INTERVIEW WITH DEHN SORA (THROANE, TREHA SEKTORI)

October 2018

Interview with Dehn Sora who is an influential musician behind THROANE & TREHA SEKTORI and eerie photographer/illustrator/designer of BLUT AUS NORD, ULVER, DEATHSPELL OMEGA.

Check out these ambient projects where you experience your world upside down by the guidence of Dehn Sora.

Be ready to be captured by this expanded, hitting darkness penetrating through your veins!

“Is it a threat, or a self-ending?”

Photo by Marcin Pflanz

How are the things going for Throane lately? Will there be new album soon?

Times of bitterness lately, not satisfied yet of many points livewise. So times of working on upgrading it. Or totally stop it for a while. Need time to reconnect and see how it goes, mostly.Felt a little of “out of my control”. Throane is a solitary place, and it's hard to reconnect with that feelings. I will be releasing a track on a special release soon. A new album is written. But will see if this is that one that will be released, and not something else. It's a matter of what needs to be express at a specific time.

You released “Plus une main à mordre” as Throne as 2017. How were the reactions so far? Which concept did you use for this album?

I think response was positive in general. I don't really realize it in general. In my point of view, none are really interested in what I do. But I feel a positive one for the release.
I never use “concepts” so to speak actually. Throane is some kind of automatic writing for me. A pulsion that needs to be out.

“Blossom made of flesh”

Throane music presents a dark splendiferous soundscape that wander from variable eras as it includes 90s black metal high pitch tremolo and also surrounded by noise effects, nonlinear structure with all bifurcation moments, repetitive passages in an uncanny atmosphere. How do you define this project and its black metal side? How do you compose your music?

I compose by urge when it comes to Throane. I compose when there's no place for words, no way to cope with things without passing by this medium that can be music, words and visual. I don't feel that it is black metal so to speak. I grew up with black metal, it's a strong part of me. But I don't feel Throane's core is black metal. I consider it as an ambience, no matter the genre / shape it could have.

You are the person behind influential cover arts of Throane and Treha Sektori. At your photos what I see is exploring beyond the human body, decayedness and deathlike silence. Could you please tell about the stories of those photos? How do you decide your concept?

It's a matter of connection, time and sense. Both Throane's cover had their history, connected to intimacy. For the first one, I wanted to paint the feeling I had at the time of writing. Being down, but still on a fight. The gesture can have different interpretations. It's a threat, or a self-ending. The son of the man that is on the picture is playing live with me now. For the second album, this is my mother. She faced a strong surgery at that time, one of her most down moment in her life. It can have different interpretations too. We shave our head because of a disease, or because you're going to war. It all should connect at the right time in my opinion.

You involve in many bands, Treha Sektori as dark ambient/noise, Throane ambient black as solo and also Sembler Deah and Ovtrenoir. What are the main differences of these projects? Which will have new release nearest?

Matter of expression. I don't put any hierarchy. Ovtrenoir is for the live feeling, Sembler Deah for the sharing with friends... Treha Sektori and Throane are my most intimate projects, since they are solitary experiences. There are no separations from my everyday life. I'm always working on new material, I'm hard to be satisfied with myself, but lots of things are under construction.

“To let go your spirit without any body limit.”

For the latest album of Treha Sektori called Endessiah, I am especially wondering what the cover art is about? Album title has the meaning of “to let go everything”, can you tell a bit about that? Can it be seen as a nihilistic approach?

Endessiah is actually not the latest. I am less into releasing albums so to speak, I've released books, video releases... I'm thinking of different ways of releasing music. Cover art is like many of my works, leaving interpretations to every viewer. My main feeling about this one was a blossom made of flesh. With a cavity at its core, showing that it is empty. Was my interpretation of letting go everything? Not a nihilistic approach. More a feeling of you're not considering death as the ultimate point, not living with that feeling, mostly living with that fear of death. When you overcome that feeling, it's to get the body in a rough experience. To let go your spirit without any body limit.

You found Treha Sektori as a “place where they fall” in meaning, so how is melancholy defined in this world?

This is not melancholy in my personal view. More a place which I'll never understand, which I'll never fit in. My feeling for creating Treha, was that feeling of falling constantly, but always upside. Like if gravity was inverted.

Have you ever thought Treha Sektori as a dark meditation?

It can be. It leads me to that point where I don't relate to a physical world. My body should be in danger. So I don't see it in terms of appeasement, more of an own truth seeking. Should be a ceremonial, a silent place.

Which language do you use for Treha Sektori? The song titles seem liturgical.

It is an instinctive language, a language that came to me as a child when I could not express my emotions, a language that came to me when I wrote automatically. When everything is jostling and it is difficult to assign words. It's a sound language, based on "the idea," something that would have to do with a "too much". Over the years, a kind of grammar has been built, a writing too. When I started the first tests for Treha, French and English did not come out naturally. I had to let things go, and it was in this language that the words came out ... and for the sake of sincerity, I would not be able to change it. To help those who want to understand, I try to include maximum translations in the artworks. This language belongs to everyone and when I say a word, if someone feels painful or aggressive and wants to find his own translation, I would be the happiest of men. They are in a way, liturgical; I don't feel a step in ground when it comes to me.

“More a place which I'll never understand, which I'll never fit in.”

Treha Sektori, Sembler Deah, Wiegedood, Amenra have gathered under Church of Ra. Is this collective a kind of ideology holding rituals, approaches, philosophy or are you interested to create art together only? To be part of this collective, what is the main focus; to be a band, to do music in a specific genre or to share similar views?

It's a matter of being there to support each other. To explore together, to be the hands on the shoulders, that pushes us forward. We're all different, but we share the same will of pushing our boundaries.

What do you think about Les Legions Noir? Are there any similarities between Les Legions Noir and Church of Ra?

I think, the purpose is to gather not to do music for the sake of doing music. A gathering of views that it should be humbly more than that. Cannot dissociate your creation to your own life. A necessity. This is how I can connect both as brethren. Something's coming to my mind speaking of Les Legions Noires. My closest friend has this basement in his apartment, looking like a workshop for his work. We use to talk nights in this place. It has this special atmosphere. A common friend of ours always wants to put some Mütiilation on those gatherings.  It always leads us somewhere, creatively or talking wise. Something that cross your spirit, leads you to action.

How are your live shows? How do you catch the atmosphere? Are any upcoming ones lately?

I'm working on improving it. Lately I've been disappointed by myself. Should be a total performance. I love when I finish a Throane show in blood. But not enough so far I think. I try to mix visual and sound as most as I can, to humbly get a “more than just few musicians on stage” experience. Connected all that at this moment. Got a list of ideas I'll try to make it real.

Could you please share your opinions for the influential black metal albums of all times?

The ones that are considered by the most influential of all times, are the ones that drove their actors in not “only doing music” at their times. It gave a direction of total dedication.

Could you please talk about your musical influences? Which bands/albums are special for you? What other genres are you into?

There are a lot; I'm not good with listing. I am thinking of some bands that gave me the engine of not fearing pushing boundaries. I think of Deathspell Omega, Magma, Amenra, Ulver, Blut Aus Nord, Lustmord, for example. I'm into any genre that is authentic, where I can feel their interpretations cannot do anything else than just playing this music to survive, to stay sane, to keep going.

Do you have literary influences or authors that you follow while creating your music?

I don't read that much unfortunately. My head is pretty much always in movement, and it's difficult to concentrate on a book since few years. When I was younger, I used to read a lot about western spiritual cultures. Like Dao De Jing, Bhagavad Gita, Bardo Thodol... Or some authors of experiences, like Henri Michaux, Antonin Artaud... It could surely have influence on me at some point.

Do you think if art is related with pathos, weltschmerz or the opposite nepenthe? Could you please tell me about your point of view on creating your art.?

As I mentioned on the interview, I see art as a total experience. I tend to not relate to a physical world, pushing the spirit more far. Art should involve body and soul at its deepest. Recently had a conversation about a show. Someone asked me “did you enjoy it?” And I felt that, of course not. Art is, in my view, not enjoyable. I feel it that much as a necessary that it's my relief, as much as it is a constant pain for me. I never feel satisfied. Never. I should be broken after a creation. It's a matter of reaching something that is not possible to put words on, in my opinion. Above a reality, but a moment of truth.

Thank you for the interview. Please say your last words…

Thanks a lot for the interest and support. I always try my best, and will keep doing.

“With a cavity at its core, showing that it is empty.”

 "We're born with the knowledge of death"