“I spent some time dealing with depression in hospitals. It was surrealistic. A lot of people make these albums about mental illness or asylums. It seems to be a trend in dark ambient. But none of them have actually ever been in one or even know what it’s really like. Well I do. And this is MY way of telling it”, explains Alexandre Julien in description of the new Soufferance extended play “Bonjour Tristesse”. He continues “The song “Dementia Præcox” is split into two parts, with an interlude in the middle. I never went “completely mad“, but the second part of the song describes what it would have probably been like”.
The EP title translates to “Welcome Sorrow”, and is the first part of the “Sorrow”/”Tristesse” phase, that Soufferance is introducing. The EP was plagued with delays and let downs, with art designers, producers, other musicians and even record labels. “Initially this was going to be a split with Neige et Noirceur, but things fell through I ended up wanting to release it as an EP. Then it was “released” by a label in Germany on CD, but a fire in the warehouse destroyed most of the copies. You can ask them about it, they have a funny story. Then another label in Ukraine offered to put it out on cassette, but after I saw the preview tests, I told them there was no way something that ghetto was coming out with my approval”. This was followed by multiple promises and attempts to finally get it released by other labels, but all in vain.
In November 2013, Abridged Pause Recordings is proud to finally bring this album out where it belongs, along with it’s sequel, “Adieu Tristesse”. Four years in the making, this version contains a full digital booklet, fully mastered music and a slew of bonus unreleased material.
- Dementia Præcox
- Alternating Perfection (Demo) *
- Fully Hollow (aka. 29.530589) *
- Fully Hollow (Planetary Demo) *
- Hermoðr á Helferð (Burzum cover)
- An Unlikely Meeting (Marc Hoyland Space Mix) *
- An Unlikely Meeting (Marc Hoyland Reverb Mix) *
- A Nightmare Ends *
* previously unreleased
Credits:
All music and literature composed and performed by Soufferance
Soufferance is the creation of Alexandre Julien
Music for Dementia Præcox recorded September 7th, 8th, 9th and 30th, 2010 at Mortified Studios
Vocals for Dementia Præcox recorded December 27th, 2010 at Mortified Studios
Bonus material recorded at Mortified Studio between November 2009 and January 2011
Artwork by Niels Geybels
Layout by Alexandre Julien
APR9 – November 14th 2013
All songs released exclusively registered to Abridged Pause Publishing
The third installment in a series of self-reflection and deterioration
