meaning of life

Heartstring Harmonies: Meaning of Life's "Signs" EP

meaning of life

Sometimes, a musician is found within a far corner of the Internet whose music speaks to you as if it’s being performed right beside you. Such is this case with post-DSBM project Meaning of Life who fuses facets of modern metal to tell tales of universal struggle. After dropping epic full-length A Crying into Desolation in 2013, Meaning of Life has returned to us this year with the Signs EP, serving as their most experimental feat to date. While it is easy to simply let the delicate harmonies pull at your heartstrings, there is perhaps no better way to learn about the meaning behind Meaning of Life than to go straight to its founder.

Please, introduce yourself.

Hi there. My name is Danny and I run a DSBM project from La Ceiba, Honduras.

How did you get into music, specifically post-metal?

The first time I realized I wanted to make music was when I was around 16 years old. It has been seven years since I heard of the local bands and projects, to be exact. I realized that making music was not out of my reach. Since then I have focused on mastering my skills as a musician in order to record some decent stuff for my project, and here I am, still working on it. [Meaning of Life] began as a black metal project and turned into a mix of many music genres when I realized every album is a chance to capture the season you’re living in. It wasn’t until after A Crying into Desolation turned five years old that I really started to appreciate the process of recording a music album.

When and how did Meaning of Life come to be?

Meaning of Life was born when I needed to express my thoughts through art; through music and visual arts as the same concept, which seemed more appropriate to me. In 2011, I recorded an eight-track demo inspired by some depressive black metal bands [such] as Depressive Years, Nyktalgia, Lost Inside, Sombre Forets, and Through the Pain. After experimenting, I met J. Abraham (Vinter). We began making music together after he released his own demo, which I sang on (or at least tried!).

We spent a few months recording songs such as A Crying into Desolation — a raw record with a mix between sweet and raw melodies. Marco C., the drummer for Deadly Carnage, played drums on this record. I think A Crying into Desolation made me change my concept of creating music, especially after I recorded “Perfect Isolation.” This was when I really got into post-metal as a musician. I wanted to mix post-rock and DSBM.

What does your day-to-day life look like writing music in La Ceiba?

Writing music in La Ceiba flows really cool considering the fact that I live near the mountain Pico Bonito. [There’s] a lot of nature and wildlife out there, very peaceful. However, the social tension of Honduras made me feel much stress and of course it reflected in my music. In the last years, we’ve heard of the government killing environmental activists in order to protect its own interests. The last killed activist was Berta Caceres in recent years but it’s obvious there are so many more. In the last record Signs you will find some political references, but I try to avoid politics in my records as much as possible.

Who would you say your influences are outside the scope of metal?

It depends on the season. It’s hard to mention specific artists. I don’t listen to music often anymore. I’m that kind of guy who gets obsessed with an album, artist, or genre and gets saturated after several months into them. But I would say I’m influenced by some bands such as THE389 (Thailand). I found their music two years ago and I automatically fell in love with them and their song “Former.” They sing in Thai, however I still got their message.

I think your band name really captures the profound impact of your music. What message do you want your listeners to take away?

It depends a lot on the album we are talking about. Modern human wilderness, natural and feminine, was what I tried to express to the listeners this time with Signs, where I introduced to Jorge G. on the bass/drums.

Follow Meaning of Life on Bandcamp.

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