take to the streets en masse.At present, the fate of humanity rests in the hands of villains who will not hesitate to drag anyone into their fall.This must be stopped! The guitars are strikingly present in the mix this time.They were also present before, but were always in the background.Whydid you give themamore prominent role now? When the tracks were being created, I found that the guitar sound fitted well into the atmosphere and theme of the album.A guitar can cry, and a guitar can also have a chilling effect or make the atmosphere creepier, and that's what this production asked for.That's how I felt. The result is a more eclectic record, with of course the minimal wave influences that we know from you, but also musical variation from guitar wave to EBM. Did you deliberately pursue that variation? Certainly, I did pursue musical variety.Actually, I try to do that with every album, but with ‘Shelter’, it worked out the best in my opinion. There's nothing more boring than an album where all the songs sound alike. I've been hearing too many flat releases lately. Is that because certain bands desperately try to fit into a musical box? Everybody is free of course, of course, but I personally think that variation is very important. In the end, it doesn't really matter to me which genres my tracks belong to.For me,an album is a story inwhich different moods are reviewed, a musical journey in which there must be relief. That's why I want to alternate between sung tracks and instrumentals,slower and faster,exciting tracks,etc.I also think the order and structure in this is super important! I find your lyrics quite sharp, and I wonder why you have incorporated so many instrumental tracks on your record. Is writing lyrics a difficult task? I do that because of the musical variation, right? Instrumental numbers ‘speak’ just as well; Moreover, they are given an appropriate title, just as an abstract painting can be given a title. I also like to use sound collages with instrumentals – I did that even with my very earliest songs from 1983 and 1984.The Junkers in ‘Here Come the Birds of Prey’ immediately set the tone of the album,and I think lyrics in this track would be superfluous. The sample of the crowd chanting ‘Stop the war’ at the beginning of ‘The Power to Turn the Tide’carries the track.No further text is needed here either, I think. Instrumental songs also give an album something cinematic. I've always had a preference for film music. But writing texts is of course also very interesting. Is that a difficult assignment? Sometimes,sometimes not at all. With certain songs, I struggle with the lyrics, delete and replace words or passages. With other songs, the lyrics just flow frommy pen,without effort. You rightlybring up the refugee problem in‘Refugee Song’. Wars lead to refugees. Europe was willing to take in a lot www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 30 - of refugees fromUkraine, but if theycome fromSyria, there is more mistrust.What do you think about this? Refugees who are under serious threat or who are victims of human rights violations always have the right to protection, shelter, food and healthcare. This therefore applies to all refugees, whether they come from Ukraine, Syria or elsewhere.The situation in Syria is still dire: the conflict has now lasted more than a decade and has affected millions of people, young and old. Due to the ongoing violence, many children have lost their homes and their families. The existing infrastructure has been destroyed. Sending these people back is simply a violation of human rights treaties. I'm just expressing my own opinion. When I first heard ‘Shelter’, I thought it was the best record you've ever made. I suspect that the theme immediately appealed to me, but also the musical diversity, which is greater than on your previous records. I know it's a tough question for artists, but do you also feel like this is a milestone in your career? I always like to present the most recent creation, maybe because I’m still very emotionally attached to it, so right now that's ‘Shelter’. I can confirm that the musical variety on this album is great,but whether this is a milestone in mymusical career I really can't say... I prefer to leave that to the listener. So far the comments have been very positive and I also feel very gilded with your compliment! https://enzokreft.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/enzo.kreft https://enzokreft.blogspot.com/ Xavier Kruth Read full interview on www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be
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