Today we are talking with AKLO, a one-man music project by Eric Sandberg, who composes music inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. AKLO has put out two albums: Beyond Madness and Unnamable. A side project called Tillinghast Laboratories, examining Lovecraft from a modern perspective and featuring a techno sound, has recently released an album titled Sensitive Document.

IFP: How did AKLO get started?

ES: When I started getting into music at about 13, I was already a Lovecraft fan. I loved the sensations I got from his writing. It was like a high, and I wanted to make music that would create similar sensations. I wanted to contribute to the Lovecraft mythos the same way writers have done since his time, but do it with sounds instead of words. I never got tired of the idea. Eventually, I had years of experiments accumulated, and I realized I should put some together and release them.

IFP: What are some of the challenges of producing an album by yourself?

ES: I don’t see it as challenging. It’s the only way I know how to do it. In many ways, it’s less challenging than trying to get other entities involved.

IFP: How would you classify your sound?

ES: It’s music that attempts to render Lovecraft’s emotional palette in sound. I suppose it falls under the Ambient umbrella, just because it is very concerned with atmosphere. But not all the classic Ambient elements are there.

IFP: Why Lovecraft?

ES: I feel a deep connection with his work. I can’t explain why, at age eleven, of all the writers I could have connected with, it was his writing that hit me like a brick wall. I think it’s his surrealistic edge, his sense of awe and wonder, the way he paints the Horror as being bigger than all of us – beyond our comprehension, even. When he talks about the limited nature of human understanding, it rings true to me. The idea that our universe is neat and understandable – not only is that not scary, but I don’t think it’s accurate. Lovecraft shows us the Unknowable, the Unnamable, in a way that makes it feel immediate and real.

IFP: Aside from Lovecraft, are there some other sources of inspiration in your music?

ES: As far as AKLO goes, not consciously. There is enough in Lovecraft to inspire musicians for a thousand years. Which is why I started the Tillinghast Laboratories project. Musically, the industrial scene of the 80’s and the ambient movement of the 90’s inspired me a lot as AKLO was coming together.

IFP: What are some recurring elements in your music?

ES: I’m drawn to sounds that can’t be readily identified. Things that don’t sound like acoustic musical instruments, or synthesizers, or anything familiar.

IFP: Do you have a favourite AKLO track?

ES: Not permanently. Different pieces stand out at different times for different reasons. It’s the same with all music.

IFP: What is Tillinghast Laboratories and how does it differ from AKLO?

ES: Tillinghast Laboratories Inc. is a sister project of AKLO. AKLO revolves around the feel of Lovecraft’s actual works; TLI is a more futuristic take on Lovecraft’s concepts and ideas. What are the Old Ones and Outsiders doing now? Are they involved in the upheavals and cataclysms our world is experiencing? What will they do to us next? The first TLI album, Sensitive Document, examines how they might be infiltrated into the corporate/industrial world. Accordingly, TLI has a more current, hard-edged sound compared to AKLO’s lush darkness.

IFP: What is your dream project?

ES: To keep doing what I’m doing. Also, I wouldn’t mind scoring a Lovecraft film.

IFP: What bands do you like?

ES: A little of everything. Especially if synthesizers are involved. I always like to hear new, unfamiliar, and strange things. I think it’s healthy for a musician to appreciate a wide variety of musical styles, the wider the better. In fact, it’s healthy for all humans.

IFP: What are you working on right now?

ES: There’s a third AKLO album taking shape, and another TLI as well. I sometimes post updates at AKLO.net.

IFP: What do you do when you’re not playing music?

ES: Listening to it. I’m also passionate about exotic food and the visual/visceral arts. Some of my visual art is sold through a gallery called Nightmaresforsale.com. I also play a lot of video games.

IFP: What is your favourite Lovecraft story and why?

ES: “The Shadow over Innsmouth” stands out because it was the first Lovecraft story to leave me speechless. “From Beyond,” “The Festival,” and “The Thing On The Doorstep” followed soon thereafter. And “The Music of Erich Zann,” of course.

IFP: If you could be a Lovecraft character or creature, who would you be and why?

ES: I would never want to be anyone or anything in a Lovecraft story. The problem is, we all live in Lovecraft’s world, whether we want to or not. The specifics of Lovecraft’s stories may be fiction, but much of the philosophy and psychology behind them is very real, and all too often rings true.

You can learn more about AKLO by visiting the website aklo.net or visiting its MySpace page.

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