Heathen Harvest: Can you discuss how Lux Interna came into being and who the founding members are?

Joshua Gentzke: I began Lux Interna in 1999 as a solo project. I had not done music publicly for some years at this time, and I was unsure if I wanted to go that route again. Basically, Lux Interna began as a collection of songs that I had written based around acoustic guitar. The rest of the people that would work along side me on this project were all close friends of mine, whom it was only logical to include. Only Kevin was, prior to Lux Interna, a musician, properly speaking. Kathryn and Shane, both people who are extremely gifted in many areas, decided - at my coxing - to come aboard and contribute what they could. What is most important to me, in regard to whom I work with musically, is that we are in spiritual alignment. By this I do not mean to say “people that believe what I believe”- but rather, individuals with whom I can find a certain deep resonance.

 
HH: Who are the current active members of Lux Interna?

JG: Lux Interna will always have exoteric as well as esoteric members. Kathryn and I seem to have gypsy hearts and are often wondering abroad. The lack of a stable home base - at least in the physical sense of this word - often leads to a revolving lineup for live performances, as well as for some recording situations. At the moment Kathryn and I are, by situation rather than choice, working alone as Lux Interna. This will change, but for the moment it must be. However, as I alluded to, there are other ways that we remain connected…

 
HH: Can you please discuss any musical experience the members of Lux Interna had before starting the band?

JG: During my ill-adventured youth I was active in a few musical projects, beginning my career by playing my first show at age 15 with, (how typical) a punk band. I believe that we wanted to be more in the post-punk goth vein, but when one can only play two chords - and those two sloppily - one ends up by necessity as a “punk band”. Following this experience, which was more preparatory than foundational, I formed my first band proper, Dead Angel Collection. It was through this project that I ended up meeting, and beginning to work with Kevin. The style of music that we played was heavily informed by the artists that played the soundtrack to my teenage years, namely Rozz Williams, Joy Division, The Cure, The Birthday Party, and Sisters of Mercy, among others. By the time I was 18 the whole thing had ended badly, and I was quickly loosing patience with all things “gothic”- well at least with most of the people I was surrounded with. Some of the music, such as Joy Division, lived on for me - but the costume party was over. Kevin and I however would remain musical collaborators, working off and on together on various, mostly experimental, projects throughout the years before the formation of Lux Interna. As I had said, Kathryn and Shane, prior to Lux Interna, were not involved in making music.

 
HH: What was initial musical vision that brought Lux Interna together and how has this vision evolved?

JG: It is hard to put into words what the specific musical vision behind Lux Interna was, and how it has evolved through the years since its inception. I can say however that much has changed in my life, as well as my fellow collaborator’s lives - and this of course has been reflected in the music we make. When I started Lux Interna and wrote the songs that would become our first release, Truth, Beauty, and all their Severity, I was taking a first stab at developing a sound and atmosphere that would reflect where I was at that point in my life. I had found myself very attracted to the form of folk music because of its simplicity as a means of communication. I felt that much of the superfluous elements of music disappeared when music was approached in a minimalist way. This ethos has definitely stayed on with us.

However, I never wanted Lux Interna to be conceptually rigid. Maintaining an organic nature to the music is important to me, and therefore as any living organism it must remain open to change to ensure its survival. I suppose it would be safe to say that in the beginning we were more focused on Kulturkritik, and reacting to the general lunacy that surrounded us; now we are on to deeper grounds. In my opinion the new work is more introspective - hopefully without being solipsistic - and more spiritually rich. I don’t think this is merely an artistic conceit either. I hold the belief that art must be open to life, and therefore necessarily the artist as well, and I can say that a lot of living - for better or for worse - has gone into our music. Every recording that we have is a sort of journal, when I hear a specific piece I can always feel “where we were” when it was conceived. Sometimes it is a rather strange feeling, for there are times when I feel so distanced from who I was at a certain point in time. Yet, the songs take on their own being, and I suppose at a certain point they no longer need me, they no longer refer to me.

 
HH: Was it your original intention to create a “neofolk” band or did the music just naturally find its place in the neofolk genre?

JG: At the time of Lux Interna’s conception, I had never heard the term. I knew, and was quite inspired by, the music of Death in June, Fire & Ice, Current 93, and Sol Invictus, but I had no idea that there was a genre called “neofolk”. Living in Buffalo, New York, it is safe to say that one is not exactly dwelling in the capital of the avant-garde. When we first started trying to “get the music out”, we were given a very favorable review by the Swiss Heimdallr Webzine. This review - of an embarrassingly premature cassette tape of 4-track recordings - exposed us to the so-called “neofolk” scene.

When we signed to Eis und Licht, this sort of stuck us with the moniker. I myself am a bit ambivalent about it. I don’t really pretend to understand what neofolk “is”, or if we are “it” or not - it is perhaps superfluous to point out that any genre label is limited in its usefulness. I would be most content if people saw us in reference solely to our music, rather than in the context of a constructed term that carries certain associations with it. On the other hand, I suppose that it is hard to get around having names, or genre categories, when people are writing about and promoting new music. I am definitely grateful for those who have worked to support a certain, loosely associated group of musicians, and I think it would be uncalled for to lash out at anyone for labeling us one way or another. Scenes are strange creatures. They happen organically enough and grow, but like all other life their birth also heralds their death - born to die, as the old Appalachian song goes. This is always a conundrum in art because as certain scenes grow or become more popular they run into the danger of becoming overly rigid (creative death), or simply losing all shape (self-negation). Such is life. For a wonderfully insightful discussion of all things “neofolk”, which takes well into account the sometime absurd level of diversity of music that is given this moniker, Andreas Diesel and Dieter Gerten’s book Looking for Europe, is highly recommended.

As for myself, I do not listen to too much of what is considered “neofolk”. There are however some really excellent artists that, whether they feel themselves to be part of any scene or not, are often put into this category. Although I feel that I share certain interests with what I know of this scene (questioning of modernity, respect for the past, critique of capitalism and the monstrousness of mass-produced culture), I have absolutely no interest in other seemingly common “neofolk” preoccupations (militaristic aesthetics, totalitarian chic, dilettante Satanism, nihilism,). This is not simply a judgment; these elements are just not in any way within my interest.

 
HH: When did you become aware of the neofolk / neoclassical music scene and how did you first become involved?

JG: I think that this question was dealt with fairly comprehensively in my answer above, so to avoid the risk of being repetitive, I think I’ll just go on to the next…

 
HH: Lux Interna originated in the United Sates and it founding members were raised in the United Sates. Was it difficult establishing a band around your particular musical aesthetic in the United Sates?

JG: As I stated above, Buffalo is a bit of a cultural wasteland - don’t get me wrong, there are some incredible artists and musicians there - but they are all the more incredible because they bloom like flowers pushing through concrete. I have been very blessed by some of the people I have met there, and who I count in my close circle of friends. Like I said before, it was not really a question of if Kathryn, Shane, and Kevin would be involved in Lux Interna-only of how. The musicians in Lux Interna, as well as a small group of others, are part of a close-knit family. This was of course a wonderful base of support for the launch of the music. However, that said, we have not - partially through the fault of me being a rather solitary person - received much support in our home city. Part of the problem, however, is that we have never maintained a very high profile. It is safe to say that the members of Lux Interna, no doubt including myself, are not “business people”. I can’t stand hobnobbing and small talk, and I don’t have much of a talent for marketing. In short, we are all very bad capitalists! I still hold on to the naïve idea that the music will speak for itself, and those who will relate to it will find it. I shall probably die a poor man…

 
HH: Did the band find an initial audience within the United States or do you feel as if the bands career was secured by acknowledgment from the European neofolk audience?

JG: To be honest I don’t think America noticed our birth. Of course, I hope that that the music is finding its way to American ears and hearts, but so far, the vast majority of our support has been from good ol’ Europa. When we first started getting feedback, via our release on EisLicht, much of it naturally enough was from Germans. I was quite excited, of course, to be receiving such positive responses to our music, but a certain friend of mine whose sense of humor runs towards the sardonic, commented, “yes, that’s great - but remember they also liked David Hasselhof!” In all seriousness though, we are in (mostly!) good company with American bands that have garnered greater support on the other side of the pond…

 
HH: Has Lux Interna shared correspondence or participated with other U.S. based neofolk bands such as Backworld, Blood Axis, Harvest Rain, Luftwaffe or others?

JG: Unfortunately no. I have only met Mr. Moynihan and Mr. Bundenhauser in passing - but I do respect both of their work. The other two projects you mentioned I have yet to hear. As I have said though…at times my existence is rather isolated, and isolating.

 
HH: Has Lux Interna found support amidst musicians and others in the pan European neofolk / neoclassical scene?

JG: One of the most fulfilling things about publicly presenting our music has been that we have had the opportunity to meet some truly wonderful people. I don’t really think in terms of scenes, but here I have had many rewarding experiences with musicians and artists whom I respect. I am happy to say that I have felt, more often than not, a great sense of comradory with many of the bands that we have played with. One of the most wonderful experiences I have had so far was working with Andreas Ritter of Forseti for a concert last year in Jena. As a longtime fan of Forseti - I was quite honored, to say the least.

Meeting great people, of course, is only one of the many great benefits of travel -another passion of mine that fits quite nicely with being a musician. I tend to not have much “in common” with a great majority of people that I come in contact with, and sometimes it feels as though one must wander quite far in order to find those scattered kindred souls that exist in this world. This is not meant as a statement of distain for humanity in general, but rather just a simple honest truth. I am quite particular with my interactions with people on any sort of meaningful level.

 
HH: Can you discuss other bands or individual musicians that have influenced or inspired Lux Interna?

JG: I try to always be more inspired by the music of others, than influenced, so to speak, by it. This, of course, in praxis impossible, and naturally art is never entirely “new”. To list all the musicians and bands that were an inspiration would be a rather dauntingly long task, and most likely somatic for the reader. Therefore I suppose that I could name a few of my personal “old” and “new” favorites.

As I previously mention, especially at the inception of Lux Interna, bands like Death in June, C93, Sol Invictus, Nature & Organisation and Fire & Ice, were extremely inspirational. I still love the music of these bands, but my taste and listening has changed a bit. A few constants for me, since my youth, have been Leonard Cohen, Joy Division, SWANS, and Johnny Cash. In the last four years or so, some of the CDs that have been frequent residents of my CD player are (among others): Willard Grant Conspiracy, Nick Drake, Wovenhand/Sixteenhorsepower, Billy Holiday, Hank Williams, Barrel Harbor, Kath Bloom, Jolie Holland, Beth Gibbons, Nick Cave, and Stone Breath. I am quite attracted to music that is both powerful and fragile, lived-in and imperfect. When I listen to an album like Leonard Cohen’s Songs from a Room, I am just taken with the power that emanates out from the one voice and four chords on a guitar. This to me is a balm from the overproduced, over-hyped, image-obsessed, garrulous bombast of much of today’s popular music. The listener must still one’s self in order to reap the rich bounty of the music. This is something of which our contemporary culture does not excel at. In the same way I think that having grown up being interested in various forms of “difficult music” as well, be it Nurse With Wound, John Cage, Miles Davis, I think that I learned to really listen to music; to be patient with it, to know when to be active in listening, and when to simply let one’s self receive the music on it own terms. Certain music erects obstacles between itself and the listener, but in doing so one can be assured that the listener who endures will have fully experienced the piece; all the cracks, crags, and recesses of the music will have been explored.

I suppose that the most determinative factor for me in what I listen to is that I do not, and cannot, think of music as mere entertainment or escapism. I do not need, or indeed want, to sit back and watch it dance for me…nor am I so unhappy with my life that I will pay to simply watch somebody acting out an id fueled lifestyle that I am simply too “ordinary” to enjoy. Music is not Disneyland for me - and that said Disneyland is not a vacation option for me, either!

 
HH: Can you recite the Lux Interna discography?

JG: 

• 05/2004 LUX INTERNA: “IGNIS MUTAT RES” (musical CD)
  Released by EISLICHT – VERLAG, Dresden, Germany. 
• 04/2002 LUX INTERNA: “ABSENCE AND PLENUM” (musical CD)
  Released by EISLICHT – VERLAG, Dresden, Germany.
• 01/2001 LUX INTERNA: “TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND ALL THEIR SEVERITY” (10” Vinyl) released by EISLICHT – VERLAG, Dresden, Germany.

As for compilations:

• 2005 EISGES LIGHT II: released by EISLICHT-VERLAG
• 2005 LOOKING FOR EUROPE: released by Auerbach Tontrager / Prophecy Records
• 2003 EISIGES LICHT I : released by EISLICHT-VERLAG
• 2002 TRIUMPH DES TODES: released by Fluttering Dragon( Poland)

 
HH: The first official Lux Interna album “Absence & Plenum” was released on Eis & Licht Records of Germany. Can you discuss how you came about working with Eis & Licht? And did you find that the label was successful at introducing the band?

JG: Our relationship with Eis & Licht came about when I simply sent a copy of our first studio recording - Truth, Beauty, and all their Severity - to the label address. I knew the label, at the time, only through the excellent Hungarian project Scivias, and I thought that they might be receptive to our music. My intuition was correct, and the rest is history…I have nothing but positive feelings about our interactions with Eis & Licht. Stephan Pockrandt is a rare breed of businessman, one with integrity, taste, and talent. Of course we do not always agree on all matters, but I respect the many of the ideas that Eis & Licht stands for. Instead of some faceless music multiplier, the label has stayed true to the underground ethic, while succeeding in bringing out products of quality. I think that commercially Absence & Plenum was a difficult album to release as our first full length. If you listen to the 10” that preceded it, Truth, Beauty, and all their Severity, you will find songs of a much more readily accessible nature. I knew that Absence would not hold this appeal, but the time, and the individual songs, demanded the approach. I think that it is an album that is rewarding if one gives it the time, but this can be problematic from a commercial standpoint. Overall, however, we have had many positive and insightful responses to the album.

 
HH: “Absence & Plenum” demonstrated a high level of compositional skill and song writing. Who was responsible for the songwriting and musical compositions?

JG: I do all the lyric writing, and the majority of the song structuring. Usually then I present the rest of Lux Interna with the song and invite them to add to, or critique the inchoate song. The rest is an organic process, wherein it is only a matter of finding out where the song demands to go, and how it wishes to be manifested. A lot of the process is listening for the point where the song really sings - and not stopping before or after this point.

 
HH: Did “Absence & Plenum” have a specific theme or character?

JG: This is a bit tricky to summarize. It is perhaps safe to say that Absence & Plenum dealt quite a bit with the concept of withdrawal and emptiness. It was the closed tomb before the stone is rolled away. We went so far into ourselves that we ceased for a moment, and it is this ceasing, this first step of process and prayer, that manifested itself as the sullen and lachrymose atmosphere that permeated most of the album. However, there were already rays of light breaking through. It was a very hard time during all of lives, and I think the music reflects that. Much of the aura of the album, at least to me is like ice; still, concentrated, and silent.

 
HH: How much of the instrumentation on “Absence & Plenum” is sampled and how much is original acoustic recordings?

JG: The only samples on Absence & Plenum are the ones taken from the audio diary that I kept on Kathryn’s and my travels though Eastern Europe that interspersed between some of the songs. I have never been very good with technology, and therefore prefer not to work with it too often musically. What I find beautiful in art, as well as in life, are the “imperfections” of things, and thus, often I have felt averse to having too much of an electronic component to Lux Interna. That said, however, we do utilize quite a bit of keyboards in our music - but they are always “played”, rather than programmed. Another element of Absence…was that most of the songs were recorded using freeform timing - much to the chagrin of those who had to play with me - and this made the use of programming nearly impossible. With our next album, Ignis Mutat Res, we were able to move further towards a more organic sound, since we were able to make use of the talents of a guest violin/fiddle/cello player. On the other hand, it also contained our first fully electronic song/experiment: Phoenix, which was in reality more of a ritual than a song proper. This piece was born out of some looping experiments that I had done with Shane.

 
HH: The music on “Absence & Plenum” is a combination of sensitive acoustic offerings and grandiose lushly orchestrated epic compositions. How did Lux Interna develop this unique musical character?

JG: At the risk of being repetitive, I must say again that the songs always seem to find their own forms. It is up to us, as the musicians, to listen closely while they speak to us. The songs perhaps know where they are going, even though I never quite do until they are finished; in fact at times the final form of the song is miles away from how I originally conceived it. Perhaps this sounds like an artistic conceit or pretension, but it is the only way I can describe how the whole process feels. I suppose the alternation between sparse and fragile acoustic pieces and those more orchestrated illustrates the conceptual duality of the album; the movement of presence lapsing back into absence, in order to emerge anew. Some of the songs, such as St. Peter’s Cross, we stripped down to the most minimal and stark form possible in the hope of presenting their essence like ice, frozen, static, but concentrated. I also tried to be very conscious of the spaces between notes on this album. I feel that what was not played was of equal importance in this particular work. At any rate the playing was purposefully restrained…

 
HH: “Absence & Plenum” includes samples that you recorded while traveling through Central Europe. Can you discuss what inspired you to record these samples and how you came about choosing them for use on “Absence & Plenum”?

JG: These samples were collected during the time that Kathryn and I lived in Hungary. While living in Pecs, we took a month long trip backpacking, with no specific itinerary, throughout parts of Eastern Europe. I decided to keep an audio diary during this time. At the end of the journey I had amassed a great amount of sounds, which fixed certain moments in time for me. These fixed moments, each carrying with it a particular essence for me, lent themselves easily to Absence & Plenum, which was written in the time directly following these experiences. The experiences literally became part of the music; church bells collected from Krakow, the call from a prayer tower in Sarajevo, sounds from beneath the streets of Budapest, they are all moments that preserve something for me. Their meanings however are insular - they are not meant to point to anything outside of themselves.

 
HH: The last song featured on “Absence & Plenum” is titled “Great Mother Emptiness.” “Great Mother Emptiness” shows a ritualistic and experimental side of Lux Interna. Can you discuss this track and how it came to demand a different compositional style than the rest of the album?

JG: This track evolved from an art showing that Kathryn was doing, based on work with feminine archetypes that she had done on a research grant to Sicily and Greece. The gallery show resulting from this work was held at the State University of New York at Buffalo’s art gallery, and consisted of a full-room instillation of suspended altars bearing the images of various Greek and Italic goddesses. During the preparation of the work, aside from her research and craftsmanship, Kathryn had done a series of rituals to each goddess that had been worked with. This added another element of the experiential to the work, and helped safeguard the work from the drawbacks of a merely academic approach. The most important aspect of her work as an artist, if I may for a moment be so bold as to speak for her, has been that of unmediated experience. At any rate my words cannot hope to do the exhibit justice, and I will content myself for the moment by saying that lead her into a period of comparative study of feminine archetypes, as manifested within various cultures. The path led quickly to the Upanishads, and then the Vedas. Finding resonances with a Greek concept that had fascinated her, namely that of the chora or feminine nothingness at the heart of the divine Kathryn’s work turned toward the void: the great not-that, not-this. As often happens, my own studies were finding themselves drawn to the path of via negative, though within somewhat different contexts. Great Mother Emptiness was a natural collaborative piece based on the path that Kathryn and I were on at the time of the recording. I managed to find words, heavily inspired by both the Vedic, and so-called Gnostic texts, and Kathryn found the way to speak them - or rather perhaps better put, they were spoken through her.

 
HH: “Ignis Mutat Res” is Lux Interna’s second full length album. Can you please translate the albums title and explain its significance?

JG: “Fire Transforms All”, or less poetically rendered, “fire transforms matter”, comes down throughout the ages as an alchemical maxim. The entire album was a sort of ritual that gathered itself around the core of this theme. After the icy introspection and stillness of Absence…, it was time for a change, a gesture of motion and energy-and this gesture lead to Ignis. We wanted to capture the pain and beauty of purifying oneself through the element of fire. The great work of the alchemist - to turn the dross of matter to the fine gold of spirit - fit perfectly with the subject matter of the album. It was recorded in a time that was leading up to enormous changes in my life, changes that entailed burning away some of the dead skin and dross of both the past, and my own person demons. Though the lyrics are tinged with both anger and uncertainty, I feel that this album was a move towards a much more affirmative, positive approach to our music. "and pushing past misery I shall ignite this memory…”

 
HH: Does ““Ignis Mutat Res”” have a specific theme or character?

JG: I suppose that my pervious answer covered this-other than this I hope the work will speak for itself, and find better word than I can…

 
HH: The music of “Ignis Mutat Res” appears to have evolved from the bands earlier album “Absence & Plenum.” Do you feel as if the band matured between recordings?

JG: Of course, as I hope will always be the case between recordings! But yes, I think that Ignis shows a much more confident and matured Lux Interna than our previous recordings. After our next release, I hope I will be asked the same question. I think that as time passes, aside from growing as individuals, the musical project takes on more and more a life of its own. With this life comes a much stronger identity, because the project begins to be able to reference itself more and more, rather than outside influences. I try very hard to stay honest to myself in the creation of my music, and not to let the things that are superfluous, extraneous, or affected enter it. It is very important that, as an artist as well as a person, that I know myself and stay honest to this knowledge.

 
HH: Lux Interna has a very unique style and aesthetic. The music is permeated with a sense of introspection and existential questioning that explores spirituality and human existence. Is the music of Lux Interna an attempt to share the bands personal spiritual and life experiences?

JG: Lux Interna is a bit like breathing for me. It just must be, and I don’t really feel that I have much of a say in the matter. I suppose the fact that we have chosen to be public with our music does show that, to a degree, we are attempting to share something with others that is infinitely personal. It is always a strange way of sharing though, because I will never know how far the gap is between what a particular piece means to me, and what it means to a listener. I don’t know if this even really matters. Though I am not really a subscriber to Roland Barthes “death of the author” idea, wherein the intention of the creator of an artwork or text has no special claim to its final evaluation, I do think that the songs, once recorded speak in their own ways that may deviate slightly from my original intentions. Art in general is however a strange way of speaking, strange that is, in the face of everyday communications. An artwork, in so long as it remains living and speaking as an artwork, is never finished. We finish sentences with periods and they die, emptied of meaning. A direct sentence is using words as a technology; it is utilitarian and therefore dependent upon its telos for its value. Poetry on the hand is when words hint at something beyond themselves. This is why poetry, at its best, never stops speaking - it is never finished. To create art is to give your self to something that doesn’t “do” anything, and this is why through this act the dreary world of utility can be escaped. To me then, all true art is spiritual, and thus opens up a space of play, wherein the essence of our being speaks. In the end I suppose, one must simply come into what one is, and in my case this includes my work with Lux Interna.

 
HH: The music of Lux Interna is also darkly romantic. Is this romanticism inspired by any particular literary tradition, writer, or poet?

JG: I am, as are the other members of Lux Interna, an avid reader, bordering at times on voracious. Each of us, of course, has vastly differing traditions and individuals that have inspired and informed our work. As for my self, many of the writers and poets that I feel drawn towards tend to often fall under the much-contested term “romanticism”. Some of the writers who have directly impacted my life, and thus the music of Lux Interna greatly are; R.M. Rilke, William Blake, St. John, W.B. Yeats, St. Paul, Friedrich Hölderlin, T.S. Eliot, Herman Hesse, John Milton, Paul Celan, and Khahlil Gibran.

Romanticism is hard to really point one’s finger on, because of the vast amount of work that has been, at one time or another, classified under this term. That said, I suppose that what appeals to me are writers who carry a vision against the Entzauberung of life; writers whose work opens a force of presence in the wasteland of the modern crisis. If this is termed “romantic” then so be it, but I have always been more drawn to specific individuals than any particular movements. The dark edge of some of my leanings is, I suppose is due to the fact that, in a world which is itself so fond of dimness, any intensity of light will appear as darkness. Any subject that touches on the deep, serious, or essential will appear to the frivolous nature of society as morbid, disconcerting, or even at times, monstrous. "…and we thank thee that the darkness reminds us of light…" --T.S. Eliot

 
HH: The music and lyricism of Lux Interna embraces philosophical as well as theological themes. Are their specific philosophers or philosophic traditions that the band draws inspiration from?

JG: There are many, but among the most important to me are; Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Søren Kierkegaard, and Meister Eckhart. One work that has been an important source of inspiration for our new material, in the few last years, has been Heidegger’s Wozu Dichter ( What are Poets for?) for personal reasons this has been, despite its brevity, a very integral text for me. As far as traditions, the only thing that I can say is that I seem to be drawn quite a bit to philosophers known for their “anti-philosophical” or, so-called counter-enlightenment thinking. For me, for philosophy to be meaningful it must breath and sing. It must not seek to stay removed from life, on some lofty, untouchable metaphysical perch. On the other hand, I am not very interested in social theory, or constructivist philosophers…

 
HH: Is the band inspired by any particular spiritual tradition either traditional or unconventional?

JG: This is a hard question to walk about in. No member of Lux Interna, to my knowledge would really be comfortable putting a distinct name on his or her beliefs. I am inspired by quite a few spiritual traditions, all in differing aspects. An enormous amount of my intellectual pursuits revolve around the study of sacred text, as many of them are rich repositories of deep truth. This should not be taken to imply a careless syncretism, but rather the attempt to listen to the many ways in which these texts speak in a dialogue with each other. Of particular interest to me are the early writings, often grouped ex post facto under the moniker of Gnosticism, of various revelatory and apocalyptic movement such as Valentinianism (The Gospel of Truth and the Valentinian Speculation), Manichaeism (Theodore bar Konia, Speech on Gehmurd and Murdiyang, etc…), the Sethians, and the Ophites, as well other Christian and “Pagan” Gnostic groups. One of the texts of this ilk that remains the most important to me, for personal reasons, is the beautiful and powerful Gospel of Thomas (circa: 200 A.D.) which is attributed to Didymos Judas Thomas, “the twin”. The author was thought of, by the Syrian Church, as having been the twin brother of Christ, and although the statements recorded within have some parallels with the synoptic gospels, the overall vision of the text is, in my reading of it, quite unique. This text proclaims itself to be “the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke” and goes on to state - in a direct parallel to one of the few recorded phrases that came down to us from the Eleusian Mysteries of the Goddess Demeter- “whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death”.

The idea and the vision of apocalypse are woven deeply into the fabric of Lux Interna’s music. However, this is not meant to imply that it is merely the catastrophic event or premonition of impending doom that fixes our gaze. The apocalypse is an un-covering, a revealing. The word in fact is derived from the roots of the Greek prefix and verb combination of apo (reversal) and kaluptein (to cover). However it is undeniable that for the event of revelation to be able to happen, there must first come a period of darkness, un-being, or divine withdrawal. This is the stage of the divine pulling back into self-negation - on an individual scale it is known by the initiate as the death stage involved in most so-called shamanic rituals. This absence speaks very clearly to our present condition. There is a strong connection, in my opinion to the vision that is found in some of these texts and the crisis that we are now facing, wherein we move closer and closer to a state of spiritual poverty and loss. I have tried to connect my readings of these texts with such writers (or as he himself preferred to be referred to as “thinkers”) as Martin Heidegger, who, in my understanding represents a modern example of an apocalyptic thinker.

On a narrative level, apocalyptic texts move within the context of a world that is infused with divine meaning and purpose, but in which that divine force, for reasons usually born from a conflict with humanity, decidedly withdraws its presence from the world of man. This withdrawal can be manifested in a variety of ways. Either it is made known through signs, i.e. the divine withdrawal leaves in its wake a variety of horrible happenings that indicate that even the most basic and natural expressions of order and good in the world are ceasing to function. This is shown through proliferations of plagues and strange diseases, the break-down of customs and moral order among mankind, perversities of human time, such as babies being born with grey hair, loss of all vigor in even the youth, and biological perversity, such as deformations and unwanted physical characteristics becoming prevalent among the newly born, the invasion, and domination of foreign peoples within the holy land (whatever land is seen as such within the scope of the particular text), and the outbreak of many natural disasters. In later (Christian) texts, such as the only canonical New Testament apocalypse, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, this withdrawal is manifest as a withdrawal of the grace of God. For even where God is physically present in the text, he is present not as the god of grace, but as a vengeful, and wrath-filled deity. Here the withdrawal of God has become more abstracted, yet nevertheless still terrifying. In Heidegger’s apocalyptic vision, the withdrawal is different still. Firstly, he does not specify the God that withdraws; for Heidegger this state of withdrawal is simultaneously the withdrawal of God, the gods, the Holy, and the divine. Yet the terms which frame the way in which he writes of this withdrawal seem to place it more consciously in the realm of a process, rather than a definitive event. Heidegger’s vision of withdrawal is devoid of at least the blatant moral edge of most apocalypses; this absence is not necessarily seen as a punishment inflicted upon mankind, but rather, as a state, necessary because it is within the destiny of Being, that nevertheless, demands one to recognize its severity and act accordingly. The other important difference is that Heidegger, unlike older apocalyptic texts, cannot bring himself to speak confidently about how, in what form, and even, to an extent, if the divine will return to the world of man. He neither chastises nor holds out a definite hope. Perhaps this peculiarity stems from the fact that, since the early days of his Sein und Zeit period, through to the end of his life, Heidegger possessed a unique, especially as some have commented for a Western writer, understanding of absence. For him absence was not necessarily subjugated and valuated against presence; therefore the absence of the divine would be the very thing that would allow the presence of the divine. As D.F. Krell writes,

“Heidegger’s thought circles about a double theme: the meaning of being and the propiative event (Ereignis) of disclosure. Sein and alētheia remain the keywords, Sein meaning coming to presence, and alētheia the disclosedness or unconcealment implied in such presence. Of course this double theme has its reverse side. Coming to presence suggests an absence before and after itself, so that withdrawal and departure must always be thought together with Sein as presencing; disclosedness or unconcealment suggests a surrounding obscurity, Lethean concealment, so that darkness and oblivion must be thought together with alētheia. The propriative event is always simultaneously expropriative (Enteignis)”.

 
HH: Lux Interna has very personal lyrics that reveal intimate feelings of the author. Do you feel as if it takes a mustering of confidence to share so openly with your audience?

JG: Yes. Sometimes it can be rather painful, and at times I really question why I am driven to share these things. On the other hand, it can be a catharsis. I think live shows can be the most nerve wracking because you are holding out certain songs that are fragile, even vulnerable, and relying on the decent conduct of the audience…need I say more? Of course, if a piece really moves someone, this is extremely rewarding. I don’t know why, but I don’t think that it’s purely just an ego fulfillment either. I think that it can just be genuinely rewarding when something is truly shared between two or more people, who are interacting as subjects to other subjects, rather than the usual subject-object relationship that dominates much of our daily interactions.

 
HH: The music of Lux Interna has aspects both lyrically and vocally that transcend mere entertainment. Can you discuss what you are hoping to share or communicate with your listeners?

JG: Yes, entertainment is an adjective that I wouldn’t quite use to describe our music. As I said elsewhere in this interview, music is no Disneyland for me. The blood in the notes must be real. Perhaps it is too bold a goal, but what I hope our music helps to do is to keep the name of God on the wind. I want our music to be both a wound and a temple. This is my tiny work, my tiny sacrifice of light and love, in the world-night…

 
HH: The vocals of Lux Interna are often dramatically and passionately recited and sung. Is it important to you that the music emotionally engages the listner and that the vocals are able to echo the emotional content of the lyrics?

JG: Yes, extremely. I am not interested in perfection or achieving a polished sound with our music. Naturally, we want the songs to be well done and well constructed, but what is most important to me is that they are able to carry the emotion that inspired them within themselves. The lyrics are generally the origin point of the songs and it is of utmost importance to me that they are properly elucidated by their delivery. Unlike Kathryn I have no golden voice, but I work very hard to be able to express what I feel musically with it.

 
HH: Can you discuss the narrative and share your personal understanding of the song “A Season Apart” and “Day Break I & II”?

JG: A Season Apart, which I must admit is one of the songs I am most happy with on Ignis, due to the fact that I feel it captured a certain essence of Lux Interna en total quite well, is rooted in a very personal and magical experience that Shane and I shared during the shipwreck of our youth. This was the root, however in the end the song that grew out of this became a manifesto of sorts for the relationship shared between the members of Lux Interna. A lot of what this song expresses is the force of the relationship between the four musicians who played on this track. A rune carved in skin, yet deeper within indeed! I feel that to go into more detail about the meaning of this song would betray its own confidence…

DayBreak I & II, stand at either end of the album, the first as a forceful statement of intent, the second as a calm affirmation of what was achieved in during the duration of the albums making. DayBreak I & II are hymns to draw the light out from within us, they are songs to awaken the hidden light…to bring the dawn and the glad day out of the inner-darkness, out of the world-night. The invocation that begins DayBreak I (in girim imus nocte et consumimir igni a palindromic phrase translating loosely as “we turn in a circle in the night and are consumed by the fire”) is also woven through out the album in various places. There are a few ways that I understand this palindrome, but general it signals the beginning of a transformation…

 
HH: In correspondence between Heathen Harvest and Lux Interna it has been mentioned that members of Lux Interna have studied religious studies academically. Can you please discuss these studies and the breadth of study?

JG: Both my undergraduate work, and the graduate work that I am now evolved in are within the field of religious studies. During my B.A., I specialized in apocalypticism and apocalyptic textual studies, both of pre-modern and modern texts. I am continuing work in this general direction with a current focus on early and late modern spiritual thinkers whose beliefs ran counter to the Cartesian logic based thinking that is normally associated with the West. I am interested in the plurality and diversity of our western spiritual heritage that often, despite being an important part of our cultural history, goes overlooked in favor of a presentation of the west having a homogeneous religious orientation. I have gone into some of my areas of inquiry, and probably too much so, so I will simply say that it I am driven to do my small part in trying to map a western cultural and spiritual current that did not succumb to what I feel is the poverty of crowning reason a god. Reason and logic do have their places or course, but I think that they have been given too exclusive a domination, and coupled with the cold rational of technological thinking, this could be a near fatal mistake.

 
HH: Have your personal or academic studies included Western occultism?

JG: Yes, in quite some depth.

 
HH: Do your religious studies and interest extend beyond the spiritual practices of western civilization?

JG: I attempt to achieve a breadth of knowledge in my studies, while striving to avoid exoticism and/or careless appropriations of non-Western beliefs-both of which abound especially in so-called “occult” circles. I am occidental by birth and culture of course, so it is naturally a bit harder to approach and understand “Eastern” traditions. Some things however really do speak universally. Aspects of the Vedic and Hindu traditions have always interested me in particular, as well as certain expressions of Buddhism, such as the writings of Dogen Kigen (1200-1253 CE).

 
HH: Does your spiritual interest include the study of runes or Nordic mythology or other more primitive forms of spirituality such as tribal or initiatory shamanism?

JG: Yes, there is an interest…but I am not involved myself in any active way with any neo-pagan groups.

 
HH: Can you discuss other areas of interest and academic study that members of Lux Interna partake in?

JG: Everyone in Lux Interna is involved in his or her own pursuits as well. Shane, aside from being involved academically with anthropological studies, is a visual artist, working mostly in the mediums of oil paint, pen & paper, and computer illustration, and a talented writer to boot. Kevin is involved in playwriting and art critique, and at the moment is working on finishing his first full-length play. As I have mentioned Kathryn is quite an accomplished artist…as is befitting, I’ll field this question to her…

Kathryn Gentzke: Thank you for your inquiry! For the past 3 years, my work has focused on the concept of the photographic self portrait. Though the use of various methods have produced diverse manifestations, the concept has consistently captured my attention, and it feels as though it will continue to do so for some time into the future. To me, the photograph deserves to be described as nothing less than a phenomenon of the past and present century. The diversity of its functions have resulted in its constant, rather incessant appearace in such wide ranging facets of our society; from law enforcement to (of course) advertising; from personal memories to cultural histories. In this sense, the photographic image can be seen as the symbol, or the visual token of our modern culture. However, ironically enough, the nature of the photograph is the antithesis of modernity. It is characterized by its stillness and silence; two states of being that, it is safe to say, are rather hard to come by in the blinking, flashing, cacophony of our contemporary Western society.

So, ultimately, it is this alienating nature of the photographic image that fascinates me in its ability to bring to light (so to speak) re-manifestations of the self. Seeing the one’s self in the still image, particularly those captured through elongated exposure times and hand made cameras (I work solely with analog photographic techniques), give presence to the surreality embedded in “reality”…that all too often go unnoticed.

 
HH: Many neofolk bands are deeply rooted in their national identities and draw upon musical traditions native to their nationality, ethnicity, and culture. Is there an American musical tradition that Lux Interna feels inspired by or does your aesthetic reflect a Eurocentric musical identity?

JG: When I started Lux Interna I wanted to distance myself from all things American, as much as possible. My own heritage is a mix of German, Swiss-German, and Russian, and I was raised primarily in touch with my German side. So, as it is often in the States, I equated myself with being “German”. My close relationship with my Grandparents really directed my interests towards being a bit of a Germanophile, and I found that I seemed to have a natural predisposition towards quite a few German writers and artists. Perhaps this is because they are generally a pretty gloomy bunch, and this fits my disposition!  However, living in Europe, I can really feel that, like it or not, I am American. The States is where I was born and raised, and naturally one cannot merely shrug that off because of distain for certain political and cultural issues. Pace postmodernism, identity is not some infinitely elastic thing that one can change at will. I think to consider myself as being “Eurocentric” would be a bit silly. I can sympathize with others (Europeans) who have a Eurocentric worldview if this means striving against the monocultural force of (American-style?) capitalism and de-individualization that is spreading through the West like wildfire - I cannot and do not, however, sympathize with this when it takes on biological, racist, or Blut und Boden characteristics.

I suppose it’s a bit of the old story-one has to leave home to really know who one is: a cliché perhaps, but not without merit. I have actually gotten “back in touch” with a lot of the sounds of American folk music, such as much of the traditional music produced in Appalachia. This has been creeping into my songwriting, and I think that to be authentic to myself I should listen. America is not just McDonalds, imperialism, Britney Spears, and Bush, it is also - thank God - T.S. Eliot, Jack Kerouac, murder ballads, and Ezra Pound… However - no worries there will be no Bruce Springsteen cover on the next Lux Interna album.

 
HH: Lux Interna moved away from the U.S. and now resides in Europe. Can you discuss your odyssey from the U.S. to Europe and what inspired this departure?

JG: Kathryn and I lived in Hungary in the past for a year, and now, for the last year and a half we are living in Germany. For many reasons we simply felt the need to get out of the empire for a bit, and experience what other lands are like. Its something that you can’t really get from making a trip somewhere - you really have to live somewhere for awhile -at least as long as it take for the feeling of “day to day” to kick in - to really get a feel of a place. I also want to better my German…I am sure that many Germans would appreciate it as well…and this is best done in the country. Many reasons lead us here in reality…

 
HH: What was your impression of the European cultures you had the opportunity to experience?

JG: …the experiences are really too numerous and diverse to give any sort of cumulative answer. All I can say is that is has been absolutely a rewarding, though not always easy, experience. Especially when I have gotten to stay in one place for a period of time - as was the case in Hungary, and still is the case in Germany - it has become clear to me how deeply a culture shapes oneself. It has also struck me that it would be an absolute crime if the world ended up as some sort of homogeneous entity, held together by the bonds of American style capitalism. By this I do not mean to imply some sort of knee-jerk reaction against multiculturalism or the like. What is chilling to me is that globalization is “uniting” cultures by creating some sort of synthetic one size fits all monoculture wherein the only differences that are promoted are those that can aid in the developing specialty markets. As an American it is always strange to see the worst parts of your own culture - if that’s the appropriate word to use here - exported all around the world, and in many cases devoured eagerly…

 
HH: Where did your travels through Europe take you and what did you hope to discover or unearth during these travels?

JG: Kathryn and I have traveled through many countries in eastern Europe, central, and southern Europe, including: Bosnia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Sicily, Greece, the Netherlands, and The Czech Republic. I suppose we were looking for ourselves.

 
HH: Did these journeys have a spiritual significance?

JG: I try to live my life in way that every experience has a spiritual significance. There is a line from Aleistair Crowley that often comes to my mind. To loosely paraphrase the ‘ol Beast, ‘the seeker should receive everything as a sign from God.’ The spiritual - and though this is an endlessly contested term, let’s just use it here with out feeling the need to define it within an inch of its life - by its very nature cannot simply be relegated to a specific place in one’s life. To do this is to deny its very essence, which is wholeness.

 
HH: Did you witness the events of 9/11 from abroad and if so what was your reaction and feelings when witnessing the tragedy in your home state of New York?

JG: Actually I was in Buffalo, New York when it happened… I do not really have words. This sort of act of violence is just overwhelming, especially in its senselessness. However, I do think that Americans must remember, however uniquely demonic this act seems to them, that there are quite a few places in this world were this murder is almost routine. It is simply arrogance to view an attack on American soil as being “more tragic” than an attack in another country. It is of course a sick mind that values these things so, and then compares them like commodities…however I couldn’t help but feel that this was a bit of the attitude that some Americans had about the attack. I thought perhaps that America would wake up to certain aspects of it’s self that it chooses not to face. This however, at least with those in power, of course did not happen. This horror, this terrible and damnable event quickly was commodified…made into a tool in the hands of our government, and used to justify terrible, horrible, and damnable acts… I don’t want to trivialize the massacre by lapsing into conspiracy theories, or use this point as an opportunity vent anger about the current administration, but I think that crazed Muslim attackers are the not only enemy the American people have…the hunt should begin closer to home with those who sit so smugly in office…

 
HH: America has launched an invasion into two foreign countries while Lux Interna has lived abroad. What are your feelings concerning your native country and the military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan?

JG: I am disgusted…words are hard to find.

 
HH: Do you see the “war on terror” as a clash between western and eastern cultures, traditions, and religion?

JG: I see it as war based on economics, cultural arrogance, hidden agendas, and disastrous ideologies, carried out under the pretension of religious and cultural issues. Unfortunately, I also see it as a fire that is now out of controlled, stoked on both sides for whatever reasons.

 
HH: Now that you have lived abroad for sometime what do you see Europe as having that American culture lacks or is disconnected from?

JG: It really depends where and with whom one is speaking. Of course, as an American it often seems to me that there are more traces here in Europe of non-synthetic culture, but many of my European friends are not quite as optimistic. On the whole however, it almost cannot help but be more connected than the U.S. I suppose that the two specific examples that come to my mind would be that the level of materialism is markedly less obscene here than it is in the States. And also, perhaps particularly in Germany, one can feel a real connection between the people and their physical environment. From the use of bicycles as practically the primary means of transportation, to the abundance of laws on recycling just about everything that one disposes of, it is easy to note a sense of consciousness in regard to the environment here that seems to be lacking, at least in the area of the States that I come from.

 
HH: America has been declared an exporter of manufactured commercial culture. Many countries and nations that have unique national and ethnic identities seem to be eroding in the face of American sponsored globalization. Do you feel as if American globalization threatens to defraud the entire world of national and ethnic character?

JG: Yes, I do think that there is truth in this. Having lived abroad and traveled quite a bit, I have become more convinced of this bitter truth than ever before. However this is force, this deadening current of blind globalization, while under the guise of Americanism, is metaphysically more than just an process of Americanization. Something is deeply wrong with the way the world is turning. I don’t think its just one thing…capitalism, or loss of tradition, for example, that we can put our finger on. The move towards a careless globalization and cultural homogeny is indicative of a greater darkness. We cannot, as some conservatives would like, shut up cultures in insular worlds or succumb to knee-jerk reactions to multiculturalism. The real problem is however is that this new “Americanization of the world” is a spreading of a “culture” that is not a cultural at all. It is not even really “American”: it is cold, inhuman, and bleak. What we have to lose is very real. Cultures must work together, mix, and change…but one must be careful to ask whether this change is organic (and thus part of the living culture itself) or if someone is pulling the strings…

 
HH: America has some of the richest and most well preserved natural resources in the world yet Americans, and increasingly everyone else in the world, seem to be disconnected on a very fundamental level from the natural environment which sustains them. Do you think western cultures growing disconnection from nature might be responsible for some of our cultural maladies such as globalization?

JG: Yes, I think this is, to say the least, not a positive thing…

 
HH: What is your impression of the spiritual significance of nature and modern man’s drastic spiritual disconnection from the natural environment?

JG: The modern age is so completely in the grip of, what Martin Heidegger, among others, came to see as the technological mindset, that is, put simply, that technology in itself becomes the ultimate telos of existence. Technology as an way of revealing the world, rather than as a tool to merely aid mankind, exposes a view of the world wherein everything, man, nature, the animal world, is reduced to a, in Heidegger’s terminology “Bestand “or roughly translated “resource”. This turning point where technology becomes the subject that objectifies the world and everything in it, demands a cold detachment from our very innermost nature, including the alienation of man to what is now termed “nature”. To even be able to speak of “nature” is of course to already be removed from it, it is to know nature as a concept, and thus an object. The simple idea of a park, wherein one goes to “be in nature” is an everyday sign of how removed we really have become. “Nature” is now a thing, among other things, that is seen to be here for our unrestrained use and exploitation. However the question of what should be done runs deep. Even the best-intentioned environmentalist can still fall prey to the present worldview of technological thinking. It must be asked whether or not it is enough to ask “how do we build better and more environmentally conscious factories and plants?” or if we would be better off asking whether we should be building factories and plants at all…

 
HH: In an interview with Heimdallr webzine you mention hiking in Bosnia and Serbia while traveling in Europe. Can you share some impressions of hiking through these regions and discuss your interest in hiking and outdoor recreation?

JG: Actually I believe that I was speaking about Bosnia and Slovenia, particularly Slovenia. Kathryn and I stayed for a bit in the Julian Alps in Bohinj, Slovenia. The green was immense in its brilliance…so much of the land was just untouched, unsullied…streams so clear that one could see straight down seven feet or so, as if through glass. We try to spend as much time in the wilderness as possible.

 
HH: Was this experience in Bosnia after the ethnic clashes in this region and if so what was your impression of the aftermath?

JG: Yes, it was in 2001… Bosnia, was a rugged and alive country…scarred badly by war, and evoking quite a bit of emotion in us. The hills, now finally silent of the explosions that once bathed them in fire, seemed to stare down around Sarajevo with solemn but determined eyes. The graves, Muslim and Christian went on for miles, like bones protruding from the earth.

 
HH: The music of Lux Interna often projects a bleak outlook of fragility and darkness. Are you optimistic about the potential for humanity to redirect its spirit?

JG: It depends on the day! I don’t know if optimistic is the right word, but I do have a certain faith that we shall reach where we are meant to be.

 
HH: Are their any artists in the neofolk scene that Lux Interna would like to work with?

JG: It is always wonderful to work with other artists, outside of the immediate members of Lux Interna, that I respect. I hope this will happen with increasing frequency in the future. We shall see.

 
HH: What does future hold for Lux Interna? When can fans expect a new album anytime soon?

JG: At the moment we are beginning work on our new album. The songs will be a collection of hymns to absent gods. To affirm absence, is to confirm presence. Amen. We will keep speaking from the wound of the world, until upon such words Gods name is heard...

 
HH: Is there any thing you would like to share with Heathen Harvest readers in parting?

JG:  I’d like to give a heart felt “thank you” to Heathen Harvest for this insightful interview. We sincerely appreciate your support, and this labor of love that you do.

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