Dark Ambient Interview:
Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse
Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse
is a dark ambient musician whose music features unnerving
atmospheres, spacious claustrophobia, and impressions of murk and
horror that provide a soothing escape from the mundane. His YouTube
channel has videos with views in the millions, and his music is often
used as the backing for creepy story readings and video games.
In the interview below,
Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse shares why dark ambient music is an escape
for him, and why dark things can exert such a pull. He shares some of
the elements of his creative process, such as the tools he uses and
the feelings that he is aiming for. He also discusses some of the
music that most influenced his own tastes, and how he grew his
YouTube channel over the years.
I hope you enjoy
reading this interview as much as I enjoyed learning about him.
* * *
Casey: In your
2019 interview with Readersvoice.com, you revealed that you started
making music when you were 12, and that you made your first ambient
tracks around that time. What do you think drew the young ICA into
creating music at that time in your life, which other styles/genres
did you experiment with, and what do you think eventually brought you
into focussing on the dark ambient genre in recent years?
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: Music was an escape for me. Creating, also, was an
escape. With the exception of movies, I've always created my own
forms of every media I've enjoyed. When I was young I was very much
into visual arts, first, but that went by the wayside when I lost all
the comics I collected. Music felt more like a career possibility,
too. Also, music was more of an escape for me. I could lay down and
listen to it in the dark for hours and just zone out. A more passive
experience, you might say.
I think my best
memories of being a kid were when I was entirely alone in an empty
house, with no responsibilities, and I was just creating or consuming
media. I'd say that there's been aspirational quality in my music, in
the sense that it's an audible way to access a better reality. Or
unreality, rather. I want to make music that sounds like the world
I'd rather live in.
I've done a lot of
different styles over the years, but I tend to focus on minimal and
hypnotic things. Nothing has really felt true to myself but dark
ambient, however. Well, harsh noise is something I also enjoy and
feel a kinship with, but I'm not really satisfied with the results
when I make it. I think it lacks the textural subtleties I want. And,
realistically, it's not healthy for me to make anymore, considering I
already have a little tinnitus going on.
Casey:
Music certainly seems to have therapeutic power, whether helping
someone to escape from mundane reality, or a particular issue that is
dragging them down. Was there a particular period in your past where
you felt that consuming or creating music, whether dark ambient or
not, probably saved your life, and if so, is it something you can
speak about a little?
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: Music definitely gave me something to do when I
really needed distractions. Also, I think having some of kind skill
to hone was also useful. There were many times when music provided an
oasis of escape. I prefer people hear my music in light of their own
interpretation and experiences, so I don't want to get into
specifics, but a lot of my sound comes from very dark times. Even
better than the distracting aspects, I think making music allowed me
to do something with my inner poison rather than just letting it
erode my mind. I suspect that's true of a lot of art. It's an escape,
a distraction and also a form of sublimation.
Also, a lot of
times music has allowed me to deal with negative emotions in a way
that gave them a sense of "place" or "context"
rather than them being just these jagged, terrible things. A type of
self-communication. Many musicians have said things I felt, but more
eloquently, and their eloquence gave me more clarity. A good example,
to me, is Chris Cornell. I think he has one of the best voices in
music and there's so many songs of his that seem to embody my life.
It may be overplayed by now, but when I first heard Black Hole Sun
around age ten, it was like a religious experience. I think it was
the first time I heard a song that made it okay to wish for the
destruction of all things, including myself. Socially, it probably
had a bad effect on me and increased my desire to be a delinquent,
but it felt really good to hear. It was honest. Before I heard stuff
like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Tool, etc. I only heard my mom's
religious music, Michael Jackson and Billy Ray Cyrus. And both were
way too hopeful for my actual temperament. Hearing Grunge for the
first time gave me access to a whole new approach to music.
Later
I got more into extreme forms of music, dark ambient being one, but I
think the same principle applies. Being able to aesthetically
reconcile, and embrace, one's own demise, and the demise of
everything, is useful, to say the least.
Casey: I feel
the same way about dark ambient music, in the way that it feels true
to my own self. I think, for me, it stems from being so afraid of the
dark, or the things that might lurk in it, when I was younger. Now,
when I hear a dark ambient track that inspires awe with rumbling
drones and strange scratches, it feels like I’m immersing myself in
the beauty of the thing that used to scare me. A letting go maybe.
What feelings or impressions do you most enjoy when listening to dark
ambient music, and do you have a dark ambient track or album that
you’ve listened to more than any others?
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: I relate to dark ambient and all "horror"-themed
media in the same way. I suspect the concept of a "counterphobic
attitude" probably describes some of the appeal of art with dark
themes. Not all of it, but there's something psychologically
satisfying about getting close to the things that frighten, sadden
and agonize oneself, but without them being real. Symbolic or
abstract things are a way to do this. I would be constantly
interested in dark fictional media even while very young while, at
the same time, trying desperately to escape the real darkness and
threats that were in my life.
Brian Eno's Neroli is the
dark ambient piece I've listened to the most. He called it "thinking
music," I believe. It's not the most distinguished piece, but
it's wickedly effective.
There's a few songs I'd like to
mention, also, which will give an insight into how I formed my sound.
They are:
Last Ap Roach by Squarepusher.
Wildlife
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
Flowered Knife Shadows by Harold
Budd.
Of these, Flowered Knife Shadows is almost up
there with Eno's Neroli. The music of Sunn O))) and Thomas
Koner's works like Daikan, Teimo and Permafrost
are hugely influential, too. After hearing these works, you can see
how nothing I do is very original. It's a recreation of stuff I've
most enjoyed.
I'd say dark ambient takes me to a place I'd
much rather be. A world without people or things. Just large, empty
buildings, barren mountains, gray skies. When I played Doom a
lot as a kid, I wish I lived there. I would see the backgrounds and
the sky and it was just so much better than anything else. I'd also
see artist's depictions of the early earth, before life evolved, and
those always seemed much better.
A weird horror writer I like,
Thomas Ligotti, spoke of the aesthetics of decay. That's also
something I'm very into. Not the decay of organisms, but old
buildings decaying, old objects. Moth and rust, corrupting it all.
I've had the pleasure of exploring such buildings before and there's
always a peaceful, dark sense to them. Same with natural landscapes
where there aren't many people. Old photographs, too, are very
interesting to me.
In many of my videos, I try to have images
that represent what the music sounds like to me. Not all of them, but
a lot of the desolate images are very much a visual parallel to the
sounds.
If my nausea could handle VR, I'd try to stay in
places that looked like that as much as possible.
Casey: Something
else that you said in the Readersvoice.com interview is a remark
about how you make your dark ambient music, calling it a “very
mechanical and unintuitive process”. I really liked your honesty in
describing your process in this way, as in the age of social media,
it’s so easy to be tempted into embellishing or overcomplicating
things in an effort to gain clout, or mystique, or whatever. When
you’re exploring and manipulating sounds, how do you know when
you’ve found something that feels right, that seems to be what you
are looking for, and how often are you surprised by the things that
emerge?
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: With my music now, I just polish it until it sounds
addictive. When the song sounds like something I could listen to for
hours, then I know it's done. It's really as simple as that.
I'm part of the
audience when I create, but, for example, when I do visual art, the
main goal is to see how distortion changes the feel of an image. In
the same way, it's the effects and distortions and blemishes that
form the addictive and attractive qualities of the dark ambient. I
especially do this with my project, Death on Cassette. With that, I
wanted to make something even more personally rewarding. It aligns
with my aesthetics even more so than Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse,
usually. At least lately. I'm often surprised by what emerges.
To clarify about the
unintuitiveness of it, though, I would say it's not at all like
playing an instrument, which I see as more intuitive and interactive.
In the way I create, it's more like working with images. Taking a
single image and juxtaposing it with other images, or decaying and
distorting and filtering the image until new qualities are seen in
it. It's more detached and cerebral than coming from a place of
feeling. It's construction rather than expression.
Casey: What
equipment or software do you currently use when creating your dark
ambient tracks, what does your creative workflow tend to look like,
and how do you deal with things such as motivation, energy management
etc.?
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: I use FL Studio, Ambient Grains,
Ambient by Audio Bulb and Audacity, primarily. The
workflow is always the same:
1. Start with a simple
motif. Could be a drone, or a bit of noise. Something that sounds
good.
2. Slowly add in other
sounds that complement it, or distort it through effects.
3. Keep doing this
until the desired result is achieved.
It really is not
complicated. I have done much more complicated music before and this
is nowhere near as involved.
Motivation is never a
problem. I monitor my mental states, constantly. If I feel like it's
time to make music, and I have time, then I make it. It's a
compulsion. I have to create things. I'll stop when I'm dead. I may
not do music forever, but I'll be doing something. I think if people
find trouble being motivated to create art (of any kind), they're
probably not cut out for it.
Saying that, a lack of
motivation may come from someone not being really clear to themselves
about what they want. There's a difference between thinking you want
something and really wanting it. If the sounds are compelling, I'll
be motivated to make more of them. Even though I can technically do
more complex and "normal" stuff, I just don't feel the need
or interest.
Energy management is
harder to deal with, though. I tend to be lethargic or irritated a
lot of the time. I don't have nearly as much energy as I'd like. So,
when I feel like I have the energy to do something, I always do it. I
don't know when I'll get another chance.
Casey: Your
YouTube channel currently gains around 300,000 views and 1,000 subs
per month, and certain of your videos sit at over one million total
views. Have you made use of any particular strategies for growing
your channel, and what do you think about the general appetite for
dark ambient out in the big wide world? I ask this second part as
someone who finds it incredibly rare to meet someone who has even
heard of the genre.
Iron Cthulhu
Apocalypse: When it comes to growing a channel, the best strategy
I've employed is make a video that a lot of people will click on.
It's an algorithm game, really. YouTube controls your reach. That's
just a fact. So, you have to play their game. There's no getting
around it. Something simple and direct like "Nuclear Winter"
did great. Simple and direct usually does, so long as the image is
good. I don't do it with every video, but it's helpful.
That all said, growing
a channel is a very slow process. G. M. Danielson made a video about me very
early on and I immediately started getting more views. I'm eternally
grateful to him for that. Other narrators like Lets Read also used my audio early
on. I advertised that narrators could use my sounds in their videos,
royalty free, and that definitely helped my work spread. I think a
lot of artists start out asking for too much money and being too
controlling of their work. I like Creepy Pastas and audio narration
things, so it's just cool to me that I can be a part of that. But
even beyond that, it's a smart move to get one's name out there.
As far as the general
appetite for dark ambient, I don't know what I think, really. It
might get more popular. It might get less popular. It's really hard
to say. I think, though, that ambient music in general is becoming
more popular. Even "lo fi beats for study" is technically
used as a form of ambient music, in the sense that Brian Eno defined
"ambient". YouTube makes it easier. So, while the interest
in "dark" ambient may have an ebb and flow over time, I
think ambient music in general is here to stay. Or, rather, people
will be using instrumental music in more ambient ways. It will become
more common as a way to enhance other activities.
* * *
Thanks
very much to Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse for taking the time to answer my
questions.
You can
find the dark ambient of Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse and his other
project Death on Cassette on Bandcamp:
https://ironcthulhuapocalypse.bandcamp.com/
https://deathoncassette.bandcamp.com/
On
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/IronCthulhuApocalypse/featured
And also
by searching on platforms such as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon and Google
Play.
You can also read my review of one of his Death on Cassette releases: The Dead Dreamer Tapes.
