Strife

The new Desiderii Marginis album ’Strife’ is, as the name implies, a sort of reflection over the rather pityful human desire to engage in all kinds of conflict. Everywhere and always. There is admittedly a healthy aspect of conflict or competition – the clash of ideas, ideologies, opinions and the like. But often strife takes the form of mere pointless destruction for no purpose. That particular lack of meaning is what this album is all about. ’War is a continuation of politics’ von Clausewitz wrote in the 1830’s. But if there’s no political visions to realize, no higher goal to pursue, no new beginning, no rebirth, then what? Guns go silent only to discover that nothing has really been accomplished. Old structures of injustice remain, recent conflicts are added to old ones. Does this sound depressing? I think it is. The music on this album is not intended to sound like the blazing guns of a world at war. It is what it is simply because these kind of thoughts went through my head as the music was made. I have had no ambition to address any particular issue, I’m definitely not trying to promote, or badmouth, any political or ideological points of view. Politics are firmly rooted in the present. Strife itself is eternal. The music is, as always, a strictly personal way to deal with and express the ever present madness of man. Nothing changes, everything is new...

That Which Is Tragic And Timeless

Desiderii Marginis was formed in 1993 and is the spawn and emotional outlet of Johan Levin, who is also the sole member. The musical hallmark of this act can best be described as eerie dark-ambient, often on an almost epical scale, sadness in it’s splendor. These things are also the subject matter of Desiderii Marginis’ songs in general -’That which is tragic and timeless’, The american painter Mark Rothko once said that art should deal primarily with ’that which is tragic and timeless’. For this release Desiderii Marginis decided to pick up this idea – not as a dogma or rule, but rather like a distant echo, encapsulating and encompassing everything that I have ever tried to accomplish in terms of music. Epic sounds of solitude - music as comfort and refuge, as a mirror of all the shortcomings and flaws that constitutes the human nature. The ordinary world is explored, mapped and claimed. Still, the landmarks of our inner continents are remarkably few, and they remain unnamned. But the journey goes on...