One of muzic.net.nz's reviewers, and the editorialist for this newsletter, is Peter-James Dries a.k.a Amos/Anon. The music, variously described as Progressive Doom Metal and Gothic Industrial, is dark, haunting and brooding. Thanks to Peter for answering the following questions:
What has [amos/anon] been doing recently?
I’ve been working on a requiem of sorts, for my brother, who sadly passed over Christmas. It’s hard work confronting emotions I’ve been trying to avoid, so I took some time away from that material and put together a collection of acoustic tracks and made a couple of videos for them.
Tell us a little about your latest release.
Gothique Doesn’t Exist is mostly acoustic versions of older songs, recorded in hindsight, but there are also a couple that were written or recorded when I was supposed to be working on the heavier album, or that didn’t fit with the story or theme of the other acoustic albums.
There’s no back story, or narrative or theme like our other releases, unless you look at it as five snapshots from various stages of my life over the past four years.
How did you come up with the title?
The name of the collection references the first [amos/anon] release, 2006’s Gothique. It’s a testimony to how much our sound has developed since the start of the [amos/anon] project.
What was your motivation for releasing this EP?
I felt that these songs deserved their own release as opposed to being relegated to Post Scripts and hidden tracks.
Also this art project, that is [amos/anon], is therapeutic, and part of that is releasing my babies, these songs I’ve been holding on to for so long, out into the wild to be either ripped apart by wolves, or worse, neglected by the apathetic.
What’s next for [amos/anon]?
I hope to finish the album for my brother soon, and then I’ll be back into the idiosyncratic sequence of alternating between a heavier and an acoustic album.
Gothique Doesn’t Exist is available for free download and stream from the [amos/anon] Bandcamp Page http://amosanon.bandcamp.com/.
If you haven't heard of Amos/Anon, then everything is fine. The system is working. Keep calm and stop thinking. Close your eyes and let capitalism lull you back into a dreamless slumber.
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