神秘莫测的大自然 - 美国Post-Black Metal / Shoegaze乐队Eusapia专访

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Post-Black Metal/Shoegaze这种风格是最近很流行的风格，之前采访过的Unreqvited，Lammoth都是此类风格当中比较有代表性的乐队，那么今天咱们继续介绍这种风格当中的另外一支乐队Eusapia，组建于2013年Eusapia乐队，是一支很有资历的老牌乐队了，但是乐队在组建不久之后就宣布解散，2020年乐队以Somnium的名义重新组建并且在2024年发行了一首单曲和EP专辑，这两个作品发行之后乐队便更名为现在大家熟知的Eusapia乐队，今年也发行了他们的第二张EP专辑“Thin Cities / Desert Festival EP”，乐队受到了Progressive，Post Metal，DSBM，Blackgaze等风格的影响，优美阴暗的氛围，令人不安的旋律，乐队并没有想大多数乐队那样采用键盘来营造氛围，而是采用传统的方式来演绎自己的作品，瞬间引起了所有喜欢此类风格的歌迷的关注，在新专辑发行之际杂志与乐队的吉他手Cleopatra the Alchemist取得联系进行了一次专访！

（V: 代表笔者 C: 代表Cleopatra the Alchemist）

Post-Black Metal/Shoegaze has recently become a highly popular genre; bands like Unreqvited and Lammoth—whom we have previously interviewed—are notable representatives of this style. Today, we turn our attention to another band in this genre: Eusapia. Originally formed in 2013, Eusapia is a seasoned act, though they announced their disbandment shortly after their inception. They reformed under the name "Somnium" in 2020, releasing a single and an EP in 2024 before adopting the name Eusapia—the moniker by which they are now widely known. This year, they released their second EP, *Thin Cities / Desert Festival*. Drawing influence from genres such as progressive metal, post-metal, DSBM, and blackgaze, the band creates a soundscape that is both beautiful and dark, featuring unsettling melodies. Unlike many bands in the genre that rely on keyboards to build atmosphere, Eusapia employs a more traditional approach to their instrumentation, instantly capturing the attention of fans of this style. To mark the release of their new EP, we reached out to the band's guitarist, Cleopatra the Alchemist, for an exclusive interview.

(V: The Interviewer | C: Cleopatra the Alchemist)

采访对象：Cleopatra the Alchemist（Eusapia乐队吉他 / 歌手）

采访时间：2026.09.11

V: 你好，很高兴见到你，也非常感谢你能接受这次采访。我想这应该是你们乐队第一次接受中国杂志的采访吧。首先，请向所有的中国乐迷打个招呼。Eusapia成立于2013年，是一支资历颇深的乐队。当初你们是如何组建这支乐队的呢？

Hello brother, it's nice to meet you and I'm very grateful that you could participate in this interview. I think this is the first time your band has been interviewed by a Chinese magazine. First of all, I would like to say hello to all the Chinese fans. Eusapia was formed in 2013 and is a long-established band. How did you form this band in the first place?

C: 谢谢，能在贵国获得报道让我感到非常兴奋。我个人是Pest Productions厂牌的忠实粉丝，正是他们的许多作品引领我进入了更广阔的Blackgaze和DSBM音乐领域，因此能与这家中国媒体合作，我深感荣幸。我叫Cleopatra the Alchemist，在Eusapia乐队担任吉他手和主唱。乐队的起源要追溯到我从俄勒冈州波特兰地区搬回华盛顿州阿伯丁（Aberdeen）的时候。当时我都是独自进行创作和录音，因为在波特兰期间工作太忙，无法抽出时间与他人合作搞音乐；所以乐队的雏形其实诞生于我在波特兰一处小公寓里那个简陋的“浴室录音室”中。我们最初是一个四人阵容，通过当地的金属乐圈子走到了一起。阿伯丁虽然是个小镇，但拥有庞大的艺术家群体和非常紧密的音乐圈子；我们大多数人是一起长大的，经常在镇上的演出中同台，也会在演出后的聚会上即兴合奏。我认识Deenie和我们最初的贝斯手Wil，是因为他们曾组过一支Death Metal乐队，而且才华横溢。那是我第一次与Deenie合作，从那时起我就认定他就是我的鼓手，之后的创作也总是以他为基石——即便是在乐队沉寂的时期，或者我参与其他没有他加入的项目时，也是如此。

Thank you, it's exciting to be featured in your country, I am personally a huge fan of Pest Productions and a lot of their work got me into the broader blackgaze/dsbm genre so I consider it a big honor to work with our first Chinese publication. My name is Cleopatra the Alchemist and I play guitar and perform vocals in Eusapia. We started when I moved back to Aberdeen, Wa from the Portland, Oregon area. At the time I was writing and recording by myself because I worked so much down there I couldn't commit to working on music with other people, so a lot of where we came from was my meager bathroom studio in a small apartment in the Portland area. Initially a four piece, we became a band through our local metal scene. Aberdeen is a small town but really has a huge artists community and a pretty tight knit music scene, most of us grew up together, sharing stages around town and jamming at after parties so, I knew Deenie and our original bass player Wil because they had performed in a death metal band and had incredible talents. This was my first experience working alongside Deenie and from there, I sort of decided that he's my drummer and have always written with him in mind as the foundation, even in our inactive years, or years where I've been in other projects without him.

V: 你们的乐队曾经解散过一次。当时是什么原因导致你们宣布解散的？直到2020年你们才重组，并在2025年更名为Eusapia。是什么促使你们决定重组乐队？为什么要放弃Somnium这个名字而改用Eusapia？

Your band disbanded once before. What caused you to announce the disbandment? You didn't reunite until 2020 and changed your name to Eusapia in 2025. What made you decide to reunite the band? Why did you abandon the name Somnium and choose Eusapia instead?

C: 我们住在一个小镇上，而Eusapia（最初的那个版本）是一个非常短命的项目。谈论解散对我来说相当沉重，但简而言之，当时乐队里有一位成员陷入了非常暴力和黑暗的境地；遗憾的是，这对我来说简直就像失去了一个兄弟，因为我们在其他金属乐队和一个蓝草音乐项目中共同创作了近十年。尽管如此，在那个最初的阶段，我们创作的音乐对我来说意义非凡；而且据他自己所说，Somnium这个项目深受Eusapia的影响。其实我觉得Somnium最初并不打算成为一支乐队，而更像是一个个人项目，Somnium只是他的艺名。在组建这支乐队之前，Somnium和我曾在当地一支Post-Metal乐队共事，那是我们建立音乐伙伴关系的地方，不过我们在此之前就已经在圈子里相识多年了。在我们离开那个旧项目几年后，他联系我希望能写些歌词，或许再录点人声，但我当时挺犹豫的，因为那时我已经厌倦了音乐、乐队以及随之而来的各种纷扰……但当他把歌发给我时，我的反应变成了：“好吧，我这就去拿个笔记本。”他做的音乐正是我想要做的——氛围极佳，既黑暗又有一种能让人产生强烈共鸣的厚重感。于是，我就这么留了下来，再也没离开过。我们以双人组合的形式制作了EP"Formless"，随后推出了"The Bummer Summer of Covers"——这是一个仅在YouTube上发布的翻唱歌曲系列。在那之后，Somnium和我决定扩充阵容。既然决定要组建完整的乐队阵容，改名也就势在必行了；而当Deenie加入后，我们觉得把名字和主导权重新掌握在自己手中是顺理成章的事。对我个人而言，与他重聚感觉就像是找回了最佳状态。决定录制"Thin Cities"和"Desert Festival"是与更名同步进行的；坦白说，重新启用这个名字并录制这些歌曲，让我感到一种强烈的“圆满”感，同时也让我对未来的方向充满期待——这既包括我们即将发布的作品，也包括我们在完成"Mercy"和"The Grove"这两张EP录制的同时所创作的新音乐。

We live in a small town and Eusapia was a very short lived project. Our breakup is a pretty difficult subject for me, but the short of it is that we had a member of the band fall into some pretty violent and dark places, sadly this was almost like losing a brother for me as we had worked together creatively for the better part of a decade in other metal bands and a bluegrass project. Despite this in its first iteration, the music we produced was really special to me and by his admission, Somnium was very inspired by Eusapia. I don't really think Somnium was ever meant to be a band but rather a solo project with Somnium being his stage name. Somnium and I played in a local post metal band prior to this one and that's where we developed our relationship as musicians, but had been friends from around the scene for years. A couple years after we both seperated from that project he reached out to me for some lyrics and maybe some vocals, but I was pretty hesitant because I had grown tired of music and bands and all the fuss that comes with it by then... but when he sent the songs, I was like, "ok, yeah let me get a notebook." He was making the music I wanted to be making, it had a great atmosphere and was this dark but really relatable kind of heavy. So I kinda just never left. We did Formless EP as a two piece and followed that with The Bummer Summer of Covers, which is a youtube exclusive series of cover songs. After that, Somnium and I decided to begin expanding the lineup. Once we decided we were going to be a full lineup a name change was in order and when Deenie joined, it just made sense to take the name and the power back for ourselves and reuniting with him feels like a return to form, for me personally. The decision to record Thin Cities and Desert Festival was made in tandem with the name change because frankly we felt like taking the name and these songs back gives me this strong sense of closure and makes me look forward to the future direction we are working towards with our coming releases and the music we've been writing while we finish up recording our Mercy and The Grove EPs.

V: 你们自组建以来一直保持着最初的阵容，还是更换过成员？新成员是如何加入乐队的？他们的加入给乐队带来了什么变化？

Have you maintained the original lineup since your formation, or have you changed some band members? How did the new members join the band? What changes did the addition of the new members bring to the band?

C: Deenie和我是仅存的元老级成员，但Somnium对我们目前的阵容至关重要；若非他重新点燃了火花，Eusapia恐怕早已不复存在了。我们最初的贝斯手Wil已经离开了，据我所知他现在也不怎么弹琴了，这挺让人遗憾的，因为他技术精湛，创作才华也极佳。至于最新的成员Frank Keeler和Chazdyn，他们的加入过程比较自然。Frank最初是在我们那个翻唱季（summer of covers）里以吉他手或贝斯手的身份参与进来的，所以邀请他正式加入显得顺理成章。Chazdyn是我们最新的成员，担任主音吉他手。虽然Somnium算是“新”成员，但他为Eusapia 注入了许多核心特质。他在创作过程及我们即将推出的作品中都起着关键作用——他不仅参与了大量创作，还包揽了所有的混音和工程制作，这正是我们独特音色的来源；他的贝斯演奏深受Isis和Russian Circles等乐队的影响，因此他在这种音乐语境下的直觉简直惊人。Chaz和 Frank都是才华横溢的乐手，拥有多元的音乐背景，几乎能驾驭任何风格。Frank对这一流派接触较晚，因此他的风格内核并非传统的“金属乐”，我认为这有助于我们在创作手法上保持实验性。Chazdyn技艺极其精湛，演奏中透着一种柔和的韵味；我觉得他在音乐中真正体现的是那些音色清澈、意境开阔的时刻。不过，这些更多是对未来作品的展望，因为眼下我们合作的大部分工作，还是在重拾旧作，或是处理Somnium和/或我早已写好的素材。我们非常期待首张全长专辑"Blinding Light"的问世，因为那将是Frank和Chazdyn的艺术构思真正大放异彩的时刻。

Deenie and I are the only original members, but Somnium is foundational to our current lineup, without him reigniting the spark, Eusapia would be long dead. Wil, our original bass player has moved on and I don't think he's really playing anymore, which is sad, he is a really skilled player and fantastic writer. The newest members, Frank Keeler and Chazdyn, sort of trickled in. Frank started joining in as a guitarist or bass player on our summer of covers, so it was really a natural decision to ask him to play with us. Chazdyn is our newest member, and he was introduced in the lead guitar role. Somnium being a "new" member brings a lot of what makes us Eusapia to the table. He's integral to the writing process and a lot of our coming material, he really wrote, he does all of our mixing and engineering which is really how we sound the way we do, his bass playing is informed by bands like Isis and Russian Circles, so his intuition as a bass player in this context is just unreal. Chaz and frank are both incredibly talented players with diverse backgrounds in music, so they can really play anything. Frank is newer to this genre so he has a style that really isn't "metal" at its core, which I think helps us stay experimental in our approach. Chazdyn is a wildly proficient player, and has this sweetness about his playing, the character that I feel like he really represents in the music are the clean, open moments. A lot of this is more forecasting our coming material though, because right now, most of the work we've done together has been resurrecting older material or material Somnium and/or I have already written. We're looking forward to our first LP "Blinding Light" because that's when Frank and Chazdyn's artistic input are really going to shine through.

V: 你们的作品都是在 2024 年创作的，这是因为乐队解散了吗？在以“Somnium”为名活动期间，你们发布过作品吗？

Your works were all created in 2024. Is this because of your disbandment? Did you release any works during your Somnium period?

C: 我们之前的作品大多是以“Somnium”这个个人工作室项目的名义创作的——比如如果你查看我们的 YouTube 频道，会发现有些视频是打着“Somnium”旗号的。其实，我们大约在一年前，也就是“Bummer Summer of Covers”活动临近尾声时更改了名称，随后正式启用了新名称并上线了我们的网站。

Most of our previous work was built around Somnium as a one person studio project, so if you look at our youtube for instance, some of the videos are branded as Somnium, we really changed the name about a year ago during the end of the Bummer Summer of Covers. We then went forward with our name change and launched our website.

V: 你们的作品是如何创作出来的？能谈谈你们的创作过程吗？

How are your works created? Could you talk about your creative process?

C: 我们的大部分工作都是远程完成的。可以说，Somnium和我共同负责项目的创意指导；这并非那种“领导与追随者”的关系，我们彼此信任，各自发挥擅长或热爱的部分。不过，具体由谁主导创意，取决于歌曲本身或最初提出构想的人。通常，我们会先由一人展示一段粗略的录音小样——可能只是一个riff，也可能是一首或几首已具雏形的完整歌曲。随后，我们会深入打磨这些素材，既有各自独立录音的时候，也有通过视频通话协作的时刻；我们会一起推敲主旋律、调整编曲等等。一旦歌曲的编曲和各声部结构确定下来，我就开始填词。我并不把自己定位为单纯的作词人，而更像是一位诗人——我会独立创作诗歌；当有了音乐后，我会翻阅笔记，根据歌曲的氛围构思歌词，再将诗作改写成适合演唱的歌词形式。从本质上讲，我们把创作过程看作是一种“通灵”般的体验，仿佛在传达某种源自自身之外的事物。因此，在创作时，我们不执着于某一种乐器，而是服务于歌曲本身，将每一首歌视为一个独立的整体、一件完整的作品。对我而言，我从未觉得自己在“创作”音乐，反而感觉像是在学习某种被赋予的东西，而我的任务就是将其转化为音乐。我从不刻意拿起吉他去写歌，创作往往是自然流露的过程，而非我有意为之的举动。歌曲准备就绪后，我们会请 Deenie 加入录音，那才是我真正感觉作品从“构想”蜕变为“歌曲”的时刻。他的鼓点极具作曲思维且充满律动感，仿佛不经他之手，歌曲就不算真正完成；他有一种魔力，能赋予歌曲鲜活的生命力。最后，我们会探讨整体美学风格，并创作相应的视觉艺术来配合作品。

Most of our work is done remotely. I think it's safe to say that Somnium and I sort of creatively direct the project, I don't think its a leader follower kind of thing, I just think we all trust each other to do the things we are good at or like doing, but depending on the song or who came up with the idea we let that person have the creative lead, so normally one of us will present a rough recording of an idea, might just be a riff or it could be a fully fleshed out song or couple songs. From there, we really dive into the material in a mixture of private recording sessions or video calls, we will workshop leads, do arrangement changes and all that sort of stuff together. Once the track is arranged and fleshed out with all the parts, I begin on lyrics. I don't really think of myself as a lyricist, but rather, more of a poet, so I write poetry on its own, once we have music I pour through my notebooks to establish the lyrics based on the feel of the song, then I will rework the poem into a lyrical framework. I think we kinda view our writing process, at its core, almost like we're channeling something outside of ourselves, so when we are working on the songs, we try to serve them best instead of focussing on a single instrument, looking at each song as its own composition, as its own body of work. For me, I never really feel like I'm writing music, rather it feels more as if I'm learning something given to me and it's my job to translate whatever that is into music. I never pick up a guitar and intentionally write, it kinda happens through me as opposed to an active thing I choose to do. Once the songs are ready, we get Deenie in for sessions and that's really when I feel like they go from an idea to a song, I really feel like his drumming is so compositional and movement oriented that they aren't a song until he touches them, he's got some kind of magic that really takes the songs and gives them real life. From there we discuss the general aesthetic and make art to support it.

V: 你们乐队迄今为止已经发行了两张EP。这两部作品都是在家里录制的，但效果非常出色。你觉得在录制过程中遇到了哪些挑战？

Your band has released two EP albums so far. Both of these works were recorded in your home environment, but the results are outstanding. What challenges do you think you faced in recording your work?

C: 哇，谢谢。Somnium和我一起录音已经很多年了，但他真正开始深入钻研制作人的角色其实是在几年前。我们对他的听觉和把控能力非常满意——他创造出的作品在我看来既充满魔力又意义非凡。正因如此，如今我们坐在电脑前进行制作的过程已经变得相当自然顺畅了。我认为，无论以何种形式从事音乐创作，最大的挑战都在于如何保持动力。人很容易陷入一种“坐等别人来贡献创意”的状态；而且由于我们在 Eusapia 乐队之外也都有各自忙碌的生活，光是挤出时间来创作本身就是个难题。我觉得我们给自己制造的最大挑战，是"Thin Cities"那次临阵磨枪式的录音工作。当时我坚持要按原定计划发行，但我们的鼓手对自己的鼓点表现不满意，于是我们不得不临时加了一天录鼓。然而，鼓声是整首曲子的基石（摇滚乐通常都是如此），这给Somnium的后期工程处理带来了不小的麻烦。尽管他最终出色地完成了任务，但整个过程的压力远超我们希望在未来经历的程度。总的来说，我们学到的重要一课就是要严格遵守时间表。制定时间表能维持我们的动力，确保我们在不进行全员排练的情况下依然保持状态；更重要的是，它能强制我们按部就班地推进——如果鼓的部分没录好，我们就专门安排一次录鼓，而不是在条件不成熟的情况下硬着头皮继续推进。

Wow, thank you. Somnium and I have recorded for years but he really started just getting into the actual role of producing a few years ago and we are all so pleased with his ears, he created something I feel is very magical and meaningful. with that the process of sitting in the box is pretty natural at this point. I think the hardest challenge as a musician in any fashion, is to stay motivated, it gets easy to sorta sit and wait for the next guy to contribute and since we all have pretty full lives outside of Eusapia, just getting the time can be a struggle. I think the biggest challenge we put ourselves through was a last minute tracking job we did on Thin Cities. I pushed to release that when we did, but our drummer was unsatisfied with his drum parts so we did an emergency day of drum tracking, but because the drums are the foundation of the whole track, like most in the rock genre, it really caused some issues for somnium to work out in engineering, he knocked it out of the park but it was more stressful than we want it to be in the future. I think the big lesson, in general, is to keep a schedule. It maintains our motivation, keeps us rehearsed even though we don't practice as a band, and more than anything forces us to adhere to it, if drums aren't done, then we get another session and do that instead of trying to forge ahead.

V: 你们的标志设计看起来像个签名。这是谁设计的？你们的专辑封面设计得很美，是你们自己设计的吗？

Your logo design resembles a signature. Who designed this logo for you? Your album art is beautifully designed. Did you design these album art pieces yourselves?

谢谢。我们的视觉艺术作品绝大部分由我来完成，Somnium也会负责一部分，他还制作了"Formless"EP 的视频。就像我之前提到的，我总觉得我们的音乐并非完全由我们“创作”出来的，而更像是经由我们传递出来的；在为音乐配套设计视觉艺术时，我也试图捕捉这种精神内核。我真心希望能服务于这些歌曲，并以最佳方式呈现它们，好让听众在理解我们的作品时能有一个更直观的语境。我们身处一个非常特别的时代，艺术家可以跨领域发展并大放异彩，这得益于如今有许多低成本甚至免费的创作途径。我们很幸运能利用这一点，去创作艺术作品、视频、周边商品，或者任何我们想用来代表Eusapia的事物——我们不必局限于制作音乐，还有那么多其他的创作渠道，坦白说，这真的既令人兴奋又充满启发！

Thank you. I do the vast majority of our visual art, Somnium takes care of some of it as well, and did our videos for the Formless EP. As I kinda said before, I sorta feel like our music isn't really written by us, but almost channeled through us, I try to capture that same spirit with the art that supports our music and really want to serve those songs and frame them in the best way that we can, so our listeners can have a more direct context for absorbing what we're making. We live in a really special time where an artist can be multi disciplined right now and flourish because of access to so many inexpensive or free ways to create, and we are fortunate to be able to take advantage of that fact by making art, videos, merch, or whatever we really want to to represent Eusapia, we don't just have to make music, we have so many other avenues to create and it's frankly really exciting and inspiring!

V: 无常、抑郁、神秘主义和反帝国主义是你们音乐的主题。为什么选择这些主题？你们想通过这些主题表达什么？歌词是你写的吗？是谁写的？灵感来自哪里？

Impermanence, Depression, Mysticism, and Anti-Imperialism are your musical themes. Why did you choose these themes? What do you want to express through these themes? Did you write the lyrics? Who wrote them, and what inspired them?

C: 歌词几乎全由我来写。“无常”与“神秘主义”往往相伴而生。我是在教会环境中长大的，但多年后在越南佛教的“禅”（Thien）这一传统中找到了精神归宿，并在其中获得了灵性上的成长。我持有非二元论的世界观：我们并非处于某种外在神灵的支配之下，而是作为宇宙这一宏大表达的一部分而存在；这种视角与道家看待宇宙的方式有相似之处。在我看来，我与“神”、与你、甚至与我正在敲击的键盘并无本质区别；通过某种深奥的灵性修行，人可以与“万物即万物”这一终极真理达成契合。我们特意选择在春分、秋分、夏至和冬至这些节气发布音乐，以此来体认人与自然之间的这种联系。举个例子，我们的EP"Formless"正是在这一语境下，直面了关于身份与自我的探讨。我不认为我们在创作关于仪式魔法或典礼魔法的内容，我们的创作源于一种极度个人化且充满狂喜体验的灵性状态，这种状态本身就带有神秘主义色彩。我被诊断患有双相情感障碍II型（一种心境转换周期较长的类型），对我而言，病情最严重时表现为极度抑郁；我曾因自残和自杀念头而被迫接受住院治疗，也曾深受酗酒问题的困扰。当身处成瘾和心理健康危机的漩涡中时，你会失去很多东西，也会失去身边的人。因此，在探讨悲伤或抑郁等话题时，我们的切入点与探讨那些深奥灵性主题时其实是一样的，只是前者更具现实感和人性色彩。这些都是我的亲身经历，而我们创作的音乐，对我来说，就像是一个能让我们彼此亲密相连的空间。反帝国主义是我和 Somnium 世界观的基石，这很大程度上源于我们对普遍阶级斗争的共识。"Thin Cities"这首歌直面了南美农业劳动者的抗争与我们（身处美国、加拿大乃至整个西方世界的人）所享有的奢华生活之间的巨大反差——这种奢华正是建立在这些劳动者及全球各地类似群体的辛劳之上；这首歌从宏观视角审视了一场日益不容忽视的斗争。我认为我们选择这些主题往往取决于歌曲给人的感觉：当我听到一段粗略的构思或草图时，我会凭直觉感知这首歌的质感与意蕴，并以此为起点，结合我之前写过的诗歌进行创作。创作过程中，我有时会灵光一现，涌现出一些“自动生成”的歌词或旋律片段，从而揭示歌曲真正的内核。以"Thin Cities"为例，在还没写出具体歌词之前，我就认定“像秋树上的叶子”（like the leaves upon the autumn trees）这一句会出现在歌里。后来，当我在笔记本上翻到那首名为"Thin Cities"的诗——诗中描绘了人们在压迫环境下逐渐凋零的状态——我便豁然开朗，明白了这首歌的主旨所在。因此，在歌词创作上，大多数作品最初都是诗歌，随后才精简改编成适合歌曲的形式；而这些主题，正是我反复思考或渴望表达的内容——相比单纯的语言陈述，我希望能以某种更具分量或更优美的方式将它们呈现出来。

I write our lyrics almost exclusively. Impermanence and Mysticism sort of walk hand in hand with one another, I was raised in the church, but found a home years later in a Vietnamese Buddhist tradition called "Thien" and have since matured spiritually in that, I have a non dualist perspective of the world, so instead of some god thing outside of us, we're all part of this expression that is our universe, I think it has some similarities to Tao in its look at the universe from that lens. I'm not really any different than "god" or you or the keyboard I'm typing on and that through esoteric work one can be aligned with this one truth that all things are all things, one thing we make an effort to do is to release music on equinoxes and solstices as a way of recognizing this relationship between us and nature. So, an example of that would be our formless EP directly confronts this sense of identity and self in this specific context. I don't really think we write about ritual or ceremonial magick, but from a deeply personal and ecstatic spiritual place that in and of itself is mystical by its nature. I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder 2, which is a slower cycling bipolar and for me manifests the heaviest in depressive bouts, a few of these episodes have institutionalized me due to self harm and suicidal ideation and have struggled with alcoholism in my life. When you are around addiction and mental health crises, you lose things, you lose people. So in topics like grief or depression, we're coming from a similar personal space as we do with the more esoteric topics, but it's more material and human. They are my lived experience and the music we make feels, to me, like a place where we can be intimate and close. Anti-imperialism is foundational to myself and Somnium's world view, a lot of this comes from our mutual awareness of a universal class struggle, Thin Cities talks directly about the disparity between south american agricultural laborers struggles and the luxury those of us in the united states and canada, and further the broader western world derive from the backs of these and other similar workers globally, it's a macro look at a struggle that is becoming more and more undeniable. I think we choose these themes based on the way the songs feel, when I hear a rough or a sketched out idea, I'll know what the song is sort of about texturally and will work from there with a poem i've previously written, I might have a moment or two of some automatic lyrics that inform me of what the song is really "about", maybe a melody with a line or two, in Thin Cities, for instance, before I had any lyrics worked out at all, I knew "like the leaves upon the autumn trees" line would be where it was. When I came across this poem "thin cities" in my notebook that was about people sort of withering under these oppressive circumstances, it made sense to me what the song was about at that point. So lyrically, most things start out as a poem and then cut down into something usable for a song and these topics are the things I find myself thinking about or wanting to express in ways that are maybe more important or beautiful than just saying with words.

V: 你们选择了自主发行专辑，有没有考虑过与唱片公司合作发行CD版本？目前是否已经联系过任何厂牌？

You've chosen to self-release your albums, have you considered collaborating with a label to release CD versions? Have you contacted any label yet?

C: 我们绝对会考虑与厂牌合作发行，但眼下我们主要制作了限量版的NTSC制式VHS录像带，并且会继续沿用这种形式。如果能有机会发行黑胶唱片，那将是一件非常有意义的事——我自己一直收藏着大量的黑胶唱片，所以这或许带有些许个人情结，但我确实觉得那会很棒。我们原本在制作一张名为"The Grove"的EP，后来决定转而专注于"Thin Cities / Desert Festival"项目；我们也曾考虑过与风格相近的乐队合作，以12英寸“Split”黑胶的形式推出该项目，但目前尚无此计划，而且该项目定于3月21日发行，时间上也来不及安排这种合作了。我认为，在条件允许的情况下，将音乐制作成实体介质非常重要，因为你永远无法预料网络空间里的内容何时会因何种原因被下架；而能够拥有一份能长久陪伴并丰富生活的艺术作品，这对我们来说意义重大。我个人非常喜欢"The World Comes to an End in the End of a Journey"这张专辑，因此出于那份怀旧情怀，我肯定有兴趣与Pest Productions合作；不过，也有许多其他厂牌是我们愿意合作的，我们也觉得这些厂牌旗下的艺人阵容与我们有着某种精神上的共鸣。

We would absolutely consider distribution with a label, but for now, we've run limited NTSC VHS tape runs and will continue to do so. Having an opportunity to make a vinyl release would be really special, I've always had a pretty large selection of vinyl myself so it may just be vanity, but I think that would be great. We were working on an EP called The Grove when we decided to shift gears to Thin Cities / Desert Festival, and have considered doing that project as a 12" Split with another band in our vein, but there are no plans of that for the release as of now, and we're looking at a March 21 release date for that project, so the timeline isn't very conducive for that. I think right now, its important to get music onto physical mediums if you can, because you never know who or what is going to have something pulled from the online space anymore and having access to art that adds value to your life for your entire life is important to us. I personally loved The World Comes to an End in the End of a Journey, so I would definitely be interested in working with Pest Productions, because of that nostalgia, but there are a number of labels we would totally work with and that we see a kinship with their lineups.

V: 首先，恭喜你们今年发行了第二张 EP"Thin Cities / Desert Festival EP"！你们的作品真的很棒。你们的风格深受Black Metal、Suicidal Black Metal和Post-Metal的影响，同时也融入了一些前卫元素。你们将荒凉的Post-Black Metal氛围、末日般的哀歌、急促的鼓点以及Sultry Rock的质感交织在一起，创造出了一种独特的审美风格。那么，这张新EP与你们之前的EP有什么不同呢？

First of all, congratulations on the release of your second EP, "Thin Cities / Desert Festival EP," this year! Your work is truly wonderful. You've been influenced by black metal, suicidal black metal, and post-metal, while also incorporating some avant-garde elements. You've interwoven desolate post-black metal, doomsday laments, rapid drumbeats, and the atmosphere of sultry rock to create a unique aesthetic. How does the new EP differ from your old EP?

C: 非常感谢，很高兴你们喜欢我们的作品。我觉得“Formless”这张EP本质上是一个单人项目，所以那些歌完全是Somnium的创作，听起来更加私密且原始；在音色上，那张作品包含了很多清音和原声乐器成分，在我看来带有浓厚的Shoegaze和Post-Metal色彩。相比之下，"Thin Cities / Desert Festival"的制作规模宏大得多；这次我们迎来了鼓手Deenie的加入，我认为他带来的动态变化确实重塑了我们的声音。总的来说，两者有着天壤之别：我们在"Thin Cities / Desert Festival"中注入了更具冲击力的强度和一种截然不同的“重型”质感。我觉得Somnium个人更像是一位后金属和迷幻风格的音乐人，而我则更擅长把控我们音乐中的Black Metal特质；不过，我们都热爱彼此擅长的领域，同时也共同钟情于Post-Rock和Shoegaze音乐。"Thin Cities / Desert Festival"里的这两首歌其实年代久远，早在2013年 Eusapia乐队第一次排练之前我就写好了，所以它们带有强烈的“我”的个人风格。尽管它们标志着我们音乐方向的转变，但考虑到乐队的历史，完成这些作品的过程充满了情感起伏——不过我们觉得是时候为那个篇章画上句号了。目前，我们对即将推出的两部作品感到非常兴奋：一个是"Mercy"EP（首支单曲"Relapse"将于2026年9月21日发行，同名主打歌"Mercy"将于 12 月发行），另一个是计划于明年春季发行的"The Grove"EP。这些作品代表了更完整的音乐体验，因为整个乐队都参与了声音的塑造过程。

Thank you so much, we're delighted you are into it. I think Formless was very much intended to be a one person project, so the songs are really Somnium's and I think they were much more intimate and raw feeling, sonically there was a lot more clean and acoustic, very shoegazey and post metal in my mind, Thin Cities and Desert Festival are produced on a much more grand scale, we introduced our drummer Deenie for this release and I think his dynamic elements really did help transform the sound. In all, the difference is night and day, we brought a more forward intensity and a different kind of heavy to Thin Cities / Desert Festival. I think Somnium alone is a very Post-Metal and psychedelic artist almost, where I tend to be more versed in the blackened edge that we approach, but both of us share a love that crosses into each other's realms and we both share a love for post rock and shoegaze. The two songs on Thin Cites / Desert Festival are very old, I wrote them before the very first Eusapia practice back in 2013, so they are really sort of "My" flavor and while they represent our directional shift, I think they were songs that were incredibly emotional to finish because of our band history but we felt like that chapter needed to close. Right now, we're very excited for our two coming works Mercy EP (The first single Relapse will release on September 21, 2026 and the title track Mercy will release in December), and our EP The Grove, which will be released in the spring of next year because these works represent a more full experience with much more of the entire band shaping the sound.

V: 作为一支资深乐队，你们参加过哪些演出？哪些演出给你们留下了深刻印象？能否描述一下当时的氛围？你们有计划在 2026 年参加任何演出吗？

As a veteran band, have you participated in any performances? Which performances left a deep impression on you, and could you describe the atmosphere at the time? Do you have any plans to participate in any performances in 2026?

C: 我们迄今为止只做过为数不多的几场演出，但每一场都非常特别。当时，当地的Black Metal和Doom Metal圈子虽小却充满活力，能与A God or An Other、Un这样的乐队同台演出，机会实在难得。与志同道合的乐队乃至志同道合的人一起演出，总有一种特别的感觉——尤其是在我们常去的那种小型家庭式演出场地。目前我们完全没有现场演出的计划，不过如果时机合适，我们会考虑参加单场特别演出或音乐节；鉴于我们的音乐创作融合了多媒体元素，我们也希望能与KEXP或类似的视频制作机构合作。我们都已历经磨练，不再有兴趣去跑那些小城镇里的酒吧或小型场地，也不想为了去大城市演出而长途跋涉。虽然我们深爱着这个音乐圈子以及那些与我们一同成长、玩音乐的伙伴，但我们觉得自己的音乐在本地似乎有些格格不入。我们都认为，把精力与时间投入到创作、录音和艺术构思上更有意义。我们把互联网视为自己的演出舞台，这也是为什么我们格外注重用视频和视觉艺术来呈现音乐；如今整个世界仿佛就是一个大舞台，因此，这种全球化的思维方式正是我们创作理念的一部分。

We have only played a few shows ever and they were all very special, at the time, there was a small but blossoming black and doom scene so the opportunities that we had playing with bands like A God or An Other and Un were really fantastic. There is something about playing with not just kindred bands, but kindred people as well, especially in those tiny house venues we tended to end up in. We have no plans to play live at all currently, although we would consider one-off performances or maybe a festival if the circumstances are right for us, we would love to work with KEXP or similar video organizations because of our multimedia approach to our music. We've all sort of "paid our dues" and have no interest in playing the circuit of bars and small venues that we have in our small towns or the long drives to get to the city, we have endless love for the scene and our neighbors that we grew up playing music with but we feel like our music just doesn't fit in locally. We all feel like our energy and time are better spent writing and recording and creating. We sort of look at the internet as the venue we play in, which is why we make sure to support our music with videos and art, the entire world is sort of a stage now, so thinking in those terms, thinking globally, is really part of our approach.

V: 你们是一支非常出色的乐队，我会继续关注并支持你们。也希望通过这次采访，能有更多中国乐迷关注并支持你们。采访即将结束，最后有什么话想对中国乐迷说吗？

You are a very outstanding band. I will continue to follow and support you. I also hope that through this interview, more Chinese fans will pay attention to and support your band. The interview is about to end. Is there anything you would like to say to your Chinese fans at the end?

C: 你们真的非常友善，非常感谢你们的时间和这次机会；能有机会与中国听众交流，我们深感荣幸与感激。全世界的劳动者联合起来，我们看到了你们的奋斗历史与传统，并对此深表敬意。再次感谢，如果后续还有任何问题或需要进一步说明的地方，请随时联系我们！

Cleopatra the Alchemist - Eusapia

You've been incredibly kind, thank you so much for your time and for this opportunity, we couldn't be more grateful to have the opportunity to speak to a Chinese audience. Workers of the World unite, we see and appreciate your history and tradition of struggle. Thank you again, if you have any follow-up questions or need anything clarified, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Cleopatra the Alchemist - Eusapia

Eusapia乐队主要作品：

Eusapia - Formless EP（2024）