Label Profile: Profound Lore
March 23 2008 at 07:35:16 PM  Begun in 2004 by former metal scribes Chris Bruni and Adrian Bromley, Missasauga, Ontario’s Profound Lore started off as a small, independent enterprise releasing only limited quantities of vinyl. Still small and still fiercely independent since being taken over completely by Bruni, the label has grown in stature ever since, providing an outlet for those listeners ready to be weaned off the same-old metal sound, as well those listeners ready to try new and more lethal poison. Recently, LHP caught up with Bruni to query him on the label’s recent success and its somewhat controversial role in bringing together musical directions once thought of as polar opposites. With a steady stream of releases by Portal, Atavist, Alcest, Cobalt, Pulsfear, Amber Asylum, Asunder and WOLD, Profound Lore isn't necessarily what you could call a niche record label. It provides for a select but comparatively wide variety of tastes, and your reputation seems to be growing rapidly. What were your goals when you started the label and what do you think your biggest accomplishment has been so far? The goals were to develop a label that’s simply a reflection of my personality and my views on music and my appreciation for art (in general). I guess one of the biggest accomplishments is just getting the label off the ground and slowly continuing that uphill climb to build its reputation within an industry where I have the deck constantly stacked against me, one in which I refuse to submit and fall slave to. That’s an accomplishment in itself; basically meeting several collective goals (i.e. working with whichever particular artist, slowly getting the distribution factor up, getting so-and-so to acknowledge you and appreciate what you are doing etc.) that reflect the whole of the label and where it’s at. Release wise, I think releasing the Asunder album was a big accomplishment because it pretty much set the new chapter and turning point of the label of where the true vision of the label should build and manifest toward. The release of Works Will Come Undone was the new (and maybe even real) beginning of the label because the aesthetics were all set in place, and the release is quite personal to me. Before moving over to the actual business side of music, you were a staff member at BW&BK magazine and also a writer for Unrestrained! Magazine. Talk a little bit about how you got involved with writing and gradually came to put together your own record label. Throughout the years of doing this, I made a fair share of contacts (bands, people at labels etc.), had some perks, and I guess I needed something of a new challenge (since when the label technically started, I had nothing going for me really). Admittedly I’m getting kinda burnt out with the writing thing, I get lazy and just to meet a deadline or whatever for me is a task that I just want to get it over with. I guess it’s kinda like how Woody Allen makes a movie these days (unless he’s directing Scarlett Johansson, haha). I mean, the label is a much more personal jaunt because it’s more reflective of myself and who I am, my real musical tastes, how I view music and my general outlook on life portrayed through the artists I release. So, is this a full time job for you? Currently at the moment, yes it is, mainly because I don’t have a choice even though financially it sure as hell not as stable as a “real job” (i.e. a job which is deemed acceptable by society). A few years ago I graduated a prestigious Public Relations/Communications post-grad program (my undergrad is in film studies) in which I entered because I needed to find a real job and this was one of those programs which “guaranteed” you a job after graduation. The initial idea was to get one of these jobs in the field and do the label as a side-hobby thing to keep my sanity in check. But after being denied opportunities, work etc. ad nauseam over the last few years (which have been quite hard and virulent, especially on a mental level), I had no choice but to take the label, run with it and just do my best to at least try and hurt the vultures and just… live the dream. Did you ever have any musical ambitions of your own? I’ve never been part of a band or anything, but I’ve studied classical piano with the Royal Conservatory for a good portion of my childhood; have everything up to my Grade 9 certificate. Although I’m very appreciative for such a venture, that I can sight read music, do all that technique etc, admittedly it was very hard to actually enjoy it because there was a ridiculous amount of pressure put upon me and I’ve never felt as much pressure ever when it came to any kind of schooling in my life. And that’s lightly putting it! Through this, in a way, it was a good way to understand music, how its structured, arranged, and the way melody works. I’ve never picked up a guitar in my life though, of course I’ve wanted to know how to play it, but I guess too many of my friends played guitar that I found it pointless and playing Bach, Liszt, and Beethoven was much more unique and satisfying than trying to play Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Metallica or whoever was the popular band to cover when you were in high school. Admittedly though, I haven’t touched the piano in ages, and I think it’s important that to at least maintain the skills and keep them at bay. The Profound Lore roster has grown so unique over the last couple of years that you can't even really call it a metal label, but it's not an indie-rock or out and out avante-garde outlet either. It's sort of a blur, and the roster reflects this from top to bottom, blurring the line between various styles—from doom metal, to Black Metal, death metal, and ambient sounds. What has been your favorite release so far? I guess the releases that I feel closest to, for many personal reasons of my own, are the aforementioned Asunder Works Will Come Undone, Leviathan A Silhouette In Splinters LP, Agalloch Pale Folklore LP, Cobalt Eater Of Birds, and Alcest Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde. Even though the releases on my label harbour many different styles, in a way they all reflect with one another and can relate to one another under one aesthetical banner. For example Portal and Amber Asylum and Alcest are all different styles (musically and especially personally behind the individuals who mastermind these acts), but putting them next to each other, they don’t seem out of place, well to me anyway… Compared to most North American labels and distributors, and between Ajna, Southern Lord and Profound Lore, there seems to be a great importance placed on the packaging/layout. Archive and Chet Scott's Glass Throat Recordings are two others who make really slick or else more tactile casing, though on a much smaller scale. Like Ajna, you seem to prefer digipacks, and actually manage to have them made sturdier than most. What are the benefits of using that format and do you have any direct involvement or input with the band/artist in designing the releases? Ah yes, the controversial digipack format. There are several reasons why I prefer this, of course I think aesthetically, with the fitting artwork etc. it helps bring the aura of the artist to a new level (the new Portal release is a perfect example of this) and admittedly on a practical level, doing releases in the digipack format saves me a shitload of money when mailing orders out because digipacks are light and mailing a single digipack release is way cheaper than mailing out a CD in a jewel case (under the farce known as Canada Post). I take this into account as well of course because I like to sell my CDs at a very reasonable price. People always complain that digipacks get ruined easier or whatever, but I mean, it’s not that hard to take care of them. But at the same time, I guess I do kinda see their point (my Dissection Storm Of The Light’s Bane digipack is not in the greatest condition actually). But I’ve always preferred digipacks (or any kind of cool gatefold sleeves of any kind), even when buying music. I guess they are just nicer, look and feel cooler, especially how the artwork becomes portrayed and of course it’s important that the artwork is portrayed on the right sturdy card-stock/digipack material. But for the most part, for some strange reason, I’m not really too fond of jewel cases… On the flipside, there are more and more (predominantly metal) labels using either poor Photoshop or painfully generic, retrograde artwork. From a sales point of view, from a label whose releases are (correct me if I'm wrong) sold mostly online, do you think cover art really has the same impact it did when buying a record? I do think cover art still has that impact today as it did in the ‘80s where metalheads were getting off on just staring at the covers of their Iron Maiden or Running Wild LPs. But in the genre I’m geared toward, I think cover art does make an impression and is important. I do like to stress to my artists that an intriguing album cover is essential, no matter how expansive, minimal (I think “Transilvanian Hunger” is one of the greatest Black Metal covers of all time), or simple it is; it has to have an effect to help bring the aesthetic to another level and to penetrate the listener even more when glancing at a piece of art when listening to the audial aspect (you know, like the cover to the first Black Sabbath LP). It doesn’t matter if the cover art is ambiguous, confusing, or can be taken at face value, as long as it elicits a certain feeling of sorts (even if it’s for a brief moment). Take the cover art for the new Portal album (done by Jeff Lowe). I don’t think I can recall seeing any kind of cover art with such an intriguing, dark, disturbing, unique and polarizing aura that is just so evil in nature. Looking at this particular image, which comes across as someone’s worst Lovecraftian nightmare manifested (kinda like the reaction of the protagonist in Pickman’s Model when when those nightmarish images were cast right before his eyes), makes the listening experience of Outre that much more. Luckily, the majority of my artists do present their art in competent ways. So in that sense, I do trust them to deliver on this front… Of course, quality packaging also helps build a loyal fan base...What is the demand in Europe or South America for Profound Lore releases compared to North America? What's been the best market here in The States? In Europe it seems that the UK has really warmed to the label quite a bit, as that’s where most of my overseas sales come from, easily. It’s pretty much non-existent in South America, I think I’ve received only one order from Mexico ever, and in the States, it seems pretty much consistent and stable between the West Coast, the Mid-West, and the East Coast. Being from Canada, I would like my presence here to be felt a bit more, mainly because there is no such label with the nature of mine in this territory. I think it would be great to pervert the Canadian indie-music scene because it’s just so gay. But there’s only so much you can do within this landscape, and I guess you can only go so far when penetrating the Canadian market with this kind of music and getting whoever to care. Although Atom Egoyan did acknowledge my label once which I thought was cool… The general mood of and quantity of releases of late - not speaking of just you and Profound Lore, but across the board, often concerns the mixing up and constant referencing of shoegaze aesthetics in connection witho either Black Metal or a more melancholy, heavier crossover style. Home recording technology has boosted all kinds of releases in this vein (just as it has as many redundant "purists") but what are your thoughts about why this particular combination has become so “in demand” and do you have any opinions on how long it will last? It’s funny because if Hyvis Lyset Tar Oss was released today, it would probably be considered shoegaze Black Metal. Nonetheless, crossover is inevitable; a lot of these Black Metal artists are discovering other forms of dark music (outside metal) and appreciating the likes of bands such as Jesu, Neurosis, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Swans, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky etc. And I guess a lot of these more open- minded artists do find many elements (be it oppressive or comforting) that they can relate to within such music (and same with fans of Black Metal and the likes). But I do think there is somewhat of a correlation between Black Metal aesthetics and the oppressing vibes of some bands that dwell within shoegaze, post/art rock, and even new wave genres. I mean, most extreme metal bands today could never even come close to creating something as devastating as The Great Annihilator, White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity, or Soundtracks For The Blind. A band like Joy Division is way more depressing than a collective army of suicidal bedroom Black Metal bands. But I think this new influx of shoegaze, post-rock etc. into Black Metal (just like progressive Black Metal) will just take its course until it’ll be irrelevant as to deem whatever in Black Metald as shoegaze or post-rock influenced. If the lines become blurred, then they’ll get even more blurred as time goes by… Even if persons like Alcest and Caina are delving into the softer side of things, two of the most acclaimed bands on the Profound Lore roster, WOLD and Portal, are surely holding nothing back on their respective discs Screech Owl and the newly released nightmare Outre. How did you get into contact with these two bands, notorious recluses and eccentrics that they are? It’s great to deal with personalities like those in WOLD and Portal, and I think it’s very important to harbour unique personalities amongst your roster of bands. Personally, I like to reflect and relate with the personalities behind the artists, and I think it’s important that the artists do not have normal personalities. Each artist I deal with have their own perspective on things and are each a character in themselves. For example, Andy of Caina, at only 21 years old is one of the most intelligent musicians I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with, and the guys in Cobalt and Killusion of Thralldom/The Howling Wind have to be some of the most uncompromising, intelligent, and extreme personalities in extreme metal today. As for WOLD, we came in contact by sheer coincidence, I loved the “Badb” demo, was looking to do a CD release, contacted them, and coincidentally they just finished “L.O.T.M.P.” I then heard it, thought it was some of the most extreme and sonically provoking stuff I’ve heard, I didn’t know (nor cared) how other people would tend to it, but I just decided to run with it and the rest is history. As for Portal, I came across them from a recommendation and was instantly floored by their intimidating aesthetic and surreal sonic histrionics that reflected a demented cinematic aura (like a celluloid nightmare of some old silent art-house film from the ‘40s) that I wanted the label to relate with. Got in contact, re-released Seepia (even though it went over the heads of trendy Death Metal fans) and now we’re here with Outre. Indeed they are a very interesting enigma with very interesting and provoking views on life amongst other things. Personally I think Portal is where I would like to see Death Metal headed because 95% of bands that are deemed Death Metal today are not Death Metal. Any idiot can create “brutal” riffs, or play fast or can have technical fortitude. Death Metal is supposed to be extreme, the music and the personalities behind the music likewise. It is supposed to have an uncompromising atmosphere, a raw feeling of dread, unease, and horror that must not be accessible to normal Death Metal fans who like their stuff to sound digitally triggered and safe. Even though a band like Portal may not be for everyone, I consider them one of the very few bands today that portray a real vision of what Death Metal is supposed to purport, sonically and personably (even if Portal do transcend such a genre). Personally I think most Death Metal released after 1993 is useless anyway… Profound Lore and its artists have also been referred to in various publications as "forward-thinking." Has metal by and large burnt itself out or is it just that more people who maybe didn’t grow up interested in metal previously are now taking notice because of the label/artists collective approach? Does the possibility of being considered "hip" concern you at all? As much as I appreciate good solid quality metal (which is very rare these days), and I definitely would love to release an album that breathes true metal, the label itself is not concerned whatsoever with fitting in the genre, as much as I love it. Then again, I’m not concerned with fitting into any genre. And I guess the people into metal that embrace the stuff I release are the more open minded individuals who will take the plunge and take the chance on discovering new sounds and even be evasive if need be because they might feel uneasy or provoked. And I think this is an important factor for such underground music to progress, get recognized, and develop even more. I think if I want to convert someone who didn’t grow up with metal, I would like to see them get into something really extreme, penetrating, left-field and somewhat groundbreaking of course (all while discovering where it truly came from). I would like to think that I offer a wide variety of sounds for fans who seek intriguing unique music, no matter the genre or style; it’s very important to intrigue, provoke, and enlighten with whatever forms of art (be it music or cinema). And then from these unique users who discover say Amber Asylum or Alcest, can then discover something more extreme as Cobalt, Portal, or Atavist, and appreciate what they have to offer as well. [Todd DePalma] |
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