Umbra comes from Poland. The duo has released it's debut album on Polish Fluttering Dragon Records. Musicvise it reminds me rituals of long dead Norwegian duo Aghast. If you like Aghast then you migh want to check out Umbra. their album is really dark and full of evil.

I was told that UMBRA is duo. Is the true? And please tell me about band's history. For how long does the band exist? Why did you decide to start it? Etc.

There is no so-called history of Umbra. It exists somewhere in the space since ever. Me and Matthias are mere souls who try to render Umbra audible.
This was me who caused recordings to start. I had explicit vision of the atmosphere that was to be created- I knew exactly what I wanted to hear... It is unutterable fortune I met Matthias then. Not only was he eager to offer his help but also he did get Umbra's meaning.

Oversimplifying things, Matthias is responsible for technical problems and "developing" our music ideas whereas I am for the whole atmosphere. He takes care of body, me of soul.

UMBRA is your first band or you have some musical background.

As for me , I was contributing to a death noise industrial band D.ZONE for some time [maybe some of you happen to know it as the band still exists and has just released its 4th material in the cassette format]. The music of D.ZONE "was" very very harsh [title of one of the materials is "Executions" so you can imagine what the music was like], all my vocals were processed. I liked it [and still do] nevertheless it only partly reflected my feelings/ emotions....whereas umbra - does entirely.

As far as Matthias is concerned, except for umbra he is also a member of very famous gothic band in Poland ARTROSIS [they've already celebrated the 5th birthday and released 3rd album]

Are there any other recordings of UMBRA except Ater?

Believe me or not, but there are none... It's really "funny"- all tracks we had composed were used for 'ater'. And as our publisher asked us to send a song for Fluttering Dragon compilation [the one that has never been published anywhere and will not be] we told him we had no such "unnecessary" songs. We just had to specially compose a one for the purpose.

Your album Ater was released some time ago and today you can se the results. Was it successful release? How many copies were sold so far? I've heard that the album has some success in Germany...

..... I think it is quite successful release.... I base my belief, first of all, on the reviews which ALL were so much favourable - the result and simultaneously the proof of this is that umbra receives a great number of interviews. Furthermore, since November we've played 6 concerts which is a lot I think [after all, the music is not at all for 'fun' in the shape of jumping, head-waving etc. that most people want to do during the gig; moreover, people do not yet know the songs, ...sometimes don't even know the kind of music].
About 2000 copies of 'ater' have already been sold - majority of them just in Germany...

I'm more than sure that you have seen some reviews of your album in media. I bet you had positive ones and negative ones. Pretty often people who write totally negative review do not understand the music. What about your case? Do you think that those negative reviews were honest and constructive? And did they affect you in any way?

....I really feel 'confused' telling you that ...none of the reviews was negative... [one thing is that, from what I know, all people who reviewed 'ater' were the 'proper' ones, I mean those who are deeply familiar with ambient cliche and CMI-act-sounding].

Only once I read that the reviewer was very sceptic about the concept that says Evil Rules the World. I assume the person believed that Evil symbolized Satan... - if it would be so then I would also consider the concept to be trivial and childish. Sadly enough, he did fail to make effort of his brain and put his consideration a little bit further.

Usually if people want to describe your music they say that it's in vein of AGHAST or NACHT, both acts from CMI. What do you think about this description and what do you think about above-mentioned bands?

Unfortunately, I haven't had chance of listening to Nacht [only one song on Absolute Supper] but Aghast is much known to me. As for the latter, I consider it to be a real masterpiece of witchcraft performance. Maybe there is only one weak point of the record - once you listened to it, you do not feel like listening to it a second time; the truth is, a long time passes before you play it again.
What do I think about "this" description? I'm VERY glad to hear that.... Secretly, I hope there will appear some other WITCHY bands, and together we will manage to create a separate branch of ambient which will be the musical version of witchcraft....

I do not want to talk about your music cuz I think that it's pretty personal stuff and people must experience this music by themselves. Let's talk about your philosophy. As far as I understand it's based on Evil. Even more, I think this word is used in your booklet too often. So, what is Evil for you? The concept of Evil is too general. For some people something is evil but for others the same thing is good. It just depends on the side you look at this.

Exactly! And this is what I wanted to achieve by writing down this concept - to make listener THINK if it is this way or that way, ASK yourself questions, PONDER upon the subject. The concept's job is not to state the condition of things... but just to make a listener think about the world - what is the core of it, what rules the world...

...From my point of view this is Evil... - the opinion originates from the experiences of my inner world which have been and still are 'negative', coming down to one conclusion that the 'only' thing one encounters in life is.... suffering.

And this is when Evil occurs- when living creature SUFFERS psychically and physically alike.

Evil sinister things like greed, lust, pride are called sins by Christian church. But the same things are main and most important things in ideologies like Satanism, Left Hand Path and paganism. What is your view on religion? You say that the soul controls over the body so you probably believe in God as well. Or not?

I accept NO religion as nobody/nothing is 'allowed' to decide on my inner-thought.

That's why I'm so interested and mentally involved in Witchcraft that is NOT a religion.... ! We only can consider it to be the "Knowledge Of" [religion has fixed and written down rules to OBEY, many limits are put on you, there is a hierarchy- nothing of these will you find in witchcraft]. Being a member of any religion is from my point of view a sign of great mental weakness and lack of self-determination [I've certainly offended many people now - sorry then !] Shoo with either Christianity or Satanism....

.....shoo with a god, as well... There is only some Energy that surrounds us - unnamed, undiscovered, ...untouched.... - and so is Soul.....

How do you write your music? For example Xak, your label boss, tells that he writes his music during some nights and his music is like a snapshot of some special moment of time, he does not modifies his music later. At the same time many bands bear their music inside for many months or even years and their every song is the result of long and careful work. What about you? Does it takes much time for you to create a song?

...when it comes to creating-

I Deprive Myself of the Body
Dwell the Space
Free I Rise
I am Nowhere...

...-mental isolation is achieved... and my mind is 'naked' and by this utterly sensitive/creative/imaginative, being able to compose the whole track just on the base of SINGLE, previously heard sound; SINGLE, previously read, word; SINGLE, previously seen, picture. In other words, I'm given just 'the very beginning', and automatically the whole rest is created...

Being in this kind of suspension, single sound [as well as word, picture, experience etc] is like a stab that, instead of pain, brings about delight - that is creation.....

Generally speaking, if there is The Moment [sometimes it comes six days running, sometimes I must wait the whole month...] the track is composed within two hours [I mean only the core of a song /soul/, the whole rest /body/ can be composed at any time]. As it was in "ater's" case we managed to compose six (!) tracks [that remained unchanged and the "original" versions of those we can hear on the album] within 2 days , ...for only we "had" The Moment.

I find your music very personal and I can't listen to it if there is someone else in my room. But I know that you had gig. So, how can you perform such music in front of many people? What about reaction of the public?

...umbra has played 5 concerts so far...

There are always many candles on chandeliers, red lights and smoke [unfortunately, no club allows to use pyrotechnic effects- I mean especially "blowing" of fire]. People always behave in the same way- they sit like enchanted ones, motionless, in absolute silence.
Vocals are totally different from those on the album- much more enriched with screams, murmurs, additional lyrics, they are adapted to the given situation/atmosphere. Generally, I try to play different roles during particular songs making the whole performance to be like a theatre [I make various strange movements for instance]. Once, I remember I wanted to make "crying" vocal- I so entered into the spirit of the 'role' that suddenly I felt ....dropping tears on my cheeks.....

You made the very right observation - how it is possible to perform such personal music in front of many people... It is difficult and not a nice thing showing your Inner-Self to the audience but .... I do not degrade myself doing this.... - both sides take advantage of a gig.

Before concert begins I concentrate a lot, then wear sun - glasses and enter the stage ...to tell people about themselves.....

Your songs don't have much lyrics. Is that because you think that lyrics are not important?

No, I don't. In my opinion large amount of the lyrics wouldn't simply suit the 'ater' music and atmosphere. They have to be that way as only in such a form they enrich the music and act as complement [not as an unnecessary element]. In 'ater' case only in such a form the balance between lyrics and music is kept.

Two songs on Ater are in Polish. Why did you decide to use your native language? Will you continue to use it in future as well? Many people believe that English is the best language for music. I do not know Polish so I do not know if it's good for music. Does it?

Actually, there is one song in Polish [Fobia]. Partly, the reason of using the language was that it was difficult to translate into English; moreover I really did not feel the text saying it in English [I have no idea why...!]

You ask if Polish is good for music. From my point of view, absolutely not ! [let alone singing....]

Fredrik Soderlund, the mastermind of Puissance, mastered your album. What do you think about him? How did it happen that he took part in mastering?

He is a very good friend of Xak. Not only Fredrik did master the album for free but also did it absolutely great and professionally - ...he perfectly knows the messages of CMI-act-sounding, doesn't he??

I like the design of your booklet. And I like the photos alot. The booklet tells that Eliza also contributed some photos. Is she a professional photo artist?

I would like so much to be the one....

Who knows, maybe one day I will be able to so-call myself. Certainly I'll go to great lenghts to achieve it....

When do you plan to record your new album? And tell me about the sound of this album. Are there any changes?

New album should be composed and recorded till the half of 2001. We've already got four tracks [again there will be nine hymns] If nothing strange happens and no obstacles turn up, the whole second album will be much symphonic [it is going to be the atmosphere that surrounds such songs like 'The Realm', 'Din']. Moreover, the material will be arranged as "falling" [I mean it will begin with "fast" and symphonic songs and will end with "slower" and "silenced" ones; just the opposite of how it was arranged on 'ater'] - together with 'ater's' "rising" they will symbolise the movements of waves.... Another 'existential' concept is hidden beyond it [those who read "The Waves" of V.Woolf certainly will know what I want to communicate with].
For the time being, I thank You for your interest and support.

Lifted Above Yourself
With Thirsty Lips
Drink Up Space

Thank You For Coming With Us