Congratulations on Dahoam. It’s your third album in as many years, are you going through a very creative period?
Waldgeflüster: I do not count “Stimmen im Wind” as a regular album. This was just a rerecording that we did on the sideline. It wasn’t a creative project, more a doing project. We did this whenever we had some spare time. So I would say our creativity is no more or less than it has been for the last 15 years. After everything around Mondscheinsonaten settled down a bit, we started writing on Dahoam sometime in 2019, and it was almost a year until every song was finished.
It’s a very earthly visceral record. Was the inspiration for it easy to write?
Waldgeflüster: This album basically wrote itself. Once I had the idea for the concept and took some time to fill the concept with ideas and life, the songs and lyrics just poured out of us.
The direct influences of nature on the album?
Waldgeflüster: Each song is named after a specific location in Upper Bavaria, where we live. So the nature of those places was of course a huge influence on the songs. I tried to describe how those places feel in words and then fill them with some universal ideas and thoughts on the term home. And with the music, we tried to capture those feelings and ideas.
It is beautiful and melancholic. A very personal experience for you?
Waldgeflüster: It is not as personal as our previous records. Of course, it deals with “home” from my personal perspective, but I tried to discuss the topic from a universal point of view. So while the setting is the nature of Upper Bavaria, the ideas and concepts being discussed should be understandable for someone living on the coast as well.
How easy is it to go from the beauty of Am Stoa to the heavy and epic Im Ebersberger Forst musically?
Waldgeflüster: We always had those mood changes on our records. To us, this comes naturally. We love the diversity on albums, so that is what we try to do when writing music ourselves.
The importance of your native language in the music?
Waldgeflüster: The stuff I am writing about in Waldgeflüster I can only write about in my mother tongue. I would never be able to write lyrics in this quality in English. Also German just feels closer and more intimate to me. When writing in another language you put some kind of filter between yourself and the meaning. Something that wouldn’t make sense when writing these personal lyrics for Waldgeflüster. So yes, I agree, the language is some sort of additional instrument for us.
What was the inspiration for the Myth of Am Tatzlwurm?
Waldgeflüster: The Tatzlwurm is a waterfall in the mountains near where I grew up. It falls down several meters between rocks and has a bit of an intimidating aura. It is also very loud, and one can hear its roar from far away, long before you can even see it. It is said that this might have inspired the myth that a Tatzlwurm (kinda similar ot a lindworm, but with paws) would live there. I wanted to do a song about the dark sides of the home, especially about xenophobia. The frightening roar and the claustrophobic feeling of the waterfall in combination with the myth about an evil creature seemed like the perfect setting for such kind of song.
The band continues to evolve musically, but is still heavy, where do you see this progressing?
Waldgeflüster: I have no idea what the future brings. One thing is for sure: We will always write the kind of music we want to write at that moment. That might mean we will do a folk album at some point, who knows? We grow older, our taste broadens or shifts, and we will never bend to any expectations that anyone has towards us.
MR: Are you mislabeled as pagan black metal?
Waldgeflüster: Yes, I think we are mislabelled as Pagan. When I started, I had a couple of lyrics about pagan ideas, and originally I had the plan to have this as a constant topic. But time changes and the scope of the band completely shifted towards personal topics embedded in and inspired by nature.
What drew you to extreme music?
Waldgeflüster: I was drawn to extreme music because I had the feeling that it is more honest and not as shallow as other music. Also, because it just hit a spot with me. Nowadays I know that the former is not true, and that there can be found shallowness in extreme music as there can be found honesty and deep feelings in popular music.
What are your future plans?
Waldgeflüster: No specific plans as of now. We hope to play some shows, maybe a small tour with the new record. And I feel the itch to write new music already again.