Paysage d’Hiver speaks exclusively with The Ritual

Paysage d’Hiver is the frostbitten project of Tobias “Wintherr” Möckl which epitomises the harshness of winter.

The Ritual here on TotalRock chats exclusively to Wintherr about the new upcoming album in ‘Geister’, the history of the project and what lies ahead for the master of winter wanderings.

Nate: Hello and thank you for taking the time to speak to me here on TotalRock.

Wintherr: Hello Nate, you are welcome and thanks for your interest in Paysage d’Hiver.

Nate: Paysage d’Hiver has been around now for over 20 years and in this time most of the work that you have released was classed as demos. Why did it take until 2020 for you to release your debut album ‘Im Wald’?

Wintherr: The main reason is the playing time of “Im Wald”. I considered 2h of playing time definitely to be a full-length. I knew this would create some nerdy discussions and I think it’s amusing, so my sense of humour was another reason.
The reason why the older recordings were classed as demos was because they were initially released on self-produced / unmastered tapes (except “Steineiche” which was first released as CD-R) and because I always liked demo tapes a lot. They often had more emotional depth and an individual sound compared to album versions and therefore had a deeper artistic expression in my perception, so this was kind of a tribute to the underground as I always saw Paysage d’Hiver in this tradition. They were never meant to gather attraction from record companies, venues or radio stations, so in this sense, they defy the classic definition of a demo. It was an artistic decision in the first place.
For me personally, they are all equal chapters of a story and I don’t care about any classification.

Nate: Your 2nd full-length album ‘Geister’ is being released this Friday via Kunsthall Produktionen. Please can you tell me more about the new album and the writing process behind it? Is there a story behind this release?

Wintherr: After creating “Im Wald” I was in such a good flow that I decided to pull out some other old recordings I had lying around and finally finish them, the result of which is “Geister”. It is based on a traditional mask cult called “Tschäggättä” from Lötschental in Switzerland. This mask cult always screamed black metal to me, so I had this idea for at least 20 years now. I did not intend to do it by myself though, as I didn’t really see it as part of the world of Paysage d’Hiver and didn’t feel for yet another project. Mainly because behind the “Tschäggättä” are human beings and the world of Paysage d’Hiver is situated in another dimension, even though the unhuman, raw, natural (wooden masks), dark, mountainous and wintery character are all things the dimension of Paysage d’Hiver shares with the “Tschäggättä”. So I waited for other people to do it, which finally happened in 2008. To my disappointment, it didn’t hold up to my expectations, so I spontaneously started to create the music by myself as I heard it in my mind. Except for “Geischtr” and “Anders”, each song of “Geister” contains at least one riff from back then. So it’s not totally new material at all.
So much about the writing process.
The reason why I decided to release it under the Paysage d’Hiver banner is mainly that at some point I had a flash of inspiration for the concept.
As you might know, the story I’m telling with Paysage d’Hiver is about the Wanderer who is going towards the fortress (Die Festung) in a winter land called “Paysage d’Hiver”. They are all metaphorical for my inner self. So it’s basically me, going within me towards myself. It’s a form of a ritual or meditation towards self-consciousness.
The story of “Geister” is about the Wanderer having a lucid dream in which these “Tschäggättä” appear to him. So from the view of the Wanderer, these “Tschäggättä” are ghosts. Thus the title of the album. They tell him stories from their dimension which is in fact the human realm and that’s what you can hear as music and read as lyrics on “Geister”. The only possibility for the human realm to directly get in touch with the dimension of Paysage d’Hiver is through forms of meditation or rituals, such as the “Tschäggättä” represent.

Nate: You have now about to release 2 full-length albums in 2 years. What has changed your mind in terms of wanting to write a full-length album? Or was this your intention all along but for whatever reason it never came to fruition?

Wintherr: All recordings are full length for my perception. Maybe you could class them as full-length demos? In that case “Im Wald” could also be considered as a double-full-length demo. What the hell is that? “Im Wald” was never planned to be that long, in fact, I initially thought it would be rather short.
After “Im Wald” I just didn’t really see a reason for going back to the demo classification, especially as the new recordings are released on different physical and digital formats simultaneously and not on tape first and re-released on other formats later.
As mentioned above, all recordings are equal chapters within the story of Paysage d’Hiver, any classification is not of much importance.

Nate: Obviously the last year has been rather different than most with the global pandemic of Covid. Did this period of time influence your creativity in any way for creating your music and art?

Wintherr: So far, no. “Geister” was finished recording in February 2020, so it was too early for Covid to have any influence. Interesting though that the concept of “Geister” revolves around masks and the human realm, both things that are very present in the current situation.
Isn’t corpse paint also a sort of mask? A more modern version of these ancient mask cults? I do think so. It seems to be an archaic need that lies within human nature. But why?
In my experience, corpse paint provides the possibility to give a face to something hidden deeper within oneself. It’s a form of gaining self-awareness in bringing deeper and darker aspects of oneself into the light. Of course only in a special setting and for a limited amount of time. I clearly see the “Tschäggättä” or other mountainous mask cults in the same perspective.
These mask cults and the more modern variant found in Black Metal also have an aspect of criticism towards the status quo of societies and their power structure and definitely with how they deal with dark matters such as death, aggressions, manly warring impulses. They also go against society’s tendencies to shut these aspects of human nature out, instead of integrating the dark sides in order to be able to control them.
A mask can also be used in order to do things that are not allowed or considered immoral in society. Such as throwing stones and Molotov cocktails against the police, being sexually explicit or other impulsive behaviour.
According to science, a mask impedes the awareness of self and the control of impulses, both in correlation with the prefrontal cortex.
What happens if all of a sudden the whole of humanity is wearing masks almost all the time?
Very concerning.
I recommend reading this if you are interested in this topic: thecritic.co.uk/face-masks-make-you-stupid

Nate: What lies ahead for Paysage d’Hiver after the release of ‘Geister’? Do you plan on releasing any more music in 2021 or could we ever see you perform live at some point?

Wintherr: I’m working on the next chapter. But I have no idea when it will be finished. Looking at “Geister” and “Im Wald” it could take another 10 years…let’s hope not.
“Geister” is the only recording I would see fit on stage in the right setting. We’ll see what the future brings, nothing’s certain yet.

Nate: You have somewhat of a cult status among black metal fans. Many out there including myself are wondering who are YOUR favourite influences either musically or artistically?

Wintherr: I’m not really aware of a cult status. Probably better that way.
There are quite many influences. Musically speaking, obviously the more extreme sort of heavy metal, but also dark ambient and other experimental, folk and also classical music. Even psytrance to a certain extent. Usually, there are certain songs, albums or artists that I admire and not a whole genre per se. There’s a lot of Black Metal out there that I don’t like at all for instance.
In general, I always had a very strong personal artistic aesthetic/vision which I seek in everything.

Nate: If someone has been unfortunate enough to not have listened to your music before. How would you describe this to them?

Wintherr:
It sounds like a washing machine with feelings!
Just joking.
Thanks for the flattery…
Difficult for me to describe, as I think I’m much too close to it, but I’ll give it a try:
Most people seem to consider it “lo-fi”, for me it’s not at all. The sound is very deliberately chosen, like another instrument, for the music being able to create the intended inner landscapes and emotions. For most people it makes it more difficult to gain access, you have to get used / train your ears for this sound at first. Once your ears are trained, you’ll ask yourself why it used to be so difficult before. It’s like you need the key to be able to open the gate to the wintery realm of Paysage d’Hiver. Once you have found the key, it is a treasure chest. If you won’t find the key, it will be totally boring noise to you at best.

That’s about the best I can give as a description, the rest should be done by the listeners themselves.

You can pick up ‘Geister’ the latest album by Paysage d’Hiver this coming Friday here.

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