‘Click Interview’ with Caverna Delle Rose: ‘Creation Is A Kind Of Trance’
Caverna Delle Rose is a project driven by AimA Lichtblau (Les Jumeaux Discordants, Allerseelen), Evor Ameisie (Nrthgte, Camerata Mediolanense) and Diego Cinquegrana. The name of the project has been explained by the trio as ‘an intimate poetic figure, you can transfigure as you prefer, without limits of interpretation. Alternatively look at this as the possibility of inflorescence of the mystical sacral dimension of the rose within the darkness of a cave, where darkness is nevertheless a necessary condition for loss that precedes revelation and ecstasy. It is also the name of the Swedish method of condemnation / torture in the thirteenth century. It sounds romantic and the meaning is also almost similar also from this point of view’. The band’s debut-album “Elysian Chants” has been released last year on the French label Slaughter In Art. It’s an artistic creation with a strong Ritual sound and Ethereal voices. I talked about this brilliant exposure of intelligent Ritual music with AimA.
(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: Carverna Delle Rose features experienced artists, involved with different bands. What brought you together and what incited you to start this new project?
AimA:I have known Evor for over twenty years and we have always found tangent points in the way we see things. This is very important for the purpose of fluidity during the creative act.
He knows me very well and I don’t need to speak to explain where I’m going to go. This is because generally the concepts start from me, it is true, but the seed of every concept is still hiding in all members, both from a cultural and a creative point of view: this is fundamental.
The same is for Diego.
We have chosen each other over a long time; not simply because we wanted to create a musical project. Let’s say that the common denominator is our life experiences, our way of seeing things, our desires, our utopias.
I am sure that collaborators are not chosen, but they’re travel companions, which is a very different thing. As for collaborations, I believe they are rarely good things.
Q: What’s your way of working together? What’s the precise input of each member and what are the main instruments you’re using? And what can you tell us about the production of the vocals?
AimA:Normally I start from the concept that it is almost always a need, driven by particular experiences that are not necessarily earthly.
In the case of this work we started from the Orphic Hymns which in themselves already have a great depth both from a conceptual and spiritual point of view.
As previously said, it is important that members share similar ways of seeing things: this avoids having to explain the concept and the work and it allows to start creating immediately. By this I mean that our creations are very instinctive, never too thoughtful.
Evor creates atmospheres where my voice finds a way to express itself very easily, even crossing with his voice that I find incredibly beautiful.
Diego embellishes with sounds and soundscapes, also taking care of the whole visual part.
“Elysian Chants” was born during these years of poor mobility, so we worked mainly at a distance, but I think it would happen even without this type of prohibition to which we have been subjected.
As I said the feeling is so high that we don’t need to talk that much and this also affects the creative flow which becomes very instinctive and felt.
As for the voices, I generally work on all the voices and I also do their editing. The peculiar thing that I have never said is that what you hear is what was instinctively created during improvisation. I never remake the ‘melodies’ except for parts where I have to correct the pitch. This is because in my opinion the creative act is always inspired, we are only means. Therefore creation must not be too filtered by the mind.
Q: You already mentioned the conceptual approach of the project but can you give us more details about “Elysian Chants”?
AimA:As I was saying the work started from the desire to express the atmospheres coming from some Orphic Hymns.
I simply wanted to bring the atmosphere of the Night, the magic of the West Wind, the fierce rush of the Erinyes, the cosmic explosion of Creation, the icy wind of the Moira. I simply wanted to do this, sometimes not sticking to the lyrics, but deriving only the invocatory status
Q: Sound-wise the songs have a strong Ritual approach mixed with Ethereal chants. How do you perceive the content and the sound you create? Did you handle specific criteria and/or references during the writing- and production process?
AimA:No, exactly as I said, creation is a kind of trance for me. I don’t compose because I wouldn’t be able to. The melodies come from a deep feeling, from a connection that is beyond this world. Otherwise I would find no sense in making music or writing.
When I write or sing I do it in a kind of possession state that is very different from creative inspiration. This can also happen during live shows. I leave this earthly part for a moment and I am captivated by something that I can’t define, but I like it.
Q: The album wants to be a ‘bridge between ancient practices and beliefs and contemporaneity’. That’s an interesting- and ambitious aspect as I think our ‘western world’ has seriously lost the connection with ancestral rites and practices. How did it happen and what’s your perception of ‘modern world’ and ‘modern times’?
AimA:I feel I can speak for all three, but for convenience I will use the first person. It is true that modern times, especially in Western civilization, have lost much of their ritual traditions, but this is not the case for everyone.
If you live in a big city you may be more easily engulfed by these ‘modern times’, but in less contaminated places (for example where I live) the absence of worldly things and an overbearing presence of Nature, easily lead you to a connection with everything what appears to be lost.
Perhaps we have lost the collective rituals, but I believe that everyone could recover their contact with Nature (for example), living in Her rituals what has always belonged to us. It is quite another thing to recognize the energies that operate around us, but it would be a long speech.
However, the work that takes its cue from the Orphic Hymns goes through with simplicity and effectiveness even those that are archetypes and emotional states with which everyone can measure themselves.
Q: “Elysian Chants” has been released in times of ongoing pandemic. What does that mean for musicians and especially for a new project like yours? How do you expect things evolving and what are the further plans for Caverna Delle Rose?
AimA:Yes, as I told, we had no problem in creating during this period and it won’t be different in the future. We live faraway and we all have a busy life, then it is not easy to meet. But what I can say is that we don’t need it at the same time.
Personally, the pandemic has pushed me to slow down the pace of work and therefore to have more time not so much to create, but to put myself in the mental and soul state to welcome that ‘spirit of creation’ that does not always appear and that the daily life does not always allow to welcome.
As for upcoming projects, we certainly still have a lot of things to say, so it won’t be long for you to have our new ones.
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