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Interview with

Torben Wendt (vocals, lyrics, music) of Diorama

With the new single ‘Child of Entertainment’ out on 5th February 2010 and the final release of the new album ‘Cubed’ [to be released on 19th March 2010] closing in, we thought it was high time to get some information about the single and more importantly about the new album. Torben Wendt was kind enough to take some time to answer our little catalogue of questions.

Reflections of Darkness (RoD): When did you actually start working on the new album?
Torben: I think it was around September 2007 after the main fuss around “A Different Life” had abated. I remember that we took a couple of months off from writing new songs in order to focus on the various summer festivals we got the chance to play.

RoD: How long did it take to produce the entire record?
Torben: About 2-3 years, of which the last 6 months have been almost entirely used to create the visual concept behind “cubed”.

RoD: In which way did working on the new album differ from ‘A Different Life’?
Torben: During the production of “A Different Life” we had already implemented our mobile recording studio to write songs in all sorts of strange but comfortable environments like a secluded cabin in the Austrian Alps and a beach house at the Dutch North Sea coast. For the production of ‘Cubed’ this strategy was taken to the next level, the album was in large part pre-produced in hotel rooms. Thanks to the wonders of modern technique we didn't have to rely on a fleet of devices in order to capture our musical ideas. Both the sober, neutral atmosphere and the narrowed technical possibilities were almost forcing us to brainstorm on new inputs and to focus on meaning rather than on soundscape in the writing process.

RoD: Does the album have a basic theme, permeating the tracks like a kind of golden threat, musically or lyrically? Is ‘Cubed’ a conceptual record at all?
Torben: If I had to pick the DIORAMA album one could consider the most conceptual one, ‘Cubed’ would be it. During the whole recording process we were accompanied by the imagination of a cube representing the personal habitat of an individual.

RoD: At which point did the name ‘Cubed’ come up? I mean it’s a pretty uncommon title.
Torben: Both concept and title came up during one of our first recording sessions for the new album. We spent a prolonged weekend in a modern design hotel in Southern Germany where all the rooms were built in the shape of a “living cube“. I think it was Marquess who came up with the remark how everything you need for a perfect weekend actually fits into one rather small cube. We felt immediately that there was a lot of truth as well as development potential in this perception. After spending the whole night discussing all sorts of associations and writing the song ‘Cubed’, we knew that this was it.

RoD: ‘Cubed’ will be released in two different versions with a second CD attached to the deluxe edition of the record containing additional bonus tracks. Were those tracks produced for the album anyway or is it material that just didn’t fit into the concept?
Torben: All the songs belong to the same creative period. When we picked the songs that should constitute the album in the final throes of the production phase, we also decided on the tracks for the bonus CD. They didn't seem to necessarily fit into the context of the regular album but they were still of high importance to us like i.e. the title track ‘Shadow Play’.

RoD: I was so happy to see ‘Shadow Play’ on that list, too. How come it’s being released now on CD, or was that intended all along?
Torben: It's one of those songs that have a massive and heartfelt meaning to me and being an artist I got the urge to share this. The bonus CD was the ideal chance to do so.

RoD: With what packaging is the album going to be released?
Torben: The limited edition comes in a cardboard box containing a 10 panel digi-pack, a 24 page booklet, a folding cube and the 2 CDs.

RoD: Sounds interesting. On the cover of the upcoming single, the cube takes on the shape of a box, open towards the listener’s perspective. In which way does that relate to the lyrical concept of ‘Child of Entertainment’?
Torben: Like always, I don't want to forestall any interpretations. The viewer is welcome to see what he wants to see in the empty cube - a stage someone just left, a waiting grave or something else. In any case, I wanted to show a rather gloomy, morbid, sad perspective of the cubed concept.

RoD: Why was the track chosen to be the preceding single in the first place, and maybe you can tell us why it is opening the new album as the track list reveals?
Torben: ‘Child of Entertainment’ puts a lot of my personal awareness of life over the past 3 years in a nutshell, and I wanted to set an emphasis on this. Besides, I consider the pace and the energy of the song as consistent enough to carry a self-contained release.

RoD: Is it just a coincidence that the track reminds more of the ‘hla’ album than anything else or was that intentional?
Torben: No, there were no intentions in this direction.

RoD: Why did you choose to highlight the song’s different moods with own alternative versions, rather than putting some additional unreleased material on the single like you did with ‘Synthesize Me’ back in the day?
Torben: When the album version was ready, we occupied ourselves with the song a couple of nights to see if it would work from different musical approaches. It turned out that the song would work regardless of the musical wrapping. This opened up the opportunity to present the different tempers and facets the song encloses from my point of view.

RoD: On a related note, why did you felt the need to record a new version of ‘hla’?
Torben: We thought that reworked versions of two “classic” diorama tracks (‘hla’ and ‘Advance’) would be a nice supplementation to the single.

RoD: Back to the album! There’s one song called ‘Apocalypse Later’ and I was wondering all the time if it was a pun intended on the movie ‘Apocalypse Now’ and what you wanted to express with that.
Torben: I wanted to coin a synonym for phrases like “devil may care” or “after us the deluge”. The pun on the movie is a convenient spin-off.

RoD: What is that ‘Acid Trip’, the protagonist of the eponymous track is on anyway?
Torben: LSD... I guess. Yet, the track is not about a drug addict as you can imagine. It's rather about letting really strange things pass into your head that you can't get rid of anymore.

RoD: Contrary to other songs off the album, already presented live, ‘Alpha Animal Complex’, which had its premier at Dark Dance Treffen last September, has more of a poppy, melodic vibe. Why is that, as I think it’s like that for a reason?
Torben: I don't know. The song just popped up with a straight and melodic character.

RoD: The tour with IN STRICT CONFIDENCE and X- DIVIDE is going to take off. Is there anything special that you’ve planned, beyond the huge metal cubes, gracing the stage already?
Torben: The stage appearance will mainly entwine around the 2x2 meter cubes. Yes, we've got some additional ideas but we still need to explore what will be feasible.

RoD: While we’re talking about it! Which part are they playing in the live concept?
Torben: They represent the “concert cubes” that each of us steps into when going on stage.

RoD: If there’s anything else you want to get off our chest you can do that now.
Torben: I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the whole Reflections of Darkness crew for your continued support and interest! It means a lot to us.

RoD: That’s it already. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer all the questions.

{jos_sb_discuss:21}

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