Artist Spotlight: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words
Sweden’s Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words is the specter that haunts Thomas Ekelund. But it is a ghost by which Ekelund performs sonic exorcism, unleashing his bleak and twisted vision into the material world. Culling found sounds from his habitat, twisting in inspiration from 60’s girl groups, and molding it together with the last gasps of vinyl noise, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words gives birth to what one might name concrete drone pop.
While it might not be »musical«, the sound is emotionally charged. From bleak to bleaker, grimy sounds emanate from the sewer, while rays of hope sneak through the broken glass, reflecting on the blood stained shards on the street above.
Ekelund has released music under various guises since 1999, including Normal Music and Dead Violets, (with J. Surak) Dead+Hurt and WNQST//LNDGRN (with J. Lindgren), Winquist/Virtanen (together with R. Abrehamsson) and many many more ranging from pure noise to shoegazing guitar ambient.
Mr. Ekelund took time out to answer a few questions about his creative process:
OK, so why 60’s girl groups? Is it because they contain those heavy dense production values akin to drone & shoegaze, or are they emblems of repressed desire and longing for sexual release? Or an ideal manifestation of the two that makes them so attractive? Or simply fucking good music?
I could answer yes on all three, if I want to keep things simple. But things are rarely simple.
1) Girl Groups in general, and The Ronettes in particular can be seen as a symbol of desire. In an allegorical sense I suppose they can even be viewed as sexual. To me they represent the need for closeness, longing for some sort of reason, yearning for a touch, all the basic human needs that are oh so hard to fulfill.
2) Sonically the production values of Phil Spector resemble what I try to do very much. There are all these layers going on, and each of them might seem entirely expendable but when they add up the create and overpowering wave of emotions.
3) It sounds good. I make music and music isn’t worth anything if it isn’t listenable.
Your work can easily be organized into three approaches: concrete, drone, and pop. When working on new material do you consciously decide from the start to work in one of those directions, or do you leave it open to chance?
Basically chance, or maybe anti-chance. I’ve realized that regardless of what I set out to create, it almost always mutates into the opposite. So these days I try to never force anything. Concrete, drone, pop, they are all entwined and of equal importance.
Even when its a sunny day and you’re out gathering field recordings, do you actively search for the smaller, bleaker, mysterious sounds that surround you, or do they find you?
I have never consciously sought out bleakness, it just comes out that way when I compose. The same thing goes for field recordings. There’s nothing inherently bleak or dark in the hum of a fan or a washing machine, but if you put them in that kind of a context they will appear as such.
Visual presentation is an important part of your releases and performances. Are they created in tandem with the music, or afterwards? Have you ever created music to fit a visual concept? One can hear the visual nature of your concrete works, as they are highly suggestive and conjure up various visions and landscapes.
I find it increasingly hard to separate the two, but I can’t remember any case of having a clear image that I have tried to fit the music to. But since almost all my thoughts are images I suppose you could say that I do it all the time.
The visual representation is still an integral part of what I do, and I have done a handful or things under the Dead Letters banner that’s been purely visual, and there’s bound to be more in the future.
Explain what was the impetus to make like your live performances from straight presentations of your work into becoming more ritualistic in nature. Was this a conscious decision or did it just happen over time? What was your inspiration?
I was preparing for a regular live gig a few years ago and then every aspect of that first ritual just appeared in my head and I knew that I couldn’t ignore it. And it’s been like that every time: a clear and fully formed series of actions and objects that should be performed at a specific place or at a specific point in time for a specific reason. It’s a way of focusing energy, of forming seals and destroying circles.
I suppose the need to ritualize things we do not understand is universal in humans. That’s why religion is part of every culture on earth. Our crude, primitive minds look for patterns, tries to make sense of things by what ever means we have at our disposal. Some people are content with mimicking other peoples liturgies, but personally I believe that you have to construct your own rituals and seals for them to be effective.
Audio:
This Room Seems Empty Without You from “Lost In Reflections” forthcoming 7”+LP on Fang Bomb/Release The Bats/When Skies Are Grey/iDEAL
No Words #8 from No Words (Zeromoon 2005)
Can’t Hear The Birds Singing (Inside) from “Sally Hill EP” Kning Disk 2005
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words performs October 4 at the Velvet Lounge.
Tags: artist spotlight