Requiems by Owen Carswell

Requiems is the spiritual successor to In Between Here and Never. Unlike many of my other works, Requiems was greatly inspired by literature. During the eight months of recording, I was simultaneously reading an array of books, some of which being,

1. Bhagavad Gita, Vyasa
2. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche
3. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
4. No Longer Human, Osamu Dazai
5. The Stranger, Albert Camus

Requiems can be defined as lamentations for the dead. However, I feel as if there is a great misunderstanding within this concept. Why is it that some become fixated on what is lost? Is death not just a simple consequence of life? In No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, a young and naive man named Yozo with little regard for his well-being toys with death as if it is nothing more than an inevitable consequence of his unhealthy actions. He maintains some level of desire for his future, but fails to maintain the drive to pursue his interests and he constantly finds himself in a cycle of disappointment. His deep seeded pessimism constantly prevents him from achieving what he aspires to be.

I believe there is valence in Albert Camus’ belief that pessimism leads to tyranny and therefore violence. That being violence towards others, or towards the self.

It is because of this I fail to see how we as humans can simultaneously mourn what is in the past while pessimistically viewing the future.

My fourth album Requiems is a collection of lamentations for the dead. Dead thoughts, dead dreams, dead memories. It is through the act of lamenting that I can give these things a proper send off, while not denying their importance in my life at one point.

The future remains bright, even through the sadness.

owencarswell.com