Music

Black Stone Sanctuary

Black Stone Sanctuary proudly presents a long-form interview with Ulf Söderberg, aka Sephiroth. 

An early version was released in 2018 to Substack paid subscribers only. I'm over-the-moon excited to release the updated version publicly on @paragraph. 

If you’re among those who’ve been banging on the quality-over-quantity, impact-over-engagement drum (keep it up), I invite you to give this a read. 

The creative process for the interview spanned several years — a slowcore record for us both — and it’s 100% human-written and -edited. 

Ulf is my all-time fav musician, full stop. Collaborating with him marks a high point for me as a music writer.

If you haven't heard of him despite his stature, it may be because his music isn't on Spotify, Apple, BC, etc. Copies of his OOP albums go for astounding prices on Discogs. His work can only be heard unofficially on YT. 

Enjoy!

https://paragraph.xyz/@blackstonesanctuarypm.me/scandinavian-heritage-an-interview-with-ulf-soderberg?referrer=danicaswanson.eth

For anyone into dark ambient or curious about the creative side of music, @danicaswanson’s latest interview is a must-read

Writer, senior editor, music nerd, GenX eldergoth, monastery-bootstrapper. https://paragraph.xyz/@danicaswanson https://tinyurl.com/Black-Stone-Wordsmith

Tip: put this album on while you read, it’ll make the experience even better

Tip: put this album on while you read, it’ll make the experience even better

https://youtu.be/TCnAmEGZ6UM

This album is still on top of my most-played albums list. It's now 30 years old but somehow I never get sick of it even slightly. Not even when I put it on repeat.

The last two tracks, especially, are great for listening-while-you-read. According to my last. fm profile I have close to 400 listens for each track, and that's only from home listening.

Also... who can resist that Bronze Age rock art? Not I.

Some music seems to get even better with time, and I think this is prob one of those albums. Im excited to dive into all the music you both mentioned in the interview. It’s gonna take a while haha but I’m here for it!

It's the kind of interview that's meant for leisurely reading anyway, so do take your time and savor it. (We certainly did while we were working on it... haha!)

Would love to hear about it later on if the interview leads you to anything you particularly enjoy. Feel free to tag me if so.