Raison d'Etre | Artist
Raison d'être is a Swedish dark ambient project formed 1991 by musician Peter Andersson. Anderson describes himself as a sound designer working in the fields of dark ambient, industrial, drone, noise, electronic and experimental music. The name of the project was taken from a sentence in a book by Carl Gustav Jung: "the individuation is the raison d’être of the self". The music produced by Raison d'être is variously dark ambient and soundscape in nature. For example, synthesizers might play a droning melody over the sound of metal scraping together. Andersson often mixes tapes of Gregorian chant with his own keyboard and percussion playing. Andersson has released over 50 studio albums, under the guise of his various project names, which include Raison d'Etre, Necrophorus, Atomine Elektrine, Panzar, Grismannen, Svasti-ayanam, and Anonyma Alkoholister - all with distinctive musical styles. When commenting on his album Requiem for Abandoned Souls, Andersson described the effect he wanted to achieve with his music: "(the music) should be seen as some sort of mass for abandoned souls, souls without hope. Not only human souls, but also anything humans put a soul on. An old house could have a soul, in the sense that something could be felt in the atmosphere, its something alive and organic yet still dead and empty." His music demands repeated listens to really appreciate. Using samples and building on a a slow, meditative soundscape, the works develop, often getting darker and progressively more unsettling towards the end. When interviewed, Andersson described the early influences to his music as being the bands; SPK, Dead Can Dance, Delerium, Robert Rich, Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Cure, TG, Nocturnal Emissions, Einsturzende Neubauten, Klinik and similar. Under the Raison d'Etre project Andersson has released 27 solo albums, including several collaborations with the band Troum. Standout releases include The Empty Hollow Unfolds (2000), Within the Depths of Silence and Phormations (2013), Prospectus (2013), and Enthralled by the Wind of Loneliness (2013). Besides his music activities Peter Andersson is mostly interested in film, art, Tibetan Buddhism and meditation.
Artist Website: raisondetre.bandcamp.com
Featured Albums: Raison d'Etre
Related Artists: Peter Andersson, Stratvm Terror
