Icare : Hello to you! To start with, could you introduce Morgu to us?

Morgu is a band that likes to explore subjects and ideas that affect the human soul in ways that change you, such as isolation, fear, suffering.. and maybe adding a layer of what that change may look like afterwards, be it for the better or the worse. This is also the core of what initially united us, as a group of musicians who, individually, write on these same or similar topics and have a history within the Albanian extreme metal scene. So, we knew each other and were good friends long before Morgu was conceptualized.

The idea of Morgu came during fall 2019, and by July 2020 we had started working and writing lots of music. The first 2 years were spent mostly playing and writing without yet going public, as we were getting to know each other and creating that kind of musical bond that now defines the very idea of Morgu, a concept which evolves just like human emotions; sometimes messy and unpredictable, sometimes slow and melancholic, as well as anything in between.

 

Icare : You're from Albania, and in France, we don't know much about your national metal scene. Could you introduce us to the most important bands from your country, as well as your latest favorites that are worth following?

Albania is a small, godesslike and unfortunate country. Even though one of the oldest in the world. We were invaded from the Ottoman Empire for 400 hundred years and soon after under a dictatorial regime until 1991. So the Metal scene begun to rise from there.
Morgu actualy is the only active band and each one of us came from different bands of the extreme metal scene here: Crossbones, Aten, Nihil, Anbar.
But with Morgu we aimed to create a new flavour, not connecting anything to what each one of us had done in the past. So every bit of this foundation would be fresh and a blank canvas.

Icare : Morgu is an independent and self-produced band, which seems to rely heavily on the internet for promotion. You have a great website and are present on YouTube (that's how I stumbled upon Oceangrave by chance, uploaded in May and already nearing 10,000 views—impressive!). Today, the internet is an essential tool for many artists, so could you describe your promotional strategy and explain to musicians looking for exposure how an emerging, still-unknown band manages to end up so quickly in the YouTube recommendations of thousands of people?

This is a very tricky question and honestly not an easy one to answer. Maybe we are not yet in a stage to give a steady advice, however what we can offer is our approach. As you mentioned, the internet and the online presence is an essential tool for many artists. But even more important than that is your art, your artistic approach and the essence of what you are presenting. Considering the very fast paced and content generating environment of today’s world, it can be extremely easy for your artistic essence to be lost in the precipice of generating content and online traffic. So, we focused mainly on two things: creating musical pieces that satisfy our thirst for expression; and building an image that suits our concept and what we write about. As I explained earlier, our music flows like the human emotions, so we let it be just that, without creating boundaries that may restrict the way we write, such as a genre or a “standard” song template. We are not focusing on what the market “needs” or what the trends are. We are instead focusing on writing and personally relating to what is being written, letting the music take us and flow as organically as possible. By doing this, someone, somewhere, will find a piece of themselves in this music according to their own perception and will remain there because they felt touched on a personal level, not because the social trends told them to.

With that said, we are extremely grateful for the listeners that “Oceangrave” attracted, because it tells as that people who listened found a piece of themselves and stayed. This prompted for a mostly organic reach, against all odds of the general social media standards.

 

Icare : What kind of feedback have you received so far? Has uploading the entirety of Oceangrave helped you reach out to promoters and/or labels? Would you eventually like to sign with a professional label, or would you prefer to stay independent and keep full control over everything related to Morgu from A to Z?

The feedback has been overall amazing and caught us by surprise. It is a deeply rewarding and humbling experience reading such heartfelt comments from countries we never even thought we could reach. We hope to be able to perform for all of them some day.

The publication of Oceangrave and its audience reach has attracted some attention for sure. Signing with a professional label would be quite convenient for any new band, as it may offer a huge deal of help in terms management. However, what we can say for now, is that we are yet to find someone who aligns with our vision and until then we would prefer to have that full control.

 

Icare : Let’s now dive into the heart of the matter—your music! First of all, I want to congratulate you on the shapeshifting monster that is Oceangrave! 80 minutes of music that is both dense and airy, extremely rich and diverse, forming a perfectly mastered unclassifiable whole that oscillates between doom, atmospheric, death, and post-metal... How would you describe your own sound?

Thank you for these amazing words. We are truly honored to be perceived that way. As for describing our sound, Morgu does not like boundaries and therefore I cannot give an exact description of our own sound without setting expectations. Our music, just like the human emotions, just like us, just like you the listener, evolves and transforms. We like to perceive our music as a story that is not told, but rather perceived through sound and understood through feelings.

Icare : Could you tell us about the musical and extra-musical influences that inspired and shaped this colossal piece of work?

That would take a whole day of discussions and intense debates (haha). It’s 6 of us, each with very different upbringing from the other. And it’s precisely these differences that have shaped our work. Nonetheless, I could certainly mention bands such as Amenra, Katatonia, Opeth, Alcest, Cult Of Luna, Neurosis, etc. Wouldn’t like to define them as “influencing” our music, rather than bands whose music we love listening to and to whom we could deeply relate.

 

Icare : Oceangrave stands out for its surprising musical diversity and instrumental richness, playing a lot with light and shade by blending dreamy, post-rock or even psychedelic rock-like passages with aggressive vocals and crushingly heavy sections. How do you manage to reconcile all these styles into one coherent universe? Does Morgu set itself musical boundaries, or does it allow you to channel and release all your creative impulses?

Thank you for this question! I remember when we once sat in the studio, discussing on what we though the genre of Morgu is. And we didn’t like the idea of defining it. It made us feel very limited. As mentioned above, it took us about 2 initial years of playing and writing music, to create this sort of musical bond, allowing us to easily read into each other, figure out where the process is taking us and knowing when something is or isn’t right. At first, it was quite a challenge, considering our different backgrounds and influences, which is why The Discipline of Suffering took us 3 years and stands now as a demo-album. Oceangrave on the other hand came from a much more mature Morgu. We knew what we were doing, and we knew how we wanted to do it, so we let it show us the way. All these different styles where not a stylistic choice planned out from the beginning, rather than where the story lead us. It is how it felt natural.

 

Icare : How long have you been working on these compositions, and how long did it take to bring such an album to life? Could you tell us about the songwriting process within Morgu?

The compositions themselves did not take too long. We already had most lyrics ready, and a general idea of what this next thing was going to be like. We sat in the studio and things just flowed. Someone came with a riff, another one knew exactly how to develop it, and the theme matched effortlessly with the words. The writing process itself took just a few months. Adding the final touch, the special details, creating the right sound, and of course being able to translate that into a record, is what took more time.

 

Icare : While visiting your website, I saw that you've played some gigs and have a show planned in Portugal this summer. Are you planning any other dates, or even a mini-tour? Your music is highly immersive—almost visual—so how do you manage to recreate those atmospheres on stage? What does a Morgu live show look like?

Yes, for sure. This year we opened with the live presentation of Oceangrave, and in July we will be playing at the Laurus Nobilis festival in Portugal, next to some big names such as Soen. We are still finalizing a few dates in Italy, expected to occur in Fall. A mini-tour is not to be excluded but it is more probable to happen during the first half of next year.

We try to make our shows very immersive and are constantly on our process of perfecting our stage presence. Usually, we prefer to have musically inter-linked sets that take the audience on a journey with little to no pauses between songs. We prefer, when possible, to include projected images that convey the underlined emotions of the overall set.

 

Icare : Given the richness of your music, you're quite prolific—last year you already released a 53-minute demo, The Discipline of Suffering, which compiled all your singles released throughout 2022. Do you have any new material finished or in progress? It might be too early to talk about it, but are you already thinking about a follow-up to Oceangrave? What are your plans going forward?

The Discipline of Suffering was quite a journey for us and that was briefly described above. By the time we were done with Oceangrave we already had some material on the works which also kept us fresh from overplaying the same things. We are currently consolidating this new material into what looks like it’s going to be an EP, aiming to release it within this year. Naturally more live shows will follow, starting off through Europe.

 

Icare : This interview is coming to an end—if there's anything you'd like to add for our readers, now’s the time! Thank you very much for your time, and all the best going forward!

Thank you very much for this interview! We feel very grateful and honored to be invited to answer these very insightful questions. You took us on a journey of self-reflection, and we hope to very soon take the French public into this same journey through our live performances. The French metal scene has enriched the world with so much powerful influence, and we are thankful to you for that.

Thank you deeply for contacting us and taking the time to compile this interview.

Interview conducted by Icare and posted online by opeth59