which is the isolated synthesizer tracks from EOS. I am not certain if we will make it available anywhere for a while, if at least until after the cassette edition is gone.
Speaking of the tapes, I believe the originally stated limitation of 150 may have recently changed due to some unforeseen circumstances. What’s the story there? Do you have any idea what the updated pressing amount will be?
JR: For those who do not know, cassettes are physically limited by the length of the magnetic tape spool held inside of them — half of it held on one side of the tape, and the other on “the flip side”. In olden times, tapes could be however long you wanted them to be, from one minute (c1) to 120 minutes (c120). As times changed and tape manufacturing waned, if just slightly, the manufacturing of “old world ferric” tapes (ferric referring to the iron-based magnetic tape held therein), a new type of tape started being manufactured. Unfortunately for us, the length we needed (c120, for both EOS and the kosmiche synthesizer track Phantasma) is no longer part of the equation here. Ross (Pacific Threnodies) and James (Black Horizons) had to do some hunting to find what remained of the world’s c120 cache. As of right now, I am not certain as to how many tapes there will be, but I am sure it will meet demand.
And finally: I believe you have some more material already on the way… can you drop us any hints about what we can expect from you in the near future?
JR: ALMA will hopefully surface before the year’s end.
AW: And we have an EP nearly complete and another in the works. And we’ll be announcing a split album within the next year or so — but details there won’t be revealed yet, other than the fact that our material has been pretty much recorded.
Once again, eternal thanks for your time and words today. Eagerly anticipating more Starless Domain, EOS is already a firm personal favourite this year. Is there any final wisdom you’d like to leave us with?
JR: Make what you, not others, find interesting, and look to the stars!
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Pre-order EOS on cassette or digital from the band here or from Pacific Threnodies here.
Support Starless Domain:
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