transformation, and creating music became both an outlet and a grateful channel to process a flood of emotions and thoughts. The fact that I was able to write so much music in such a short time had everything to do with that. The third album, ‘Echoes from the bardo’ from 2020, refers very explicitly to the Buddhist concept of bardo, the transitional state in which a soul resides between death and rebirth. You also continued to work on the concept of bardo with Mildred in Oblivion, your dark ambient project that we have not heard anything about for a while. What attracted you to the concept of the bardo to make different records around it? How did the concept take shape in the different records that were inspired by it? I came across the term in the novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by George Saunders – not even that great of a book, to be honest – but Saunders had stripped the concept of its original Buddhist connotation, and I found that intriguing. Detached from any religious undertone, it becomes a powerful symbol for any transitional phase or pause in life – between stages, between relationships, between darker days and better ones, and so on. It’s actually the very core of what Your Life On Hold is about. The fact that I later carried the concept over to Mildred in Oblivion just worked out - 9 - nicely. I mean, how do you even name instrumental dark ambient tracks without sounding unintentionally ridiculous? The bardo concept fit perfectly. (laughs) By the way, I really hope to create new Mildred in Oblivion material someday—but unfortunately, I haven’t found the time yet. With Your Life On Hold, you also released two EPs during the corona years: the ‘Lockdown EP’ in 2020 and ‘Imprisoned and exorcised’ in 2021. Did you really feel like your life was put ‘on hold’ during that period? I remember suffering more from a broken relationship during that period than from the whole COVID rollercoaster. The world had come to a standstill, but my own world did so in a very different way. That said, I think everyone’s life was ‘on hold’ back then to some extent. It was a strange time – especially tough, I imagine, for both the young and the elderly. As for me, I’ve always been a bit of a hermit by nature, so being at home wasn’t all that bad. I ended up making a ridiculous amount of music. After that infamous breakup, I wrote both a Mildreda and a Dive album as a kind of counter-reaction. And yes, two Your Life On Hold EPs as well. Like I said before – writing songs is how I exorcise my demons. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be
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