mind.in.a.box interview:

mind.in.a.box - Interview for magazine 'Comatose Rose 11/2004', Interviewer:'Azriel J. Knight', about: 'Lost Alone', Date: 2004-11-01
 
Link: Comatose Rose 11/2004
 
Can you, in your own words, tell us what mind.in.a.box is all about?
The phrase mind.in.a.box is a metaphor for being locked in oneself for a variety of reasons. There are many different reasons why this can describe somebody’s situation or attitude, and some of them comprise the stories that are told on Lost Alone. But mind.in.a.box is also our concept of a metaphorical sci-fi world, where many feeling such as loneliness and alienation come to life in a palpable way. The protagonists of the songs on lost alone find themselves locked in that world, trying to find a way to escape. It is a surreal world that is built on the both negative and positive feelings and emotions of people that feel left alone, be in through external or internal influences. Some of the songs on Lost Alone are also connected by the same storyline told from different perspectives.
 
What inspires you?
Lots of different things :) The major inspiration for all mind.in.a.box song, however, is always the central feeling that a song should convey and the emotions it should evoke in the listener.
 
How did Dependent Records find you? Or did you find them?
I sent them a demo CD, and they called back…Yes, really :)
 
All these magazines like Zillo and Sonic Seducer (not to mention Comatose Rose) have been calling you the best they’ve heard in awhile. How does that feel? Why do you think they respond so well?
We didn’t really expect these great reactions. Of course it is an extremely good feeling and very motivating to continue along the same lines. I’ve been doing music in another area for a very long time, and have tried not to be influenced directly by anything that’s already out there. This is probably the reason why the sound of mind.in.a.box is quite different, and this is exactly what many people seem to like.
 
In a couple of tracks, there’s a man having a phone conversation. He sounds like a secret agent or something, what is going on?
The connection between ‘Waiting’ and ‘Forever Gone’ is that you can listen in on a phone conversation of somebody who is doing an observation… somebody with special abilities. The actual protagonist of these songs only shows up in the refrain of ‘Forever Gone’, where he has already escaped his pursuers, although he had to pay dearly for it. Between the two songs quite some time has passed, and ‘Waiting’ takes places considerably before ‘Forever Gone’. The actual storyline, which is intimately connected with become clearer in the future. There is also a short story that has been inspired by Lost Alone, which will be available at mindinabox.com soon.
 
You have some amazing vocoder effects. What do you use?
I’m using different hardware synthesizers, but nothing really special. I think it is more a matter of trying out a lot of different combinations and fitting in the effects with the rest of the song.
 
What is the woman saying in the beginning of ‘Light and dark’?
The first one who is able to guess the lyrics gets an album for free!
 
My favorite tracks on here are by far ‘Lost Alone’ and ‘Take my Soul’. Can you tell me a little more about them?
In ‘Lost Alone’, somebody is wandering through a futuristic and quite surreal city feeling entirely lost, both physically and emotionally. This city is alluded to in the cover artwork and the double page in the booklet. ‘Take My Soul’ is musically quite in contrast to the rest of the album. It increases the diversity of Lost Alone and provides a different angle on the central themes of loneliness and alienation.
 
You used to write music for video games. Anything we’d recognize?
The most recent project was ‘Parsec: there is no safe distance’, a networked space shooter, which was a non-commercial project with free distribution on the internet and all major Linux distributions.