Nero Bellum is the driving force behind the US industrial black metal act Psyclon Nine as its songwriter, lead vocalist, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist and producer.
’NFRN°’ is a solo album and was recorded live over two years. Each track is an exploration of modular synthesis and was improvised, with no overdubs or computers used in the creative process, resulting in a collection of ominous, heavily atmospheric, percussive, dark and experimental electronics.
Bellum states: “We live in a time in which electronic music has become foolproof and ‘œperfect’, with a level of mathematical and computational precision never seen before. To my ears this perfection has become stagnant to the point of sterility. With most music being entirely composed within a virtual environment, I decided to embark on a journey to find physical instruments that would resonate with my desire to create an antithesis to the current state of electronic music. My goal was to find songs through experimentation while capturing every click and pop in the process. Every imperfection that would otherwise be edited out and discarded would be celebrated and pushed forward to the centre of my canvas.”
He adds: “My journey would guide me into the world of modular synthesis, with the concept of an instrument that could be customised and reconfigured to my liking being very appealing. While many ’fixed-format’ synthesizers offer presets that can promote repetition, modular synthesizers force the user to build an instrument from the ground up. Following in the footsteps of West Coast pioneers such as Morton Subotnik and Suzanne Ciani, I became enamoured with the Buchla format and philosophy. Using controlled uncertainty to invoke evolution and exploring harmonic relationships as they apply to modulation to cultivate new timbres. Allowing the instrument to have a vote in an otherwise undemocratic symbiosis. ‘NFRN°’ is the result of these experiments. While hundreds of hours of music have been recorded, eleven tracks were chosen to showcase the broad range of emotion that can be accessed. Each is a reflection of a feeling in a fleeting moment."
NFRN° TRACKLISTING