With the release of the fourth instalment of his Dark Sky Burial project, album ‘Omnis Cum In Tenebris Praesertim Vita Laboret’ (read our review here). We caught up with Shane Embury to find out who, what and why.
First off. How are you doing now that we are hopefully seeing the end of the current situation? Any messages for your fans?
I am on tour in the USA right now with my main band Napalm Death and we are 3 weeks into the tour. Things are moving forward and that’s positive and people are happy they can go to shows – it’s certainly helping me stabilise and that’s good for all of us
For people who may not be familiar with Dark Sky Burial. Can you introduce us to the band and tell us a little about how you formed and why you chose the style that you play?
Well Dark Sky Burial is me. I have been wanting to make atmospheric soundtrack music for years and had started working on ideas from 2017. When the pandemic hit it gave me the opportunity to release the music I had worked on and continued to form the concept of a 4 album Quadrilogy. Now we played a live show i am wanting to expand my ideas further
Can you tell us about the one (or maybe two) records that inspired you artistically (and why) for this project?
I love the group COIL – the unnatural history album particularly although a compilation it had a massive impact on me during the nineties and is a huge influence. SKINNY PUPPY. – Too Dark Park – again during the nineties again this album really scarred me deep in a positive way and as I begin phase 2 of DSB this will become more evident.
Tell us about your new album? How does it feel to finally out? How was the recording of it?
Tthe new album will not be released until December 10th – it continues the concepts and sounds from the first 3 albums that have been released since April 2020 — i am happy to have completed my task and feel satisfied for now. All of the tracks were recorded at my home studio and then i would take the tracks to my friend and engineer Russ Russell’s studio. He fleshes my ideas out and gives them a mix to create more definition and power.
How does a track develop? Where do you get your inspirations from? Do you need to have a different head space to when you are writing for Napalm Death?
Yea it’s a different head space for DSB – it’s developed from my mood and I channel all of that energy into building the track – it represents my feelings for sure.
Do you get the same level of satisfaction? Does it feel a more personal?
It’s more personal and at this moment in my life i feel very satisfied with who i am
How do you feel about the consumption of music being so heavily on the side of streaming rather than physical? Do you feel you have had better exposure because of it?
It was beneficial to me when I launched DSB but I do know that within these spectrums of music the listener likes physical and I recently released a limited edition vinyl of the first album
What gear do you use/swear by?
I tend to use a lot of various sound and synth plug ins from Native instruments and spectra sonics.
Outside of the music, what do you like to do? What keeps you busy?
Mainly music. Up until touring, trying to be as good a dad as I can be to my 2 amazing children which is incredibly energy sapping – well at my age.
Are there any bands past or present you would love to have played with or even been part of? Is there a particular band that got you into music?
COIL – SKINNY PUPPY – DEAD CAN DANCE
Difficult to talk about future plans, but what does the future look like for DSB?
Well the new 4th album comes out December 10th but early next year I will begin the second phase of DSB’s next evolvement.
Lastly what music are you digging right now? Any bands or artists you think deserve a little more recognition?
Letter 94 – HENGE
Check out the track The Heart warrior, below:
Find out more via Dark Sky Burial’s Website or Facebook
Purchase the album here
