Lake Of Tears
A Bleaker Cosmos

14.10.2021

Pretty much everyone concerned knows by now that “Ominous”, the new long-awaited album by Sweden’s Lake Of Tears, is totally different from any of their earlier stuff. Moreover, it’s different from anything anyone could have expected from this band, now turned into the solo project of mastermind Daniel Brennare, after 10 years of absence from the scene. Naturally the easiest thing to do when you come across some music that you don’t understand is to discard it and find something more to your liking among dozens of albums thrown to the market every week. But if the men behind this music has any value to you, you should rather try to find out what’s behind such changes. That’s exactly what we tried to do in our conversation with Daniel, and maybe after you ready this, some of your confusion will get answered, too…

The Lake of Tears of the 90s was all about dreams, fantasy and the inner world. The new album "Ominous" is about space travels, and in a new post on the band's Facebook page you mention mathematics, psychology and philosophy. How have you covered such a long way concept-wise? What is driving that evolution of your focus?

Oh, that’s a tricky question! In the beginning of the 90s – everybody has to start somewhere, and when I look back now, I’m not ashamed, but I think I could have done better. But as I said, everybody has to start somewhere. I’ve always liked to write stories, but I think when we started, life was in general a bit brighter than it is now. That’s what I would like to say about the 90s. Otherwise, not so much has changed really. I’m still writing about subjects that I deal with during my day, people that I meet, stuff that I see. But I must say for this last one, you’re right in one way – it is about cosmos, but that’s only on the surface, because this record is about illness and depression, right off I will say, it comes from inside. The cosmic thing is something that I’ve always carried with me, but you can almost call it a make-up, because that’s the story on the surface. Beneath it’s quite a different story.

More about Facebook - when you published the lyric video for "At The Destination" somebody wrote that he had heard the song when it was intended for a different project. When and how did you realize that this music and concept was going to become a Lake Of Tears album, and not something else?

Eh, he must have mistaken, because this song was never for another project. But I can say that the title and the song “Ominous One” was an old idea that I remade. As for the concept, what can I say… A little more than 10 years ago I got this leukemia diagnosis, and I guess it started already there, but my first writings after was “Illwill” (2011), it was still in a time when I felt I had come back to life and I had great energy. But the concept of “Ominous” really started to take some physical form or some kind of manifestation in the world about eight years ago. That’s when melodies and some words were starting, and the concept also. For me this concept – “Ominous One” and “Ominous Two” – that’s a symbol for illness and depression, that’s the meaning of it.

So from the beginning it was a Lake Of Tears project, it was never anything else that you have remade, right?

I wasn’t really thinking about Lake Of Tears and all that, but since I’ve always been playing in Lake Of Tears, I never thought about putting it out under another name. So you can say that it was a Lake Of Tears thing right from the start, yes.

"Ominous" is probably your most challenging record so far, and it's released at the age of streaming, when people have a very short attention span. We actually have two questions about that - number one is: does the finished record completely represent your vision, or was there anything that you wanted but could not realize about it due to budget constraints or whatever?

It's both. The vision from the beginning to the end is in there, and that’s one of the main reasons why it took such a long time. There’s a story in there that had to play out, to come to a certain point for me to be able to record it. But of course, if you delve a bit deeper – as you mentioned in the beginning, there are mathematics and psychology and philosophy, I do quite weird stuff in here that is… I won’t tell you, it’s a secret thing, I will wait a year until I tell anyone details. Let’s just say that you have to put frequencies into certain parts of your brain. It’s like you watch a movie – sometimes you have to play something for six hours to get the right kind emotion in your brain. The difference is like between waking up one morning depressed, or being depressed the whole week – that latter kind of thing would be impossible to put out on a record, I cannot put out a 10-LP album with the first nine LPs just playing strange sounds, and then all of a sudden it happens. In that kind of way, I had to make it much more compact.

And how did industry people react to that kind of album? Did the AFM label boss write you back with something like, "I have no idea how to sell this kind of product"?

(laughs) Not really that kind of words. But there was a bit of uneasiness. I’ve learned from people who were with me through this process that this kind of concept is quite difficult to understand, because it will of course be judged compared to all the other music, especially hard rock music that is there today. But for me the more I think about it, it’s not so important, because for me the reward is to really get deeper into some people, it’s better to reach deep into some people than to try to reach out on the surface to a lot of people, especially for this record.

Who are the people that worked with you on the album? On the Facebook page you mention Christian Silver, Manne Engstrom, and John Silver, but these are the people behind the mixing desk, as you put it. Or did you record all the instruments yourself?

Well, I did all of the songs myself at home at the computers, I learned a lot of stuff, drum machines and bass plugins. I have a friend called Vesa (Kenttakumpu) who’s playing the bass, the electric bass, and Christian Silver, who has been doing the main thing behind the mixing desk, is playing the drums, because we recorded before, and I’ve always known that he’s very good at playing drums. Apart from that, there’s a guy called Lars (Rapp) who’s playing the upright bass on the bonus track.

What happened to your former bandmates Mikael Larsson (bass) and Johan Oudhuis (drums)? You played together for something like 25 years, why aren't they involved anymore?

Oh, that’s really a personal question, but I think you can compare it a little bit to a relationship. I mean, not everybody can be in a 25-year-long relationship, you can say it’s some kind of natural course: life came in, and people couldn’t put the necessary energy into the band anymore.

What makes ravens so special for you? I mean, these are ravens on the cover, right?

Maybe not exactly ravens, but I think some of the ideas that I sent to the artist, Vladimir (Chebakov), who did the cover, some of the pictures there were ravens, because ravens look kind of cool when they scream. The beaks are from ravens, you can say at least. But I’ve always liked ravens, ravens are very fascinating birds, they say they are very intelligent, like cats almost, but in a bird manner.

You mentioned the CD bonus track, "In Gloom" - is it also a part of the concept?

No, not really, that’s why it is a bonus track. It’s not part of the story, but it’s still in the same vein, and it’s almost like a conclusion - you take a step back and look over the whole universe, and think about things. The main story is more direct, you’re like inside the story, but in “In Gloom”, you take a step outside and look at what you take home with you.

In general, does your story end with this album, or shall we expect a part 2 someday?

I would like to keep that for myself, really. I can put it like this: it is a complete story, I had to come to a certain place in life to be able to be able to write it down. So it is a complete story in itself, but I must say that I really do hope for my own sake that I will be able to find something maybe a little more hopeful in the future. Lucky music has never been my thing, but… I don’t know if you have seen the booklet yet, but for the last song there is this picture with actually some colors in it, so you will notice when you see it that it’s ending on a more positive note perhaps than the rest of the album.

Where does that country or blues feel on "In Gloom" come from? Do you happen to be listening to stuff like Me And That Man, or Rome, for instance?

No, not really. I know the names when you say them, but that’s not really my kind of music. That’s more of a coincidence that it sounds like country. I think I started that song with even a violin melody, so it could become any kind of genre, but somewhere on the way I thought – because that’s how I did it on my computer with the upright bass – it needs a closer feeling than a more electronic production. I think that’s a really great sound for that song.

Overall, what kind of music do you enjoy today? Do you check out new albums, or do you prefer classic stuff?

I guess I’m much of a product of my time, because especially when I listen to rock music, and hard rock, and metal, I like to go back, because I don’t really feel there’s so much of interest in the new stuff. I mean, there’s a lot of good stuff, but it’s not opening up new worlds. On the other hand, something I’ve come to enjoy really much in the last years is more orchestral stuff, more cinematic stuff. If you go deeper, there is orchestral stuff that is really mathematical, based on Pythagorean mathematics and frequencies that change. Yeah, you can say orchestral stuff opens up new worlds for me.

The pandemic makes the live presentation of "Ominous" impossible at the moment. But generally speaking, are you still interested in playing live? Would you consider doing it again after the pandemic is over?

I don’t know. I sometimes feel so old and tired, so I really don’t know. I’ve been in the business for so many years, I think this rock and metal festival and show stuff is not that interesting anymore. But of course, if you do that kind of stuff, it’s mostly for the fans. I think there will be some new context… how can I explain it? I’ve seen a lot of the musicals that I really like, so there is something more, not like metal theatrics that some bands have today, because I’m not really interested in that either, but I think if it’s going to be something more than just playing metal, maybe it could be of interest. But as I said, I’m feeling old and tired, I guess that can be helped when the spring comes back, and I start exercising a bit. But I don’t know.

We have a couple of questions about "Illwill", if you don't mind. First of all, what is the idea behind the booklet layout? The lyrics are quite difficult to read, and that's one of the major things about buying CDs, isn't it?

Yeah, I guess it is. But I think it was more of a punk style in that period. As I said, I’d just come back from my first visit to the hospital, and I had really much energy. I’ve liked punk music all my life, and I know that Johan has done so as well, and that was the time when we explored into that direction a little bit. Of course I can also be annoyed when I get booklets that I cannot read, but I think it somehow suits that one.

Two songs on that record were written together with Matthias Lodmalm of Cemetery. How did that happen? There were rumors about the two of you doing a joint project for years...

(laughs) There are always rumors. Matthias is one of my dearest friends, we have a really good friendship on a level that is really hard to match with someone else. I like to call him my cosmic brother. We have been discussing music since I don’t know how many years back, and at some point in time we even did some music together, like the project that has been mentioned. We actually recorded, I think, three songs, I think it was 10 years ago or even more, but we decided to let it be for a while. I think we are still looking for this thing that we will do together. He’s always involved in my music in some way, I discuss the songs at an early demo stage with him, and it’s the other way around as well. On this new record, he was a little involved in the lyrics for the last song.

Matthias recorded two Lake Of Tears songs for the Russian tribute album that was released eight years ago, but they never made it to the final tracklist. Do you happen to know what happened to those songs?

I have no idea! I have to ask him about that, I’m not really sure it’s correct, at least it’s totally new for me.

In a recent interview you did for another Russian webzine you said that if you had worked on the two parts of "Upon The Highest Mountain" today, you would have approached it differently. What would you actually change in it?

Oh, there’s so much! You can hear in this song that it’s someone young and naïve, and the lyrics deal with the stuff that I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing about today. In that way, I would change some parts, yes, of course. But in another way, when I step back and think of it, everyone has to start somewhere, and that was some kind of dream inside. Even if doesn’t go all the way, it at least expresses this big dream of sorts.

And have you actually considered trying to rework some old classic of yours according to your current experience and tastes?

No, not really. I think the old stuff is already there, and I don’t want to deal with it too much. But I’ve done some small things, I’ve even put some out on Soundcloud –these are orchestral versions of some of the older material. That may be something of interest. But I’m not that kind of guy who would like to go back and write that kind of music. I think it came in its time, and it’s time to evolve.

We weren’t talking about returning to your older style, we rather meant taking some of your old songs and re-recording them from your current standpoint, maybe as bonus tracks…

It could happen, I’m not totally against it. And if there would be any shows, I’m quite sure that some of the old songs will be a bit remade for that. I cannot say 100% no, but it’s not high on my agenda, if I can put it like that.

As far as we understand, now and again people let you know how much your music touched them, or how it influenced their life. How do you feel about it? Isn't it becoming a burden, when you know that your music has that power on people that you don't even know?

No, it’s not a burden! This is, I think, one of the most fantastic things I’ve experienced in life. I think everybody should get this kind of experience, because to be able to get that kind of connection with people all around the world, when they call you a brother, and they tell stories of how I helped them survive… Just recently a Russian guy has sent me an email telling me how he connected with music during a corona illness. I mean, that’s fantastic. I wish that this money, this economic system would go away because to be able to live on such feelings – it’s a kind of universal love, I don’t know how to explain these things. It’s a totally amazing thing, one of the best things that I’ve ever experienced. And I must say that during these 10 years when I didn’t write any records, it’s a little bit frustrating when I get emails like, “You have to do a record, you have to do a record, Daniel, you have to do a record, it has to sound like ‘Forever Autumn’, it has to sound like ‘Headstones’…” For those who are connected to a specific record, it can be difficult. I’m really happy for every kind word that I get, and I think I read them all, even if I’m not really good at answering.  

We've heard about your project called DJVL. Can you shed a bit more light on it?

Yeah, that was me and Vesa, who’s playing the bass, and Jussi is the drummer, so these are the first three letters in the title of the band. We had an idea to look for the “L”, because we needed one more member, but we didn’t find anyone. (everybody laughs) It’s a little bit on ice, but that’s also a nice thing because that was rather uncomplicated if you compare it to the latest Lake Of Tears record. It was quite nice to have that kind of ventilation for a while when we just jammed a little bit and did some not so complicated songs. I’m sure that it will continue, I even have plans for some songs, even already in the spring it is possible that we will do something more.

You tend to take your time when you work on music, and it's been like that for many years. How do you know that a song or a music piece is complete?

Actually I don’t. When I look back, there’s always at least one or two songs on every record that I feel are not very good. I mean they can be good melody-wise, but the lyrics are not really there in my head. I guess to have these kind of deadlines from a record company is what defines when a record will come out. (laughs) Except for “Headstones”, that one was pretty much a natural flow. Otherwise I really like to take my time. This is also a thing I have been discussing with other musicians – everybody has their own way of writing, I am… you can sometimes call me “lazy”, I hear stuff in my head, but I don’t record it, I want to be able to hear that stuff again, because then I know that it’s something that talks to me. That probably makes the process a bit longer.

How long do you expect your next project to take? Is there a chance that it will be released without such a big break?

As I said, the DJVL thing is coming up, but it’s more like individual songs. I think there will be a full album eventually, but that could take time. I’m also working on the orchestral stuff both of the old Lake Of Tears material and some new stuff. I’m also delving a little bit deeper into more mathematical music, but this is more for my own pleasure. As I said before, I have some ideas, but I will not say that there will be another Lake Of Tears record. And I really hope that if it does come out, it’s… In some way I really appreciate that I could take such a long time and put such strong emotions in “Ominous”, but I wouldn’t wish for anyone to go through such time. I’m not really looking forward to 10 years of depression again to be able to write a record.

Does that mean that you’re better now than you were at the time of making “Ominous”?

Oh, I have a chronical leukemia that will always be with me. Sadly enough, when this gets stuck into your head, it’s always also there in the head, and you get really anxious sometimes, even about a little cold or something like that. But I think I’ve reached the point, at least in this decade-long depression, where I have come out of the blackest things, and things are a little better now than they were before. But I think life will always feel like you’re on a razorblade, and just a little thing can get you to fall over to the wrong side.

Lake Of Tears on the Internet: http://www.lakeoftears.net/

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview

Roman Patrashov, Natalia “Snakeheart” Patrashova
January 26, 2021
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