MIKE TEMPLAR - Digital Death
Foreword by C Z A R I N A
This past year or so, I got the chance not only to work with Swiss synth and electronic artist and producer, MIKE TEMPLAR, but also to get to know who this charming enigmatic character in our scene is who, once in a while, shoots out deeply profound thoughts with a little bit of dark humor. It doesn’t come as a surprise that he is a stoic Lynchian. Our conversations would often snowball into deeply surreal aspects of human nature and all sorts of theoretical psychoanalysis that may or may never have been considered. Mike is that friend who would invite you to peek what’s behind the red velvet curtains, try on the mid-century leather cushions, and slide along those black and white, chevron-striped laminate floor, wondering if some particular Greek statue standing at the corner of the room is either trying to be modest or hide something. Mike’s music is just as cerebral as he is, poignantly pondering over human connectivity and higher consciousness. And it is not a surprise that one of his recent releases was based on Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge.
Mike Templar has just unveiled his latest full-length, Digital Death - an eclectic mix of tracks that pull from different genres that showcase his full breadth of versatility and perspective, at the same maintaining cohesiveness directed by his artist mission. As I often believe that artists are the only ones who can really dive deep into profound levels of their art, I invited Mike to talk about his new record, his collaborations and his thought process in making this body of work.
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“ Space knights, Valkyries, funk masters and dark wave connoisseurs come together to bring you the "Digital Death". When you realize that your cyberpunk futurism is going to be more likely analog. My new album "Digital Death" is a concept album dedicated to the digital poisoning of our society. Creepingly, our economy and our well-being is shifting into an illusory world by means of "likes", from which it is difficult to escape. "Simulacres et Simulation" has become the program of our thought processes, so that true values such as love, friendship, fraternity, deep and genuine communication are increasingly being obscured. Nor has a single Bitcoin to date really replaced land and real estate in terms of value. One could think it is a global psychological operation aimed at keeping people trapped in front of their screens instead of powerfully confronting the immediate machinations in the immediate environment.
The album is a fusion of new wave, French house, funk, electronic rock, synthwave, a bit of gothwave and features my first vocal performances. The Depeche Mode-like and already released album song "Black Lodge" is my proud vocal debut, along with other vocal performances of mine. I am also incredibly happy that I was able to get three of my favorite artists in the synthwave scene for my album. The song "Ghostly Whispers" is sung by C Z A R I N A, who also wrote the lyrics. This song has become one of my best works. I wrote the instrumental piece of music a year ago and de facto designed it only for C Z A R I N A; I couldn't think of anyone else for this song. It took some time together to do it and her busy calendar was a challenge in this project. Any effort was very worthwhile: The end result is a touching and profound song. Another artist I was able to win over for my album, who already caught my attention a lot with his debut album, is Strike Eagle. He sings on the track "Turn OffThe Screen" and also wrote the lyrics for it. He does what he does best: He performs with full power and gives the funky track everything it needs to be catchy. The last guest artist on my album is The Institute91'. For me, he is one of the best darkwave producers and, in my opinion, an artist too little recognized in the scene. His albums and lyrics often point to critical issues in society. For the song "Digital Frontier" I asked him to create a spoken word text that has it all. The result of his performance is a psychologically clever text and in the style of an old radio recording, warning of the dangers emanating from man himself. And last but not least: My father plays the saxophone solo on "True Value". If you want to call the album "Digital Death" your own, it is best to visit Bandcamp. The album includes a graphically sophisticated designed booklet with all lyrics and some art images generated with Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN).”
Mike really loves David Lynch. And David Lynch seems to really love him back. :D
