Men are getting more interesting when they get on in age, that’s what’s commonly said.
Does this apply to Him’s music too ?
Their 7th album must succeed by itself and not only because of the sex-appeal of its highly admired front man Ville Valo.
First single already presented in December is an uncomplicated uptempo rock song.
Ville Valo whose voice sounds like an octave deeper than the last time we met him is in a good mood. A good day to discuss with him his favourite subject : Love – in theory and practice-.
The mystery about that deeper voice is soon unveiled : « a lung infection combined with my asthma and I soon sound like Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet » the Beau kids around and then goes on babbling without interrupting – « when we were working on the album, I always managed to smoke less. I know I should stop. I have one colleague whose voice totally failed him cos of smoking. But one thing after another. It’s now been 2 years and ½ that I lead an alcohol and drug free life, which is surely more important for my sanity and health than the fact that I am smoking cigarettes.
Should I finally really lose my voice, then I’ll simply have to resign myself to lip-sync the songs » he laughs.
Ville seems to appreciate the hoarse and raw bar(?) coloration of voices. « I found it fucking cool to sound like Tom Waits. To my voice smoking is what distortion is to a guitarist. I am also a big fan of Leonard Cohen and Mark Lanegan, those hoarse voices, I love it when the singing is not completely clean. I think I have almost reached the level to join that category. »
Ville Valo : « Each person is always scared of failing »
The change of the beforehand often mood-swinging, bitingly cynical and keen on verbal attacks young rockstar to the nice and sincere Mr Valo is still very impressive. Not only did the alcohol abstinence improve his stage performances, Ville Valo seems to be in good moods really often nowadays.
« Then I’ll say never say never. I have never refused myself anything. I reckon it has essentially to do with the idea of renunciation, because humans always crave for what they can’t have. But nowadays I don’t feel like drinking, it’s quite the contrary, when I just smell red wine, I feel really terrible, probably because I drank way too much in the past. But then tomorrow, I ‘ll get hit by a bus and will have to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair and then I might need the comfort of a bottle of Scotch. Life is without consideration and crazy. You’ll never know what tomorrow has in store for you.
Even messed up scenarios like this one don’t cloud the 33 year old good mood. Nonetheless once we start talking about the first single « Heartkiller » the first signs of annoyance are showing. In the US, Finland and Russia the single won over the heart of fans right away and was consequently in the Top Ten while here in Germany and in the UK, the single isn’t even released yet. « This is leading to ridiculous situations, like recently I wanted to send the song to our British video director, I had to buy my own song for 1.99 € at I-Tunes and then send it to him to download . This is totally absurd » Ville gets irritated while talking. For the B-sides electronic remixes are in talks, but also acoustic version, but there’s no final statement about it to be snatched from the « Love Metal Mastermind ». « Still I am giving away what I am planning for the Album at the moment, a bonus cd with acoustic version of all the songs, kind of Johnny Cash Lo-Fi style : one man and a guitar ». According to what we know now, Ville Valo managed to get through with this idea, the extra CD called « Baudelaire in Braille » will at least be available with the Limited Edition of the Album.
Anyway it looks like Ville Valo alone has a say regarding every decision made about Him. He was also the one in charge, same as for the previous albums of the cover artwork. The picture of a nun in Andy Warhol style, somewhere in between the lithographs of Ingrid Bergmann and Marilyn Monroe interpretations from the famous Pop-Art artist, this is the outfit of the seventh Album created by Valo together with Matt Taylor. For the Venus Doom Box Set they had managed to get a Grammy nomination together for the best cd cover creation. « The double eyes and double lips create a sort of dizziness when you stare at them long enough. I named her « Saint Scream », she represents the confusing aspects of life. Such things as a car crash for example, you know you should not look at the accident scene but you still do it , you can’t stop yourself from doing it. Besides it has that 80ies New Romantic UK vibe that I wanted to catch in the concept. It’s very clean, very white, very pure, simple and graphic. Besides that we are very happy that we have obtained some super cool colours for the printing, so that my Saint Scream will really look good. »
Ville and women. The portrait of the black haired beauty of Venus Doom did not bring excessive success to the band and on a private level Ville’s first engagement ended with a break-up. The melancholic poet does not seem very lucky as for the main topic in his songs, Love. In this Album too, the Finn associates love with sorrow instead of happiness. It is said that the inspiration for Screamworks : Love in Theory and Practice was supposedly based on the much desired bachelor’s own recent experience with a new muse. « Life is painful and should be a battle and not something simple, that’s how I see things. And the same applies to love. For example the lines « wounds which are not meant to heal » refer to people regretting their bad experiences and trying to get rid of these memories. They just try to put their mistakes to the side, to forget them. I, on the contrary, believe you should treasure your mistakes, they give you the opportunity to change as a person, your own mistakes are also part of what you became. In the field of love, it’s the same, I prefer the fight for it than the achievement itself. I love the thrill and the hunt rather than a domestic relationship. « I’m scared to death falling in love with you » he sings this line « cheerfully« on the 2nd track of the album. One must not conclude from this that Ville’s heart is closed behind the thick walls of his tower. His life seems sad, but the meaningful and melancholic singer loves to get tangled up in words and with paradoxes. « You can not express the magic of love in theoretical or in practical concepts, at least not in my world. Him album titles have always played with contradictions, it’s the case for this one too. Whenever you find the certain someone or that person finds you, it’s a magical and life-changing moment. There’s no room for objectivity. You can think practically or theoretically about weddings or relationships and then be like : in theory it would be nice if she’d always be at home at 5 to get my dinner ready. Hence the title : I like the fact that it is an impossible statement. The « Screamworks » refer to the fact that all screams sound similar be it screams of religious ecstasy, of happiness, of sorrow or pain, and even the birds’ singing. There are situations where you can not make out what feeling produces the scream, you can‘t hear the difference.
Now what should the fans expect of the album from a musical point of view ? Those fans who went along with Him in the last 14 years through the different stages : 80is like hits, atmospheric and contemplative, metal and doom phases. « Heartkiller » is the 1st view on it we’ve got since December on the band’s MySpace and there’s no way to get the message wrong . This album stands out with clearly more lightness and a good measure of joy.
The songs have no longer a lead ball hanging on their necks, they are surrounded by a veil of melancholy, and there’s a lot of hope trying to work its way through that veil. There’s where the cruelty lies says Ville. « An open heart, is open for everything, you can’t know what’s going to happen to that heart. I love the inherent drama of it, like in books ending with a question that leave all possibilities open. The existing possibility and the hope for hope is clearly more tragic than simple and with no way out hopelessness, in that case you know you’ve lost everything. But when you sense there’s a chance for things to get better and start being restless and fight for it , that’s much more interesting. Everything changes under the light of hope. You still have this misery surrounding you, but there’s something else balancing it. This is the atmosphere I wanted for the whole album. It should sound like a battle for hope and optimism. Same as when you’re trapped under ice and try to find a way to get through to breathe. This type of haste and necessity from an almost violent and brutal fight for hope. Usually the fighting part is left out, you’ll call it « a journey to hope » or something like that. But I think it involves so much more : you are fighting for something. »
The Cure already sang about the darker side of love. « Exactly, and the Cure are one of our numerous and important influences, you’ll find some references to ‘Disintegration ‘ in the guitar parts of the new album. »
