About Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words

»I don't see the reflection of a man, I see a specter, a phantasm, a distorted human-like figure to which I can't relate« Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words is the specter that haunts Sweden's Thomas Ekelund. A graphic designer, musician, and visual artist, Ekelund brings to his body of work a dark vision of brooding isolation tempered by the hope that salvation from the garbled ether of digital and psychological pollution is possible. After being diagnosed with a near crippling mental disease, Ekelund sought sanctuary in sound but recoiled from what he created. Ekelund stares into the shadow sounds that invade our lives and grind the spaces between us and sees his fractured reflection staring back. With his splintered mind as a guide, Ekelund plumbs the depths of noisy maelstroms and explores the currents of isolation and madness, conjuring emotive landscapes that draw blood as often as they heal. Yet, the psychic violence of Ekelund's compositions cannot erase the sympathetic response they evoke. Through sonic alchemy, Ekelund transmutes buzzing drones, ominous atmospheres and dirge-like melodies into spaces where we can seek solace. For it is through these songs that we, like Ekelund, can find joy through pain, calm through anger, comfort through isolation, and peace through madness.