Ossein Press Release 2011

To everyone who has followed my little recording project regardless of opinion, I appreciate you. I’m bored with talked up press releases, so I’m going to give it to you straight. Ossein is something inside of me that needs to be released. Much like a foul wind, it will either hit you, or it wont. Of course it’s nice to have listeners, but I’m not really concerned with them (pretty Krieg, huh?). I’m not a person who is loyal to any one style of music. I throw on some headphones and just get into it. Sometimes I like to absorb the wall of sound that is Abyssic Hate, or just fall into some Brian Eno, Mr. Shakur even makes an appearance or two.

The best way to describe Ossein is literally as an experiment itself. Some experiments fail.

Although I don’t think Declination is the best, it’s the obvious that people seem to connect to that album the most. I can see how you guys felt betrayed or probably more confused when I veered off into different directions. That’s just me. That’s what I like to do. Absorbing Osaka may be out of the question for some of you guys, but just think of it as the same message in a different frequency, because that’s what it is. A new language to learn. I’m fascinated by the duality of all things, and you will find that in my music. It may have errors. It may be rhythmically off at times, but fuck it. So am I.

Perception is a beautiful thing. The idea of Ossein is really about contemplating your biological existence as an upright walking creature on this earth, whilst criticising factors of delusion/sensory gratification which have so bountifully barricaded us from progress. It’s great self-reflection music. That is what most Black metal is about, really. Regardless of how you feel, I think my black metal approach to making music has only gotten stronger.

Now for my opinion. Some folks called it masterful, other folks called it juvenile. Maybe a bit of both, but that’s what came out. Whatever you think, Fuhrer is definitely my favourite music, which I’ve created. If I can leave one song behind to eliminate all others, it would be “Maize in Afternoon Light”. I wrote it about the moments before my impending death, a comment on the grand question of mortality. It’s special for me. “The Suffering Of Man” is up there as well. I lived like an absolute hermit making that album. I made the most out of my resources at the time. It’s fucking challenging getting through the whole two discs, but man. It really allows you to travel if you let it. It’s really made for headphones, and a quiet place. I admit, Opal Sativa is not as good as the others. You can fall into at times though, especially track two.

Now, about my life and the new Ossein album. About four days after finishing Fuhrer, I promptly boarded a plane and left the American empire. Thus, my nomadic plight continues. This life is fragile and I want to learn the most of what I can from this world and the specimens within it. I took refuge in small villages in eastern India. I bathed in the rivers, and wiped my ass with banana leaves. I found another layer of life I wasn’t aware of there. I met some people that embodied struggle. I understand poverty in moral and ethical terms, but it was the faces of the people in the slum communities that personified struggle. Something so instinctual, where basic survival mechanisms take over.

Music is great and all, but I find pursuing a journalistic/documentary style of photography to be a more tangible as a career choice. It’s a grand trade off. Stay in one place and essentially live in a studio setting for making music, or a life in transit using the discipline of the picture frame. My life will be a bit of both, but the latter is really what I’ve transitioned into for the foreseeable future. I’m working to become a commissioned photographer and war correspondent. Looking at photos of the detrimental events of our recent collective past, 9/11, the mass graves of Bosnia, Rwandan genocide, and the Chernobyl aftermath, one feels obliged to take notice. Our future won’t be pretty, and I think it’s our responsibility to record that, for the rest.

The world is in a pathetic stage of affairs. The few on top desensitize the rest. They stage fake terrorism, they use chemical weapons on villagers to liberate them from their backwards non-entrepreneurial ways, and they’re focused on their private socioeconomic objectives. We live in their trivial culture of neglect in our own private microwavable ready-made personal hell. This surface nuisance we call human life is on one hell of a ride, and we’re all going down with the ship.

I have not forgotten about my Ossein. Fortunately (or unfortunately for you grim folks), I have travelled with a synth. I have slowly created some new material exclusively in the medium of Electronics for a new album. It’s going to be called “The Crisis Of Meaning”. A synthetic album for synthetic world. It is in a partially completed state at the moment. It will be less vocal oriented, and more beat and texture based. I think fans of newer Boris and She will be able to digest it pretty well, the rest of you better pick up some Pepto-Bismol. It’s a lot more focused in its concept, voicing the neglect and loss of any aboriginal values in our society. It’s a very anti-colonial message. Not sure when this disc will be out of the oven yet.

I’ve built a temporary base in Australia, where the majority of the new release has been made. I’ve had to embrace capitalism, and I currently work in a comfortable corporate setting. I need some paper in my pocket to keep this train steaming ahead. I’ve put out a preview track called “The Pivot”, it’s inspired by the anguish of the Australian native people in a freshly post-colonial atmosphere, a familiar tale to the residents of empires. I think it’s a strong track; it has a lot of meaning for me. To answer your question, I will make another Black metal album… and I’ll leave my synth at the door. The question is when. Can’t say for sure.

Anyway. Being an Ossein listener requires patience. Tolerance, to some extent as well. My music will always be completely anti-monetary. Beggars can’t be choosers. Operating without physical releases, marketing, or anything that would be remotely capitalistic is hard work. Bit torrent is my preferred method of distribution. I think Ossein will remain in the bottom of the barrel, some rationed secret for the people who want to hear it. So I’m on my way to Burma, then being based in Kuala Lumpur for a bit. Eventually heading up to the Korean peninsula to do a bit of studying, and taking a diplomatic trip to North Korea, which will surely inspire a schmorgasboard of ideas & experiences. Wish me luck in this peculiar thing we call life.

If you want to check out some of my photography, here you go: nilebowie.com

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.