Interview mit Mihály von The Moon And The Nightspirit

Currently the music industry has come to a standstill for the a large part because of the corona virus. How were you affected by the pandemic and the measures taken against it with regard to THE MOON AND THE NIGHTSPIRIT?
Actually, it wasn’t that tragic for us. This „home arrest“ was quite draconic indeed, but since we had no plan to leave our home in this „album-creating“ period anyway, it wasn’t unbearable. We work in our own recording studio and there were no live shows booked for this time.

How do you think this standstill of the music industry will affect it in the long run?
I think this pandemic hit the booking agencies and concert organizers the most. It will surely be hard for them to recover, but I think eventually everything will go back to the normal, or at least I hope so. As for the bands who are constantly on the road playing live gigs, this situation must be a real nightmare, I assume. Most of the bands are financially dependant on concerts and selling merchandise, so it’s not easy. However, this whole situation doesn’t stop creativity, so I’m looking forward to a boom of exceptionally creative releases in the near future, now that the bands have some bonus time to manifest their musical ideas.

Many bands have postponed the release dates of their albums due to the pandemic. Why did you release your new record „Aether“ as planned anyway?
It was a two-year song-writing period for us, and the release date had been set long ago. We, together with our label Prophecy, didn’t want to postpone the release date. Though we play live shows quite frequently, we are not a constantly touring band. Not being able to do an album-release tour is not a factor that made us change the already discussed release date. Not to mention that „Aether“ in my own opinion could be a perfect album to listen to in these hectic and chaotic times of seperation and anxiety. For some it could be a time of self-reflecting, inner observation or meditation. „Aether“ might be a good background music for this.

With its artwork and partly also with its music „Aether“ makes a slightly more modern impression than your previous releases. Did you deliberately intend it that way and if so, for what reason?
From the moss-grown, ancient forests we ventured into the star-manifested cosmos and celestial distances this time. This concept is reflected in both the artwork and the music. It was a deliberate decision to slightly change or rather re-adjust our musical approach to fit this new concept. We used more keyboards and piano this time to create a more cosmic and epic atmosphere. Instead of using violin on this album, all the string melodies are played with morin khuur, which adds an ancient yet spherical and more ethereal aura to the songs. I think there is a healthy balance between the ancient and the modern on „Aether“. That was our main goal anyway.

I can imagine that some of your fans, who are used to your rather primeval visual language and sound, might be dismissive of this more modern expression. What do you think about that – do „old“ and „new“ always have to contradict each other?
Yes, there is a possibility that there will be some fans, who won’t like this slightly new approach. From our perspective, however, these are not major changes and the root and source of our musical ideology remained the same. We were never a „medieval folk“ band playing old, ethnic songs and always tried to do something different and progressive. Those who followed our musical journey from the beginnings do already know this. We live in a modern world and this surely affect us in a way or an other. Musically, we are not trying to resurrect a long-dead era, rather awakening and rekindling those ancient flames to create a new golden world, based on the spiritul heritage of the old.

On „Aether“ you partly even use electric guitars, which is quite untypical for your music. For what reason did you decide to go for that?
We came from a metal background. We both played in metal bands before forming THE MOON AND THE NIGHTSPIRIT. The use of electric guitar therefore was not alien to us. It was used in two songs of „Aether“. Though not in the foreground, it enriched the sound and added some spatiality to the atmosphere.

Although your songs sound very rich in the sense that you use many instruments without putting one of them in the foreground, some of the new songs appear a bit more reduced with simpler melodies („Kaputlan Kapukon Át“, „Logos“). What’s that about?
You might be right, we simplified some of the melodies and used a more straight-forward and direct approach in a few songs.

Was the creation process of the album a learning process for you – especially with regard to the small stylistic readjustments?
Absolutely. A new album is always the outcome of a learning process. It took three years to finish the album, we did not hurry things at all. We revised the songs from time to time, always listening with „fresh ears“ and changing minor or major things here and there. We knew what kind of atmosphere we wanted to create right from the beginning and we experimented with a lot of new things, instrumentation and approaches to achieve it. With „Aether“ we introduced a lot of new exciting and innovative elements to our musical world.

In my perception „Aether“ has a similar spherical aura as „Metanoia“ and seems to follow a similar path in terms of lyrical content. To what extent is this accurate from your point of view?
Lyrically, all the songs of „Aether“ are dedicated to the realization, revelation and empowerment of the boundless inner cosmos, the Great Infinite Source. They are meditations to unravel and strengthen our connection to our own higher self. It is indeed a continuation of the lyrics and concept of „Metanoia“, now from a higher, cosmic and more open perspective.

Your older albums sound a bit more earthy and tangible. How do you think in retrospect about your early works?
All the the earlier albums were important waypoints in our musical journey to arrive here, where we are now. We ourselves changed a lot through this journey and all the albums are manifestations of our actual, ever-changing and evolving mindset and spiritual growth. We still take our inspiration from the same source. What changed is our point of attention and observation of the experienced world of matter and spirit.

As far as I got it correctly, „Aether“ is about spiritual themes like the essence of the soul and its connection to the world as a whole. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?
The lyrics are generally about our connection with the higher planes of existence, the spiritual world. They are about the search for the cosmic unity of all, the returning to the primordial source of all creation, the initiation to the great unknown, the awakening of the higher self.

Your work generally has a strong transcendent component. Do you think that non-spiritual listeners might not experience your music as vividly as your spiritual fans?
I think one don’t need to be spiritually „educated“ in order to listen and understand our music. Listening to music and submerging into a musical world is in itself a spiritual act, a kind of meditation.

I also have the impression that the new songs are more instrumental, but at the same time your voice can be heard more often. What inspired you to this little reorientation?
It was our intention to write an album with oscillating powers, changing forms all the time like a wave, still retaining a common foundation. This duality of ebb and flow, hiding and revealing is a new aspect in our music, a necessary step to add more versatility to our musical world. With the introduction and significant presence of male vocals our music became more powerful, creating an expanded and dynamic atmosphere. The feminine and masculine powers are now equally present, intertwining with each other, creating a swirl of polarities, merging into a new-found unity and wholeness.

It is also said that the masculine aspect of your music is now more apparent and therefore balances the feminine part. Does this simply mean that you are now contributing more of your vocals or is there more behind it?
As written above it was a necessary step, something we wanted to intoduce as a new element. The fragility and pureness of the female voice now balances with the power and strength of the male voice. A unity of dualities.

What significance do the masculine and the feminine hold for you in today’s world, in which this dichotomy is increasingly being broken up and old gender norms are being reconsidered?
We follow the „old“ traditions in this sense, but have no problem with other approaches. All should believe in whatever they want to. Each people have their own, unique truth, and have the right to express themselves however they want to, identifying themselves with whatever ideas and world-views they see fit. It makes us unique and free to experience this ephemeral world of matter. It is a wonderful thing, as long as one world-view is not being imposed upon others as a general, dogmatic one, that’s when problems come and conflict arises.

While some bands are merely working together on a professional level in order to realize their artistic ideads, others also share a deeper connection or friendship. How would you, Ágnes and Mihály, describe your relationship to each other in this regard?
Yes, we are in a unique position in this sense, as we are not only partners in creating music but in life as well. It is a wonderful experience for us. We are best friends and a couple as well sharing the same ideas and world-views, and following the same path. We are „twin-flames“ seeking the same answers and this makes things much easier. We rarely need to make any compromises regarding the musical path we want to follow. We work in our own recording studio and we play and record all the instruments ourselves for an album. Free flow of creativity without any „outer“ interventions. Just the two of us, creating our own musical world.

What are your next plans for THE MOON AND THE NIGHTSPIRIT?
Right now we are preparing everything and doing the finishing touches for „Aether“. If the world situation subsides and things go back to normal we’d like to do a small tour to present the new songs. We’ll see and hope the best.

Finally, I would like to go through a short brainstorming with you. What do you think about these terms?
Dead Can Dance: Exceptional and inspirtional artists, pioneers.
George Floyd: A sad story, later used for an agenda to divide humanity further.
Nihilism: Escape route of a desperate and confused mind in a world bereft of hope and light.
Neo-paganism: The ancient flame reborn.
Electronic music: Art of a technophile era.
Climate crisis: Another way of fearmongering.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers?
Thanks for the interview. Shine your light!

Publiziert am 22. Juni 2020 von Stephan Rajchl