When I saw the email with your album I thought that old thrashers Soothsayer from Canada came back with a new album. But it was a pleasant surprise that you come from the land of Primordial and Cruchan and that’s an extra from its own. So, what had to happen, musically, emotionally and collectively, before “The Unbinding” could finally emerge, and why was this the right moment to release it?
Thank you. In the lead up to writing for “The Unbinding”, we had each left the city of Cork and retreated to the Irish countryside. This wasn’t a collective decision; it was based on individual needs and desires and just so happened to work out that way. We left our city-based rehearsal space in an industrial estate in the North side of the city and began rehearsing in a rural location in West Cork. This move had a profound effect on us, albeit a subconscious one. With our move, we found a new drummer in Ger O’Callaghan and then things began to come together at a more fluid pace. Being surrounded by the rugged Irish wilderness as we wrote and rehearsed was key to informing our songs of the bleak atmosphere. The Irish countryside is remarkably beautiful when the sun is making it’s rare appearance but for the most part, you deal with wind, rain and grey skies, all of which are beautiful in their own way, but to the average person from anywhere in the world, it could be perceived as being grim. To us, it’s home and provides an amount of creative sustenance.
“Echoes Of The Earth” carried a powerful sense of environmental rage, human arrogance and nature answering back against its destruction. Looking back five years later, how do you see that album now, and in what ways does “The Unbinding” continue its concerns while turning toward more internal, philosophical or spiritual territory?
While the songs on “Echoes Of The Earth” were written and performed in a way that was truly authentic to how we were feeling at the time, the inconsistent production on that album left us feeling underwhelmed. With every recording that we have ever done, we have recorded everything live in the room, with each of us playing at once. Unfortunately, “Echoes Of The Earth” doesn’t deliver that live atmosphere for us. Having said that, we stand by the songs that we wrote. Philosophically, “Echoes Of The Earth” made several raging statements of frustration about environmental ruination and man’s betrayal of the earth. “The Unbinding” continues this narrative, though the rage and frustration has been expressed, now it is time to turn away from dishonourable concreteenvironments and embark upon a new journey in search of solace.
“The Unbinding” appears to shed part of the dense sludge and fuzz of the previous record, exposing sharper blackened edges, greater clarity and more pronounced melodic and traditional elements. Was this transformation consciously planned, or did the new material naturally demand that Soothsayer destroy and rebuild its established sound?
In the years between the release of “Echoes Of The Earth” and “The Unbinding”, we had written a great number of songs to near-completion. As time went on, we would end up scrapping most of the material and focused on the five songs that appear on “The Unbinding”. These songs spoke to us the clearest way as they developed and were the most suitable vehicles for what the entity of The Soothsayer wanted to say through us. There is never an intentional plan as to how a song should sound as we begin writing. We do not share files or emails; we simply enter a room together and let The Soothsayer work through us. The progression in sound is organic and never forced. We will always do what feels right in the moment when writing. In many ways, the song itself will tell us when it is finished with us.
"Everything we do, from writing to recording to performing live, has a very ritualistic aspect for us."
The five tracks are like separate ordeals, yet together they resemble stages within a single ritual. Violent awakening, acceptance, recurrence, entanglement and finally a distant shimmer of possible release. Is there an intentional narrative or spiritual progression running through the album, and what condition should the listener be left in when the final note disappears?
You are actually incredibly accurate with your description there. Everything we do, from writing to recording to performing live, has a very ritualistic aspect for us. We engage with the unseen world as we work and follow our own path through it. There is a loose theme detailing the self making the decision to turn away from a society that does not nurture or care for it’s people. To shed the shackles and weights of the system and unbind oneself from the constrictions of irrational social norms and acceptance. If I could hope for anyone to draw up any personal conclusion at all from “The Unbinding”, I would hope that they would recognise their own inner strength and be assured that it is absolutely ok to be yourself. Follow your own path, no matter how it may be perceived to others. As long as you are not harming anyone else, do whatever and be whatever you want. Don’t let society tell you that you are wrong, because society is a sick old horse and that horse is not going to bring you to a peaceful destination. Follow your own path and fulfill your own self worth.
“Endless Shesha” invokes the cosmic serpent of Hindu tradition, associated with eternity, cyclical existence and the universe continuing through repeated destruction and renewal. What drew the band collectively toward this image, and how did you transform that ancient symbolism into something personal rather than using mythology merely as atmospheric decoration?
Several of us in the band are heavily interested in all forms of mythology, as most Irish people are. I have a personal connection to a lot of Hindu mythology after having spent a significant amount of time wandering through India. Believe it or not, ancient Hindu tradition and ancient Celtic tradition have many connections and similarities. In Celtic mythology we have the snake goddess Corra. As with Shesha, there are cycles of nature, life, death and rebirth. Through a number of personal trials and experience, Shesha became the perfect illustration of what I wished to express. Shesha was not chosen for mere aesthetic appropriation, there is a real and vivid connection there. If we have any rule within Soothsayer, it is that everything must remain as authentic and as true to the heart as possible.
Irish history, landscape and cultural memory seem especially present within “A Vague Shimmer,” whose Celtic guitar language and ritualistic percussion feel haunted by generations rather than simply influenced by folk music. How does County Cork and Ireland more broadly, enter Soothsayer’s music without becoming nostalgia, nationalism or another predictable version of “Celtic metal”?
We are country men, earthy people dwelling within a rural green and grey land. The nature that surrounds us is perhaps our greatest inspiration. The spirits of our land transcend artificial boundaries and create connections with other cultures. There will always be a Celtic heart within us but the spirit is of the planet, not just the country. We may or may not create songs in the future that lean more into a folkish territory but we won’t ever become a cheap “Celtic Metal” band. Maybe if we did, we would get more attention, but that is not our mission. In Ireland, Cork is known as “The Rebel County”, going back to the days where the people began an uprising against their British oppressors. We are from a land that has faced horrendous persecution and torment in the past. We carry that sorrow and rebellious nature without a doubt, but our message is ultimately one of encouragement that can be applied to any person from any part of the world. Every person in this world has faced struggles of some kind. We are here to provide the soundtrack to those struggles.
The vocals throughout the record move between narration, invocation, confession, sermon and uncontrolled emotional discharge. When creating these songs, do you imagine a single voice enduring the album’s journey, or are we hearing several different presences, ancestors, gods, victims, witnesses and fragments of the self, speaking through the same body?
Thank you kindly. There are indeed several entities at work when I sing, depending on the song. Some songs are solely using the voice of The Soothsayer, while others feature souls from different timelines, different worlds, planets and dimensions, moving through me as I recite my words.
“The Unbinding” was recorded with Shaun Cadogan at Last Light Recordings in Dublin. What was the atmosphere during those sessions, and was there a particular take that permanently changed the character of one of the songs?
Shaun Cadogan is a longtime friend of the band and is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is an expert in his field and I believe that he is the first to truly capture our live sound on a recording. The atmosphere was positive and everything flowed very seamlessly. One song that really stands out from that session for me is the aforementioned Endless Shesha, as it was the song that I was least familiar with when entering the studio. We had pulled it together within a couple of weeks leading up to the studio date and it came outalmost perfectly, both in atmosphere and execution.
How did you decide what should remain raw, suffocating and imperfect, and what needed clarity and space? Was there ever a danger that making the record more defined would weaken its sense of mystery or violence?
We never really sat down and discussed how these things should go. We just let The Soothsayer move through us and trust its word as it trusts us as conduits. We never worried about anything within the songs as we feel that the songs themselves told us what to do. When there are moments of peace and clarity within the songs, they are not forced in there; they are natural developments within the sonic story of what we do.
"Follow your own path, no matter how it may be perceived to others. As long as you are not harming anyone else, do whatever and be whatever you want."
We are living through ecological collapse, war, technological alienation, political extremity and a constant pressure to reduce every complicated reality to slogans and opposing tribes. Does “The Unbinding” reflect a need to escape those imposed certainties, or does true unbinding also carry the terrifying possibility of losing the structures, histories and communities that once gave us meaning?
Absolutely. “The Unbinding” documents the desire to simply abandon the world that we were thrown into. The earth is being preyed upon by very wealthy, demonic individuals who do not have our best interests in mind. Yet we must work for them, increase their wealth and bare witness to our brothers and sisters across the globe who are suffering in a plethora of unspeakable ways. We are taught to accept this. If you have a problem with what’s happening, make an Instagram post about it and that’s considered enough. This is not helping. They keep us at each others throats through various culture wars and social engineering tactics because they know that if we stop fighting each other and work to help each other, eventually we are going to look up at their ivory tower and recognise that we have been in prison for a long time.At the moment, people are being torn apart by what they read and see on their phones. We are at the height of these culture wars right now and wein Soothsayer choose to step back and focus on the earth in other ways. If the revolution ever comes, we shall surely be there to fight. Until then, we shall engage in spiritual warfare and create subversive art as a means to express ourselves.I believe that we are not alone in this matter.
Could this album become a defining statement for the band, or do you already regard it as another threshold that must eventually be crossed and abandoned?
At the moment, it can be considered to be our defining statement, but truthfully, we know that there are greater things to come. We shall continue working.
Finally, Soothsayer’s plans to support live “The Unbinding”with live shows or a tour?
We recently finished an Irish tour with Abigail Williams. We shall do a couple more live shows in Ireland this year and then hope to venture further overseas next year. If any promoters out there want to speak to us, please get in touch. As much as we love our Emerald Isle, it is a very difficult rock for us to get off due to our geographical isolation. That being said, we dointend on making some journeys in the near future. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.
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