Persefone have just released their fourth album “Spiritual Migration”. It is a complex work containing elements of a number of metal genres, its heaviness and turbulence being supported by light, classical and orchestral moments. Andrew Doherty interviewed Carlos Lozano, the band’s guitarist to find out the inspiration behind “Spiritual Migration” and what makes Persefone tick.
AN: Hello again! It’s nice to be in touch again and thanks for agreeing to this interview. As you already know, I’m a great fan of your new album “Spiritual Migration” and congratulate you on a work which goes through my veins every time I listen to it. A comment that I made when reviewing the album was that you leave nothing on the table. Every ounce of your energy seems to be used. Is that you felt about “Spiritual Migration” after you’d finished recording it?
CL: Hi Andrew and thank you for having us in Ave Noctum! The answer to your question is “Yes”. The feeling after writing and recording “Spiritual Migration” was like that. We felt empty, but I can tell you that it’s always the same with every album we’ve made since the first one. Every two years we have the chance to write and record an album, and we take this as a big opportunity to express ourselves without any hesitation, just bringing out 100% in all of us.
AN: Death metal, Dimmu Borgian symphonic metal, progressive metal, melodic metal, growls, harmonies, light and dark touches – are there any limits or styles that you wouldn’t consider?
CL: We never think about styles when writing the music. For us it’s just music, and we feel like if the song asks for something in any musical direction, we’ll do it. Plus, are used to being very open-minded about the music we like and listen to, so that helps us to push those limits so there are none.
AN: How did you make sure you were “in the zone” when recording the album? There’s so much intensity.
CL: You know, we wrote the music and we pushed ourselves to the limit with every note, every idea, every drop of music. We tried to find the best ideas out of the best ideas and then work on that as hard as we could. The main goal is always to write the best music we can possibly imagine or perform, and then go further in the next album. The amount of passion in the making of “Spiritual Migration” has been huge.
AN: I can’t think of many albums which touch my nerve ends emotionally so many times as “Spiritual Migrations”. “The Majestic of Gaia”, “Upward Explosion” and the title track all have this ambiance. How do you identify the emotional heights when recording and then know that you’ve pulled it off in the final version?
CL: It just happens. You never know. When we write the music it starts to build up as we work on every part. You have the basic idea and you like it … then you arrange it with another instrument, or some vocal melody, and then one day you feel that idea as something special, inside the song or the whole album. Anyway, we’re all different and it’s beautiful to see different people getting emotionally involved with different moments of the album. You just try to express yourself, and hope for the best.
AN: At what point did you decide on the theme of “Spiritual Migration”? I sense a strong and direct co-relation between the music, words and development of the album.
CL: We were on tour with Obituary about 3 years ago. We were promoting “Shin-ken” and had a day off. Our drummer Marc, keyboardist Moe and I were talking a lot about spirituality in those days, and then it happened. We thought we should try to put a strong message in our next album, something we really believe in. We took the theme as seriously as the music so we spent some time talking with experienced people about the topics we wanted to write about. We talked a lot amongst ourselves and tried to represent the right point of view during the process. It was very intense.
AN: Sometimes bands hate their previous albums and completely reject them, while in other cases they are very proud and see them as part of their evolution. I sense an evolution from your previous albums “Core” and “Skin-ken”. Did you see the making of “Spiritual Migration” as evolution, or a completely new concept in which you started from zero?
CL: “Spiritual Migration” is just the next step. We make music because we love it and we try to get the best out of ourselves on every album. We study music and learn every day, and every day there is something new, a new concept to learn and use as a tool to express ourselves, so it’s a never-ending trip. Because of that, every album is like a picture of ourselves as musicians and human beings. A part of our lives.
AN: I can’t imagine that “Spiritual Migration” is the work of one dominant individual. There are so many elements. Was this a collective effort?
CL: Yes, it was a collective effort. As always, everyone was up for working on the album and, you know, every member has their own special skills and talents, so we tried to be smart and work on that. Music is interaction, we always try to keep everyone cheerful in order to get the best out of every band member. We feel like a family, and every album feels very important for all of us because of that.
AN: Do all your band members have different musical backgrounds or is it simply that your musical tastes and preferences are different?
CL: I could say we really differ in our musical backgrounds, but you know, at the same time even though we like certain bands and artists, every band member has their own personal and distinct musical taste, which at the end of the day is very funny for us. Anyway, I cannot think of one single band or artist that all the members enjoy in common. We are very different.
AN: What do you like to listen to normally?
CL: I don’t know. The list changes every day. These days I’m into Pixies, 8 bit videogame music, Bourne Supremacy’s soundtrack by John Powell, a lot of Greg Howe, “Ghost” by Devin Townsend and a Japanese band called “Gonin-Ish”.
AN: With so many elements to your music, how do you satisfy yourselves that the album is cohesive and flows?
CL: We don’t think “ok, we need some progressive/melodic/extreme/whatever part” when writing the songs. It’s all about the enjoyment of writing music, trying to express ourselves the best we can, pushing our limits and of course having a lot of fun. So everything feels quite natural even when the project typically is big and complicated.
AN: There are a lot of added touches such as the sounds of birds singing and classical and orchestral touches. At what point did you decide on these additions, and what did you envisage that they would bring to your music?
CL: These decisions come out once again while talking a lot to each other during the writing process. Once you start the arrangements with some idea, and that musical idea starts to come alive, then the moment leads to other ideas to complete it. When you have such creative human beings around you, it’s very natural to have tons of ideas to complete the music which is more than the music itself.
AN: The renowned Jacob Hansen was involved with your album. What was his contribution to the process?
CL: He did an awesome job of giving “Spiritual Migration” the sound we had in our heads. There are a lot of elements in the mix such as the clean voices or the final sound of the drums that made me feel really excited the first time I heard it. Also, he is a gentleman and had a lot of patience with us over all the little details and changes we were asking for.
AN: “Spiritual Migration” is a complex album and I’d have thought it was very difficult to represent it on stage. Have you thought about how you might interpret it when playing live?
CL: We’ve been thinking about that a lot. On every tour we’ve taken part in, we’ve always learnt a lot of new things from the other bands we’ve toured with. We used to have a pretty straight attitude live, you know, we’d plug in, play as hard as we could and not worry about anything else. Now we think about adding some new elements to put into our live set and bring the new songs to a new level. Anyway, first things first, it’s all about practice, practice, practice.
AN: When we met last year at ProgPower Europe, we spoke about the limitations on finding like-minded musicians in a small country like Andorra where you are from. You seem to be doing fine for now, but do you see this as a constraint now or looking ahead into the future?
CL: We feel ok about that. It’s like, we try hard to have everyone happy in the band, and we try to do everything the best we can so everyone feels at home in Persefone. No fear, you never know what the future holds for you, so all input is welcome. We really feel that we want to continue making records with Persefone for as long as we can.
AN: On a different note, whose idea was it to play a “Star Wars” medley in your live set? It’s certainly something different and brings smiles to people’s faces!
CL: Moe and I are into Star Wars and soundtracks in general. Years ago we played live some sections from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and we loved that, so one day we started figuring out the main parts of Star Wars from the sections we like the most. Then we showed them to the band, and they loved them as well. From there we started playing it live … and we can’t stop since everyone is always waiting for that moment in the show! ☺ Anyway, we enjoy it and have a lot of fun playing it.
AN: You toured Europe last year with Leprous, Loch Vostok and Ørkenkjøtt. What did you gain from this tour?
CL: Friends!! A lot of them ☺ And you know, we learned so much from every band. They are very talented musicians and lovely human beings, and they kicked ass, so we always tried to keep the high level they maintained over the whole tour. Touring always gives you perspective on the actual moment you are living as a band. We have lots of good memories of this tour as well.
AN: How do you plan to promote “Spiritual Migration”? I guess the fact that you’ve signed up to the ViciSolum label will help you here.
CL: Thomas of ViciSolum is doing an amazing job promoting “Spiritual Migration”. We really feel he believes in us and he is working hard to promote us the best he can. Working along our management, Intromental, we are looking to play at festivals and hopefully will be touring again and as much as possible with the new album out. Playing live is the best way to promote a band.
AN: I suppose it’s too early to be looking ahead and thinking of the future as you have just released “Spiritual Migration” and will want to get that out to the world. That said, the creative process never ends and I wondered if you’ve started to think already of ideas for future releases.
CL: We know we’ll start working again on another album, but not now. We need to grow up some more before starting another Persefone album. Listen to new music, learn new things both musically and personally, find a new inspiration and recharge the energy level to be able to be 200% for the new album. It’s a matter of time.
AN: What would you like to say to readers of Ave Noctum?
CL: Enjoy your life, smile as much as possible, have fun work hard in everything you believe in, and listen to yourself.
Thanks Andrew for this great interview. I hope everyone enjoys “Spiritual Migration”, and if someone wants to support us and buy a copy, they can do it from www.persefone.com or the ViciSolum website http://www.vicisolum.com. Thank you!
AN: And thank you once again! I look forward to seeing you live again and in the meantime will continue to enjoy listening to “Spiritual Migration” and your other albums. All the best to your band members and good luck for the future!
Andrew Doherty
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