I can’t really trace my journey between The 100 Club and the conjunction of four tree trunks in an ancient wood in North London, but this is where I chose to start writing this review. It might have something to do with the fact that it’s been three years since I found myself in this mindset again, almost as long as it has been since I was last in The 100 Club.
This is the second part of our interview with the band ATARAXIA. You can read the first part of this interview here.
Blauerosen: I find the connection you have made at so many levels (aesthetics, subject matter of the album) between the four stages of magnus opus and the four elements fascinating. I find it enlightening that you talk about this album as the journey of a hero through the four elements. I sense that the word ‘hero’ is not accidental. Can you expand a little bit about how you perceive all this?
ATARAXIA, an all-time favourite band of ours from the neoclassical/ethereal spectrum of the dark alternative scene, released a beautiful album towards the end of 2022. This album featured in our playlist of favourite albums of September 2023, as we loved everything about it. The visuals and the video press release intrigued us further at a deeper spiritual level so, naturally, we wanted to catch up with the band and learn more about how they are and what inspired them this time. In this interview we talk about their inspiration, their collaboration with Insetti Xilografi, the role of nature and of memory in triggering moments of inspiration and much more. This interview is published in two parts.
1.Old Timer /2. Common Sense /3. National Team /4. Eastbound and Down /5. Strut /6. Morning After Mourning /7. An Ideal for Living /8. Points of View /9. Eazy Being Lazy /10. Solidarity Song
Release date: 27 January 202
Label: The State 51 Conspiracy
…or else an ode to a disenfranchised leftist youth
First things first – it has been a while since a band has put messages across in such powerful ways. Indeed, it has been about five years since the release of such a powerful album by a different band aimed at an audience with similar political beliefs but a very different idiosyncrasy. Hotel Lux are named after a safe house hotel in Moscow to which communists were exiled, though it failed in its mission as a lot of them ended up being killed during Stalin’s purges. The band, however, has been steadily making its mark since 2017, ever since their surreal song (full with political allegory), ‘The Last Hangman‘. That song, and the accompanying video, left us anticipating their debut album.