Scene Point Blank: Their Holes Aroused by the Splinters Carved From Their Teeth feels like a slightly more polished continuation of Harm Remissions. Does this statement ring true?
Eeli Helin: Holes is absolutely a polished mid-dish in the middle of main courses. We just wanted to do something fast and more polished, and worked with Sam Vaney on mixing/mastering for the first time. Deciding to work with him was the best decision I’ve ever done, both musically and personally. More on that later.
Scene Point Blank: Sleeper Vessels, but Darwin Falls more so, make it feel like Fawn Limbs is slowly settling into something of a musical identity. These being the most focused, well defined, and all-encompassing sonic expressions. They leave very little to nothing in the listener at the level of wanting more. It also seems like these records integrate more cohesively various influences when compared to others. How do you feel about this?
Eeli Helin: Sleeper Vessels was mainly our known sonic ambitions on steroids, whereas Darwin Falls was something entirely else. We do have a musical identity these days for sure, but that identity doesn’t explain itself through the music as blatantly as it might with someone else. This is mainly the result of us pushing ourselves constantly and doing what we want to do at all times, breaking our own comfort zones and musical molds. Sleeper Vessels deals with similar themes like Harm Remissions, but emphasizes abuse as a subject, and that’s all I will ever explain about that. Darwin Falls, as stated above, is a direct continuation of Thrum: the narrative being our own fucked-up western story that bites into the most profound levels of human psyche, all the while telling a more concrete story. We like the idea of a “band-within-a-band” approach, and the story of Darwin Falls will also continue this story later on -- it’s far from over. The artworks are dark photographic art as apparent, and we decided to pursue that direction to set ourselves apart from your standard gore-random-shit-cacophony. I think there’s a nice contrast in there.
Scene Point Blank: Lung Knots is something of an especially savage realm of sonic madness and there isn't much words can do to encompass the breadth of it.
Please change the color of the font on the Lung Knots Bandcamp page, I can't make out the writing.
Eeli Helin: No. [visibly doesn't care.]
Scene Point Blank: Drain and Salt the Wombs of Mothers kind of picks up from Fawn Limbs, but delving more into drone.
Eeli Helin: Huh?
Scene Point Blank: "Lung Knots is a vessel of auditory violence whose sole purpose is to exist in this place and moment in time. It is an overwhelming form of aural terror conveyed through primal and mechanical means, conjoining visceral matter of an organic origin with that of an abiotic one." Is this basically it for Lung Knot’s origin story, or is there more to it?
Eeli Helin: That’s basically the origin story, yes. I simply set out to fuck myself up. I’ve always found noise as a concept highly appealing, so yet again, the formation of Lung Knots came naturally, albeit from a darker place than any of my other bands.
Scene Point Blank: Are there any other people involved with the wild sound sculptures portrayed via Lung Knots?
Eeli Helin: It’s just me, and always will be just me.
Scene Point Blank: Lung Knots // Feel Happiness and Golden Dirges, Molten Larynges seem to be made up of almost entirely noise and drone. What pushed you far to the extreme side of these genres and what have you found there? It also seems like “punishing” is the only word that comes to mind when attempting to describe the output of Lung Knots. Is this its sole purpose as briefly illustrated above, or is there more to the concept for Lung Knots and its delivery?
Eeli Helin: Punishment is definitely the leading angle to Lung Knots’s output, but there’s also a level of emotion I want to convey with it. The songs on the split with Feel Happiness are abstract noiseworks, while those on Golden Dirges, Molten Larynges are definitely a thoroughly composed entity, musically. The vocals --I’ve always improvised on the spot, to keep a certain sense of uncertainty at hand for both the listener as well as myself.
Scene Point Blank: Moving ever forward, we arrive at the post-rock-oriented outlet of Eeli Helin -- Fargue. Let's see what's up with that too.
It seems like you’re also going for a lot of atmosphere driven stuff, without much regard for structures and such things. The overall mood seems to be more on the dark/gloomy/ambiguous side instead of the dark/harrowing from before as seen on other albums.
Eeli Helin: Fargue is me and Sam Vaney (mentioned above) and we set out to do that project after we realized we have similar ambitions and mindsets when it comes to working on music. On as bare bones as possible, we started a “drone band,” and this is what came off of it. The structures are purposefully vague, and the whole band is led with feeling above everything else.
Scene Point Blank: Ruines, Irradiées definitely holds a much more rock-oriented sound as opposed to Phosphène. What do you attribute that shift to? I’d also dare say Ruines is probably the most palatable and digestible of the albums you’ve been on.
Eeli Helin: Phosphène was actually written after Ruines, Irradiées, so the shift is the opposite. As a musician, I can’t hear that much of a difference between the two, though Ruines, Irradiées does rely more on percussions and the mentioned rock-ish stance. I think this is definitely my most easygoing and approachable of my bands -- easily.
Scene Point Blank: What’s the aim/purpose of Fargue? It’s not far from what seems to be your area of general activity in terms of vibe but it is markedly more polished and ordinated.
Eeli Helin: Sam is a wonderful engineer and fully responsible for the amazing sound of the records. He’s my go-to guy with everything for a reason. We basically write and perform 50/50 in Fargue, both improvising and composing parts, focusing on flow and naturality above all. There’s plenty of grit in there, but overall, we wanted to achieve a clean sound with it.
Scene Point Blank: So, let's look a little at your solo albums. There’s definitely a kind of sound sculpture component to The Lurks which isn’t really present in other participations so I’d see the point of a segregation from other personal outlets, but Vestibule, I feel, draws on the same level of noise/experimental as Lung Knots, albeit as if giving a nod to Ruby My Dear. Thoughts?
Eeli Helin: I sort of get where that comparison of Vestibule and the Lung Knots material stems from, but the stance behind it is completely different. Just because there’s distortion included on both, doesn’t make them one and the same. The solo stuff merely flirts with industrial/noise, but in its essence is still mainly drone/ambient material, percussive or not. Vestibule definitely has a harsher edge to it than The Lurks though, but the mindset behind those are the same, only produced in different ways.
Scene Point Blank: The Ditch Organ record basically feels like a more metalcore/chug-oriented, Sleeper Vessels era Fawn Limbs affair. What’s up with that?
Eeli Helin: I’m only doing vocals for that project, nothing else. It’s a “for fun” type of duo, I have no idea what the other member is going for and I don’t really care. It works this way.
Scene Point Blank: Sulphur Nurse (based on the lone single I heard) seems to be a Fawn Limbs/Lung Knots crossover event of sorts. Is it more different than what this would entail?
Eeli Helin: Sulphur Nurse is theoretically similar to Lung Knots, but revolves around a more theatrical output, and includes other musicians. My friends Dan (Mastiff/Catafalque) and Matt (It Only Gets Worse/Heinali) share similar interests towards all things grotesque, as I do. Other than mainly falling under the noise/industrial monikers, it has nothing to do with my other bands. Sulphur Nurse heavily relies on its aesthetic and the storytelling aspect behind it, being musically more cavernous and perhaps more dismal than any of the projects I’m involved in. There’s no light there, whatsoever.
Scene Point Blank: To wrap things up, we'll end with a little something about, Lähdön Aika's Valonaara, which is by far the most straightforward and simple record you’ve been on -- as I see it. It feels like it’s somewhat adjacent to Mireplaner, but it really does a very no-nonsense type of post-metal tinged, sludgy hardcore.
Eeli Helin: I joined Lähdön Aika due to liking their previous works and due to them being local to me. All of my other bands at that point were either online or remote only, and I wanted to be in a room with other people again – [the] last time being with Creinium around 2015. Lähdön Aika has been active for nearly two decades already and they had already well-established their own sound when I joined. I’m mainly contributing with vocals and lyrics, alongside handling the artwork for this latest EP. Other than my inclusion, yet again, this band has nothing to do with the other ones I’m involved in.
You can follow Eeli Helin and the rest of his endeavors here:
