Interviews: Interview: Marco and Matthias from Sylvan
Posted on Monday, June 12 @ 11:52:40 EDT
Topic: Interviews
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Sylvan’s Marco & Matthias Speak
An Interview by Tommy ‘Hashman’ Hash
For Germany’s Sylvan, fitting into the world of progressive rock has been easy, especailly from a critical standpoint. The band is several albums into their career, having played out their own brand of the so-called neo-progressive/symphonic rock sound; however, their latest release, the conceptual ‘Posthumous Silence’ is a major step for the band. Obviously for most fans, this is the most highly anticipated record, as many prog-rock fans go nuts when they hear about their favourite band going into highly complex and cinematic directions where the record tells a story. But nevertheless, ‘Posthumous Silence” still marks a continuation for the band on their path of making record for the art rock masses. Speaking on behalf of the band is both Marco Gluhmann and Matthias Harder, who speak about where the new record has brought the band, the meaning of it’s concept, and of course, where Sylvan stands at this point as a band.
Tommy Hash: First off, in your career of five records, tell me about how you feel ‘Posthumous Silence’ fits within the mold of your existence as a band?
Marco Gluhmann: ‘Posthumous Silence’ is definitely a sort of climax for the evolution of the band. This doesn’t mean that we are at the end of our creativity – which is definitely not the case – but that this work combines all the elements that characterized the musical strengths of Sylvan.
Matthias Harder: A CD such as ‘Posthumous Silence’ was only realizable at this point of our career. For this step, we needed the experience gained during the creation of the former albums.
TH: Do you feel that the new album defines an evolution for you guys?
Marco: Of course it is an evolution - like every CD defines an evolution for Sylvan. The main evolution for this work was the conceptual approach. We had to be sure that the music works as a whole and that 70 minutes of music is carrying and strengthening the storyline.
TH: How did the recording & production process differ on this record?
Matthias: The lyrics had a much bigger influence on the compositions this time. Also the details in the choice of sounds or arrangement were much more demanding. We had to succeed in creating a whole CD with a homogeneous and dramaturgically consistent line.
TH: Now tell me about ‚Posthumous Silence’s’ Concept.
Marco: Posthumous Silence tells the story of a father who finds the dairy of his lost daughter and while reading it he discovers the life of his only child. He finds out more about her fears, her problems and the chains that bound her to a world she felt changing. The CD is cut into different parts – those representing the dairy entries of the daughter and those describing the thoughts of the father, while holding her book in his hands. For those who would like to find out more about the storyline can check out our homepage at www.sylvan.de in the section lyrics.
TH: What was the inspiration behind the concept (lyrically)?
Marco: The inspiration is our life around us and what we see or experience each day personally or through people around us. The story never happened like this in our life, but should be seen as a projection of several experiences and happenings. It is always important for me that the lyrics leave enough space for everybody to make their own interpretation, though the emotions carried by the words and the music are what joins the listener and the creator.
TH: On the subject of inspiration, who are some of your musical influences?
Matthias: As we started to make music we were strongly influenced by groups like Marillion, Queen or Pink Floyd. Today these influences only play a minor role, just because we found our own style. As a musician it is sometimes hard to find time for listening to many other groups.
TH: When you guys came together after years of playing in other bands, releasing Deliverance in 1999, tell me about how you felt the progressive rock scene stood at the time.
Matthias: As we finished our first CD ‘Deliverance,’ we did not know much about the progressive scene. It was only through the success of this album also in other countries, that we got aware of the existence of such a scene.
Marco: I was the one – joining just in the year 1995 – who was the farthest away from music of this scene in the beginning. So this sort of musical approach, with longer and more complex structures and freedom for every influence, was rather new for me. But – as I always said – the more influences you accept the wider your creativity can evolve. But this open-mindedness is rather rare in our current popular musical scene, especially in Germany.
TH: How do you feel that this progressive rock scene has evolved since then?
Matthias: I think that not much has changed since then. There are always the same real fans, who shown the enthusiasm for the music and not many new fans have come up. What is new is the way of communication between the fans and also between the bands and their fans. The Internet has done great work – the international scene came much closer …
Marco: In my opinion also in the progressive scene the music evolved and with it their fans. Of course the old fans are still there, but also a new brand of open-minded listeners evolved, following the music situated between the progressive scene and the art-rock. They are still in the minority compared to the common popular listener, who doesn’t give a damn about quality, emotional strength or complexity.
At this point a real big thank you to all of our fans and the press who give us such an enthusiastic feedback about Posthumous silence and who took the time to feel and experience our music …
TH: What are some of the milestones in your career?
Marco: The concerts with Marillion and Porcupine Tree, our cooperation with ProgRock Records, ‘Posthumous Silence’ and our next release ‘Presets.’
Matthias: The Baja Prog Festival in Mexico, the song “Artificial Paradise” and the idea to create our own label.
TH: I know it might be too early to tell, but what holds the future for the band?
Marco: This year will see another Sylvan release – Presets, which was composed and recorded in parallel with ‘Posthumous Silence.’ It will carry much shorter, but still very emotional songs. Hopefully, as one Dutch site stated: “2006 will be the year of Sylvan” …
Who knows where the next record will take the band, and when ‘Presets’ sees the light of day this year, it will be most welcome with open arms. So until next time, enjoy the ‘Silence.’
-Tommy “Hashman” Hash
Click Here to read a review of Posthumous Silence.
www.sylvan.de
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