Early 2002, two unknown guys released an album on 3D Vision Records, called Entheogenic. Unknown for most people, but there were some things that draw attention to this release pretty fast. It was released on the quality trance label 3D Vision, and it was the first chill out release ever from that label. The rumour spread fast that this was something really interesting, new and great stuff. Two young musicians who had brought psychedelic listening music to another level! We have talked to the guys in Entheogenic and found out a little bit more about how they see their music, what inspires them etc.
Psychedelic trance and ambient has always been, and still is an underground scene, a kind of global underground culture. That means that even the greatest artists can never get rich by making this kind of music. With other words, this kind of music doesn`t sell very much. But these guys made it pretty well, and there is probably only one group who has sold as much organic ambient records as the Entheogenic album; Simon Posford and Raja Ram with their album Are You Shpongled, released on Twisted Records in 1998. Entehogenic is Helmut Glavar, born in Austria and Piers Oak-Rhind born in Dorset, England. They are now living in a farm house in the country side of the South-West France. But how can two totally unknown guys do so well in an underground scene in such a short time?
"I must admit that even we were surprised about the immediate success of the first album. Shortly after the release we had many of labels asking us for a contribution to their compilations. Promoters from Greece, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia wanted us for their festivals. We were climbing on the sells charts to a level where only one artist from the psy-downtempo area had been…We got airplay on some of the biggest radio stations. Being on the same list with people like – Underworld, Massive Attack – Moby and the like, was a great pay off for all our efforts."
They first met in a music studio in Toulouse in 1999 working for Emagic as sound technicians. If you look at other kinds of music, like commercial pop music, it seems like if it is really simple and easy to catch, it sells a lot. So this is something really interesting. Music that sells because of the quality!? Not many people are aware of it, but that is pretty unusual! Most people don`t want to use their time on listening to music. They want it more like a background noise or something they can hum to. They do not want to use their head concentrating about music or try to see it from different sides or levels. Most people just look at it as sound/noise, especially when it comes to electronic music. The reason is that most people just want to be one of the crowd, one of the fishes in the big shoal, just follow the system because they don`t want to get attention or act unnatural. Maybe people don`t dear to explore anything else than what the one way media is showing them because they are afraid to get too far away from the word normal? But what is normal? What is normal in your world? Normal is how something someone is telling you to be or do. People live normal, and they just see and hear normal things. Normal music which doesn`t get them anywhere. That is probably the main difference to psychedelic music. Psychedelic music makes you see music as something much more than just sound/noise. Music can show you so much, and it can explain so many things that we never, no matter how much we try, can explain with words.
There are so many feelings and visuals going through peoples minds. Things that people don`t understand. A lot of people, normal people, just put those feelings in some kind of unexplained category, something religious. But why not explore these things and go deeper in it, enjoy it, learn from it and get enriched by it?
"On Entheogenic-Entheogenic each song has its own part and relation to the story as a whole. The story’s inspiration came from a very intense shamanique experience we shared at this time.We used whatever we had to recreate this event to translate it into the most accurate sound experience we could. Exploring emotions across the sound-screen was not unlike making a film or, more accurately, a documentary.
We kept on repeating the shoots until we were satisfied with the results. We each added different parts to the spectrum. Sometimes we focused on different emotions. So we tried to compliment each other, each adding their own part to the sound fabric. Finally, we listened together to the result - the big picture."
Entheogenic has given us a great chance to travel in music.With their inspirations from different parts of the world, the nature and psychedelic experiences with for example Ayahuasca, they gave us an album you can go deep into and explore feelings, emotions, nature etc. Have you ever bin in the forest, by the sea, deep in the jungle or just in the nature and had special feelings but can`t explain why?
Why do we sometimes get goose bumps in the sunset or at all? Music can help you get deeper into these things. Usually when I buy a new cd, I just scan fast through it before I listen through the entire album. When I first got the Entheogenic album and pushed play, I just sat down and listened through the whole album without even thinking of skipping to the next track. It was a beautiful musical journey that made my mind go deep into those things that only can be expressed by music. Music is a great tool to show things you can`t explain.
“Music is a universal language. It is also a bridge between different states of awareness. Our music expresses emotions and emotions are door openers, helpers in assisting the mind to travel. We do just that: express feelings through sound. First of all we create for ourselves; it has to be part of what we are, what we feel, and our mental state.
It is not just a matter of pleasing record companies. It sometimes takes courage and lots of energy to challenge but, maybe, that is what makes the difference. Even though music is our profession and we have to live by it, we are prepared to take the risk. In our compositions we aim to create a certain psychedelic beauty with a great variety of soundscapes. We strive to keep a certain harmony in a very complex story. It is like a reflection of ourselves, our hopes, our searches and also things we do not yet understand. In a sense, it is our psychic environment. It is great to hear that people appreciate our creations, that it touches them in their roots. We then share the same space with the listener.
The sound we live in also becomes a sort of a home for the listener and then these sound worlds become a common ground. In a sense we are translating something from deep down. We are bringing it into sound and thus into awareness. It’s like an addiction. Our on-going creative process is, by leaving time-space reality behind, to go deep into the sound where we discover all these crazy and complex textures and then to discover the deeper truth through sound-emotion.”
I completely understand their transformation of emotions and thoughts into their music, but how can it come from two persons? People have different feelings and experience different things, so I would think that people would have to really understand each other and work really close to make a group work at all in this kind of mind travelling music making?
"Our work together is based on much more than musical interests. In a way we are like brothers. To work together on such a deep level requires a great deal of mutual respect and understanding. It also demands a lot from us. It is a constant questioning of values, a constant walking on the edge of what life means to us, always discovering new aspects and exciting realities.
Working so closely together sometimes creates psychic tensions between us. However, it is the common goal, the common search that keeps it all together.Unfortunately, not everybody is quite so understanding. We know our own priorities but more than once we have had to make personal sacrifices and to break-off relationships. Our work is only possible through this fusion and this alchemy of energies."
I have to say it is incredible how you two work together and come up with one master piece after the other. You are coming out with your second album soon. Will it be as deep as your first album? You certainly have the production skills to go commercial and make big money, but it seems like this is something you really live for and want to go deep into?
"Following the first success, anybody who imagined that Entheogenic would go commercial, was very wrong. Our new album “Spontaneous Illumination” is more psychedelic. We go yet deeper on the emotional level, touch all kinds of contrasting feelings, some of which may be disturbing, some may be darker, but in all of it there is always the search for beauty. We spent over a year digging and researching and put in an enormous amount of time and energy into “Spontaneous Illumination”. The mixes alone took us eight weeks.
Finally we are happy with the results. It most certainly deserves more then just one superficial listening. It most certainly will make a statement, something people will reálly understand after a profound listening. Something that will be around for a long time. We want to keep up with what we are doing; equalizing a bit more on the body and focusing more on music which makes the body move."
Entheogenic isn`t just relaxing back ground chill out music for cafes.. It is so much more! It is more like trance in slow motion. A voyage into sound, just like trance music often does to people.
Their music is so varied, and it makes you explore when you listen to it. After the first time I listened to the album, I thought: This is what Shpongle almost did, but didn`t do. They have in a way gone further in it... So much beautiful melodies and sounds. Shpongle and Subsurfing has gone other directions, Entheogenic has gone their own direction. Sure they are inspired by each other, but all of them have their unique style. It seems like all psy chill gets compared with Shpongle. The reason is just that so few people make music like this. Take a listen to Entheogenic and take a mind travel in nature, different parts of the world and into different spiritual and psychedelic emotions!
Thanks to Entheogenic for letting us deeper into their music!
This little bridge in the forest was part of the Entheogenic studio. They recorded quite some material under this bridge, like talking, water etc...
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