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The renowned German dark music vocalist and composer Nino Sable, better known as the frontman of the magnificent dark rock band Aeon Sable and lately also as a solo artist, is back with a new gloomy project - Black Hole Samain. This new work is different from what we are used to hearing from Nino, it's his darkest work ever, and we can easily place it into the dark industrial/ambient closet. Black Hole Samain represents for Nino the celebration of the beginning and end of everything, in the shadows and light of nature divine. Black Hole Samain is not the music for the masses, and Nino decided to release it differently. This sonic-dark art is strictly limited to 50 physical copies, not available for streaming or digital download, meant to be heard only by few and kept in the mystical underground void. I had to ask Nino about the idea behind it, and he revealed a lot of interesting things about Black Hole Samain, as well as some things regarding his recently released "must-hear" solo album Sedate ⊚ Seduce and Aeon Sable. This interview was broadcasted a few weeks ago on Terra Relicta Radio, but now it's here in written form. Enjoy reading it.
Interview with: Nino Sable
Conducted and edited by: Tomaz
Tomaz: Hi, Nino. Eight months after your mesmerizing debut solo album, Sedate ⊚ Seduce, you are back with something completely different, your darkest work until now - Black Hole Samain. Tell me about the idea behind it.
Nino: Hi, yeah, you are right. It is not a long time since I released my debut album. While I was producing and working on Sedate ⊚ Seduce, I was trying to work on it the way I think that pop and rock music should be done. I was using certain structures and harmonies, and a certain set of instruments. After being such a long time in a very structured way of working, I decided to take some time off. So I travelled around and met some friends and didn't work on music at all. I was kind of empty inside. The Sedate ⊚ Seduce production was very intense and took a lot of time. So, I did a lot of “nothing”. I wrote a lot of music and did some digital art, but mainly I concentrated on my day job. Well... one day I felt that the time has come to make something different, to start a new output. So, I started to combine some sounds but I wasn’t looking for anything. It was just like as if I was drawing, what the Artsphere has been telling me to draw. So, I defined a set of instruments, and I rolled it out. I think that you might be right if you call it my darkest release so far because it really is. It is very intense work.
Tomaz: We are not used to you being involved in such a genre as its dark/industrial ambient. From where the musical inspiration and influences for such a work came?
Nino: You are right, usually I am not into that kind of dark industrial and ambient music - but I am kind of a fan. From time to time I visit a festival here in Germany, called Phobos Festival, in Wuppertal and I always admired the way these artists work and the way they produce their works. Yeah and the darkness that goes hand in hand with it. I like this “not-so-structured" music.
Tomaz: The vocals are this time rarely used, more like an instrument than anything else. Still, words are being "spoken" and I wonder if there's some kind of a message behind them.
Nino: Black Hole Samain shouldn’t be interpreted as a work of Nino Sable but as an alone-standing project. I’m not opening another box or if I am, I am also closing it right again. At Black Hole Samain I didn’t want to put my voice in the front. Everyone knows that I can sing and find some good words. I didn’t want to put that in the foreground. I wanted to have this kind of divine background built up by the music and so my voice wasn’t really necessary. I wanted the music to be the message itself.
Tomaz: The minimalistic and completely white album cover is in big contrast with dark and blackened music...
Nino: It may look a little minimalistic, but this album is more compact, more explaining and more personal than anything else I’ve done so far. Each Digipak is completely different from all the others. Each one includes random photography taken and selected by me and a random coloured vinyl sticker on the front with the Logo of Black Hole Samain. In my view, this album is very complex – although it appears to be minimalistic and “white” at first view. I like the idea of having a piece of art, that you - first of all - like to look at. This may lead you to open it to find more. Now if you add music to it, you’ll find everything. With Black Hole Samain I wanted to make the more I could on my own. Using solely the tools that I have access to. I wanted to make it as beautiful and inviting as possible.
Tomaz: How would you describe the musical style of Black Hole Samain in your own words?
Nino: I see it as a mixture of divine sounds that represent perfectly what we, or at least, what I am going through... with all the changes that hit the world in the last two years. I think that here in Europe we have suffered a little bit under the consequences of Covid (+restrictions) and the war. I think that this album fits perfectly into the world that we are living in now... knowing that there was another world in the past.
Tomaz: Since Black Hole Samain is truly one of the most unique dark ambient releases ever, I sincerely hope that you will continue also in this direction. But since you are a very unpredictable artist, you need to tell us what's the future of the project.
Nino: I don’t know, what’s going to happen next with Black Hole Samain. Maybe I will continue it, maybe it was just a one-way ticket to hell. At least I prepared a setup that makes it possible to perform it live in a way that’s not just playing the already released songs, but creating new auditive experiences in real-time, on stages all across the world. At this moment I am prepared to make live performances. Yes, it is possible. Only time will tell if there will be further releases or not.
Tomaz: On this occasion, I must ask you if you can give us some pieces of information about what's going on with your main band Aeon Sable since there was never such a gap between the two releases. And what about your solo activity as Nino Sable? Sedate ⊚ Seduce was an amazing album, will there be a successor?
Nino: Talking about Aeon Sable - we finished a new album and we are waiting for it to be released by our label. I have a lot of good new tracks that want to be released under the flag of Nino Sable but as I am working on several other projects, I don’t know how, where and when and under which circumstances, a new “Nino Sable” album will be released.
Tomaz: As you've said before, we can expect to see you playing Black Hole Samain live in some dark deviant clubs around Europe. Is anything scheduled already?
Nino: I can imagine playing Black Hole Samain live and as I mentioned before, everything is prepared. Right now I am not sure if I will find the time to do it. If you would call me today, asking to play live somewhere tomorrow, I would certainly say no. But if you ask me to play in a few months, I am pretty sure that it would be possible to offer a crazy and loud Black Hole Samain appearance in every club in this world.
Tomaz: Thank you for this interview. What would you like to say at the end of it?
Nino: Thank you! It was very nice, and thank you Tomaz for the questions. I would also like to thank the whole Terra Relicta team. Thank you for the great shows and for putting a scope on underground and awesome music. I would also like to thank all the people who believe in my artistic output. Thank you so much! Enjoy being alive!
Nino Sable - Black Hole Samain links: Official Website, Facebook, Bandcamp, YouTube
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