Fluisteraars Interview
The world closes and opens in a constant flow that sometimes coagulates into a framework. In this context Fluisteraars is an entity that whispers from within that these rules can never last.
We have heard the source of the whispers at a closer distance and perceived something of what moves in the depths.
Text and Image:
Hinsides Magazine 2023
Photo's by Dick Hagenaars
Hello and welcome to Hinsides Magazine! Please introduce yourself and tell us where you are at the time of writing. What does this place mean to you, and if you were allowed to travel freely through time and space; where had you steered the basket and why?
At the moment, I am sitting in my studio. This is an essential place for me because this is where internal primal bangs take place and where I write out ideas and dive deep into books. I work as an artist at this atelier, but Mink and I can also often talk about Fluisteraars together.
How can Fluisteraars be best described to someone who has no knowledge whatsoever of your type of music?
That is a question that is difficult to answer as an artist. If I were to tell what style it is, it almost sounds like there is a purpose behind it. As if we are working on an end result that must be met! I don't believe in interpreting styles. Especially not of your own work. These kinds of projects that come from deep need to be experienced. It is up to the audience to share the experience and put words to it. We cannot give words to it because we make it from a deep primordial intention. Flattening this would feel like a betrayal. So listen to, experience, and see what it does to you.
If one listens to your early recordings, one is struck by a marked development until your magnificent album "Bloem" was released in 2020. How would you describe the band's various phases of development from the time you were formed until today?
Fluisteraars exist alongside our personal lives. In those lives, we go through many developments. Our outlooks change; we become more open to other art forms, get to know ourselves better, and learn to be receptive to various elaborations. As human beings, you are so deep. It's an inverted universe that you can explore. Once you always stay on the ledge of the first abyss, then you are looking into the same depths all your life. It is the idea of going from ridge to ridge through the depths. I envision that dynamic as an internal cosmic wave. That wave takes all kinds of experiences, memories, sounds, references and ideas into our making process. So Fluisteraars grows with us, and we grow with Fluisteraars. Our music appears as a searchlight, looking for new horizons.
Photo taken at the second gig in Apeldoorn
Which musical influences have been most important for your expression and where do you find musical inspiration today? Are the early influences still important or have they been replaced by other contemporary influences?
Music styles or sources of inspiration do not substitute for each other. Everything can coexist. We obviously still listen to music we listened to as 12-year-olds, but we also listen to a lot of new music. I'm not big on name-dropping, but we are inspired by many different artists, especially those not in metal. Pioneers of specific genres or people making transitions within genres. These are particularly inspirational!
Your music exhibits many of the characteristics of the Black-Metal genre when it comes to sound and expression. At the same time, there is much in your aesthetic appearance that differs significantly from the most orthodox school. How would you describe Fluisteraar's relationship to the concept of Black-Metal?
And there is another question that seeks to capture the unknown. Why do people always want to name something unknown, strange and unique? It may have to do with the ageless fear of the wild. It might crush you if you don't know what it is; release it and let it wash over you like an unknown black wave. What it does to you next is essential! It's about something other than how you can name and index it. That isn't very interesting!
Fluisteraars means "whisperer" in Dutch. Do you remember why you chose a word taken from your mother tongue and does this name have any special symbolic meaning worth mentioning?
There is an old book by Jacob Gazenbeek called “Fluisteringen van het Verleden”. Since we were so much into ancient legends and stories from the Veluwe, it seemed logical to call ourselves Whisperers. We felt that we were whispering those stories. We still get inspired by those kinds of stories all the time. We can find a lot in the woods to go out and immerse ourselves in the mystery. The atmosphere there is enormous and touches us with its misty tentacles deep within our souls. Sometimes, you can hear the highway or a speeding scooter in the distance. The monster of modernity is now sawing through everything in our small country. But if you have an eye for it, magic can still be experienced and found.
Is it possible to trace something in your expression that you consider to be typically Dutch? As a band, do you feel more at home in the culture around Black-Metal influenced music than in your national identity?
There is something in there. The Netherlands has always been a country where there are tremendous influences. We have no mountains, so there is little natural isolation. Because of this, everything always takes place in your immediate surroundings. It is built up with housing, companies, grey boxes or filled with forest. So the Dutch quickly dive very deep into certain matters; since there is a lack of space, you have to solve this internally. In addition, there is a massive influx of other cultures in the country that also get feet in the Netherlands. Those cultures also bring new entrances to attractive subjects and so on. Because of this, the Netherlands is quite an experimental country. We make inner mountains, and you can hear that in the music.
Your sound is beautifully analog in relation to very modern Metal, which one can assume is highly conscious? Tell us a little about your philosophy behind how you want your recordings to sound and if there is anything special you do in the studio to create your sound?
If you give away a lot to the machine, you lose grip as a human being. A machine is programmed with a particular morality about aesthetics. Because of this, no matter how broadly you can approach it, there is always a contrived outcome. After all, it was made by another human being with a specific taste. When you work analog, you control all the small parts of the process. This allows you to put even more of yourself into it and make a better translation from within yourself. It's a longer process, but we don't consider the length annoying. Slowness makes you speak metaphorically slower, which makes it more understandable. Speed, efficiency and ambition are things you have to destroy in any creative process.
What kind of emotions come out in your music, and are these emotions the same as what you want to convey? Please tell us if there is a thought in the band with what you want to give your listeners when it comes to the flow of emotions that your music possesses.
As I tried to describe earlier, Fluisteraars is a mouthpiece for what we feel and see at the time. We are absolutely not concerned with results or doing our best! We do what feels right in the moment, which works out differently each time. Because of this honesty, we expose ourselves, which makes many people find the music interesting. It comes in, and no words are needed. It just happens.
Art assumably by Bob Mollema @bobmollema
This issue of Hinsides Magazine is thematically structured around questions of spirituality and spirituality, and it would therefore be interesting to get an insight into whether these concepts mean anything to your activity as a band?
But of course. Fluisteraars is a spiritual expression for us. For we are giving shape to our deepest emotions and perceptions. We let them speak! And with this, it also speaks to us. The creation of an album is also very much like this. We take considerable walks in the woods, spend the night under the stars, meditate, try to capture our depth through quick sketches and poetry pieces and look at how other artists do this. This whole ritual then coalesces into music that is magical and personally important to us. We're not into the pseudo-spiritual stuff you often find in black metal. In fact, it is betraying its origins. Spirituality is often used as marketing in black metal. That is disgusting and anything but spiritual. There are, of course, forms of expression within black metal from truthful artists. Spirituality is personal and, again, cannot be explained through words. It is even dangerous to express it through words; look at the current state of the world.
What would you say is the most rewarding and least fun part of being part of Fluisteraars?
The creative process is the most rewarding, and the waiting for the vinyl plants to press the vinyl is the worst.
When we made contact, you told us that you had just come home from Iceland. Please tell our curious readers what you did on this beautiful island?
We played our first live show there.
What kind of response do you get from the outside world, and where would you say the band has its strongest fan base? Is it possible to describe a typical Fluisteraar's fan?
That's a very complicated question that I can't answer!
If you look back at what you have experienced through the band's history; What moments feel most memorable to you?
A critical moment was when we created Bloem after a long radio silence, which was necessary. This was when we took matters into our own hands and crushed convention with our inner swords. This is where we grew up.
What is the activity like in the band at the moment, and what can we expect in the future? Are there any stated objectives, and if so, what do they look like?
We see a burning, beautiful pink-red light of a new horizon. The horns blow and lure us to the fields in front of this horizon. The choirs swell as soon as we enter pristine unknown forests, and the castles that can be found there cry out to be discovered. It is an endless playing field, and we are still determining where it will go or end. In any case, we're looking forward to it.
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