Je Est un Autre – “I am another”. Makes no sense? Might be, unless you are French philosopher Arthur Rimbaud and want to point out that the “I” is possible in relationship to the other. Or you are Bell Witch-famed bass player Dylan Desmond and use that line as the moniker for your new project and show a completely different side of yourself. Je Est un Autre is his outlet for incredibly deeply interwoven Ambient and the project releases its debut Flatworm Mysticism today. As we try to have one Bell Witch-related interview every few months ;-) , this is now number three and we hope you will enjoy this as much as all the others! Here is our record special for Flatworm Mysticism!

Rimbaud’s idea is surely mighty interesting because of a the notion that we can only identify what we are by setting it into relation to another. But what if that “other” includes discovering that “I” am something totally different? What if I discover that myself? How does that change this correlation? Does it change it at all? How am I to perceive myself? What is my self-image? Can I see myself as something totally different? What if I suddenly feel in-human and more like an object? Difficult questions and maybe some that this record also doesn’t answer. Musically, this record is something totally different from Desmond’s other projects. Concerning the songwriting perspective it might not be, as repetition is still a key subject for all of Dylan’s work. However, in this context it is the question: Is this still repetition? Does the latter not require a separating point between two occurrences that they show its symmetry mirrored along the separating axis? Or in other words – if a riff is repetitive, does it need a small pause in between two repetitions? If not, then these wide, vast, meandering spaces, that Dylan layers upon each other, are not repetitive. If we take the single push on the key which prolongs into infinity, if we take this period as the repetition then this is highly repetitive music. Dylan has his own answer concerning the repetitive character of all of his work and if you want to find out more about that, then please check out the interview below!

One more thing that surely links his work in Pyrkagion with the new release for Je Est un Autre is the fact that he had to learn how to play another instrument – for Pyrkagion it was the guitar, now it’s the synth and of course the synth is much further away from the bass than the guitar, but if you have seen Dylan perform (especially with Bell Witch) you might have noticed that there are moments when he plays the bass neck like the keys of a piano. That becomes most evident when watching him perform Mirror Reaper.

Je Est un Autre has a very different approach to songwriting and you can hear all about that in the interview, but I want to point how amazingly warm and inviting Flatworm Mysticism is. You can surely get lost in this sound and will find many points that make you feel really welcome in this new realm. The five tracks flow into each other and yet they are all different from each other. Maybe that is the key here – they are complementing each other, are different parts of a bigger puzzle. Thus they cannot exist without the other’s company which they need in order to define themselves. They are another. Je Est un Autre, ladies and gentleman!

Flatworm Mysticism will be released on cassette and digitally in North America via Cestrum Nocturnum Recordings and on CD in Europe via Cloudchamber Recordings. Right here you can now enjoy our interview with Dylan but beware – it might take up more time to follow Dylan and Thorsten down the rabbithole of their thoughts and ideas. But there is always a lot of laughter as well! Enjoy!