HISTORY OF ATHAK
Athak is a Hong Kong / French avant garde project started in 2008 by multi instrumentist and composer Scarset Vincent in Hong Kong.
The name Athak (अथक in Hindi meaning tireless) is an homage to the French Zeuhl band Magma‘s 1978 album Attahk.
The musical style of Athak can be defined as prog-rock, avant-garde, zeuhl and jazz-rock. The composition principles however follow an art project called “Décomposition” started in 1996 in Evry France by Scarset Vincent as a serie of studies and paintings using mixed techinques. The concept is to work on de-constructing a subject either from an existing piece of art or an improvisation, an automatic type of creation. The “Décomposition” project is still ongoing to this date now in a “Di-composition” stage, meaning Digital artworks in the form of digital paintings and NFTs. Athak is considered to be a part of this overall project and a lot of the artworks for Athak are issued from it.
The songs of Athak are sung in an undefined automatic musical language, in French, in German and in Latin.
The project started with an electronic study on Stabat Mater, ATHAK first EP. The experience started as a revisit of “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” (the sorrowful mother was standing) and gave birth to ATHAK. It is an infant version of the band’s sound that stands on it’s own and defines what ATHAK compositions will become. The roots of this sound resides in 2008’s “As far as the I can sea” but the lengthy song structures and modes were born here.
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hoi Ha Village DrK Studios in Hong Kong in June of 2010, with guest performances from Tu Xiao Jing and Clement Rossignol on Vocals.
The following recording, Athak II “Nuclear Sun” is a 22 minutes long album and ATHAK’s second EP. It revisits a track from the first album and introduces a completely new drumming style. This is probably the most “rock” album from ATHAK and at the same time the most important as it distilled what the essence of the compositions will be later on. It’s a trip through our mindless nuclear lives, from sun rise to millennium waste lands. Some of the songs are recorded with live drums while others are still using electronic drums and drum programming.
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hong Kong and Yueqing China, Between June 2010 & June 2014. Special appearances from Clement Rossignol and Tu Xiao Jing on vocals.
At that time, Athak was composed to be played live with a band. There was a first formation that was short lived in Yueqing China with piano, bass, guitar and drum. The live project ended up in solo live with only drum and sequencers. Later in Hong Kong the project restarted to look for live musicians in vain and turned into a purely studio project with occasional guest musicians.
The third release in 2017 Athak III “Cosmik Perpetuel” would solidify both the sound and the direction of the project. From that point on, each track, EP, album or single would be a piece of a larger composition. It is the first album to contains songs in French.
Following this release, Athak IV “Donbhetsaii” continues in the genre with slightly longer compositions and more complex arrangements. The album explores the sentiments of nature and solitude. Although upbeat and bright, each tunes rises questions and opens path to various darkness. The album ends on a abrupt question mark and is yet to be answered…
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hong Kong, February 2017.
The first piece of the Fuhrmanori Trilogie, Athak V Fuhrmanori “Le commencement du temps” (The beginning of times) is a 18:24 minutes awakening through bright and fiery skies. The time of doubts and the time of ends. This piece of music precedes ATHAK VI – Fuhrmanoripost. Its composition traverses genres and languages to end in glorious chaos.
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hong Kong, March 2017 with traditional Dizi Chinese flute performance from 赵韵梦 of the band “GDP音乐工作室” Shanghai, China. Fuhrmanoripost “Le fin du temps, perdue” (The end of time, lost) is a 17:27 minutes travel through times composed in 2 parts. The time of doubts and the time of ends.
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hong Kong, August 2017.
The next piece Athak VII Basz Ohmage Kaos “révérence” (reverence) is an hommage to jazz-rock and more specificaly to Billy Cobham. It is a 15:45 minutes descent into chaos composed in 3 parts. The awakening, the black baron, chaos. This piece of music is the transition to the next phase of ATHAK.
Composed, performed and recorded by Scarset Vincent (vocals, guitars, bass, violin, keyboard, percussion, programming) in Hong Kong, Dec 2018.
The next phase of Athak started in 2022 with the recording of Athak VIII to XIII. Including the parts 2 & 3 of the Fuhrmanori trilogy AthaK VIII – Doom Infini and Athak XI – Dihmin Ïszhe .
A long desired project was to create a cover album, which saw the light of day in the form of a 2 pianos, bass and drum album called Face à face. The album in itself is not a proper cover album but an an homage to songs and bands that have played an important part in forging the musical backbone of Athak’s root.
- Mea Prora refers to the song “The prow” by Voivod.
- Tri Ficta refers to Deicide and their album “Legion”.
- Silentium refers to Eros Necropsique..
- Nihil Dicere is for Angra and more specifically for Andre Matos.
All music composed and performed by Scarset Vincent ( Keyboard, bass, drum) in Hong Kong in March 2022.
Discographie:
- 2008 : Athak I – Stabat
- 2010/2014: Athak II – Nuclear Sun
- 2017: Athak III – Cosmik Perpetuel
- 2017: Athak IV – Donbhetsaii
- 2017: Athak V & VI – Furhmanori / Fuhrmanoripost (pt 1 of the Fuhrmanori Trilogy)
- 2018: Athak VII – Basz Ohmage Kaos
- 2022: AthaK VIII – Doom Infini (pt 2 of the Fuhrmanori Trilogy)
- 2022: Athak IX – Slevin Rhunes ov Kaosz
- 2022: Athak X – Face à face
- 2022: Single – Contempler
- 2022: Athak XI – Dihmin Ïszhe (pt 3 of the Fuhrmanori Trilogy)
- 2022: Single – A note
- 2022: Best Off – Era 2017-2022
- 2022: ATHAK – Nuclear Sun
- 2022: ATHAK – Exorcisme
Members:
- Scarset Vincent is the sole permanent member of the project ( all compositions, arrangements, production, guitar, bass, vocals, electric violin, keyboard, percussions, drum, programming, artwork )
- 赵韵梦 of the band “GDP音乐工作室” Shanghai, China on traditional chinese dizi flute (Athak V) .
- Tu Xiao Jing on vocals (Athak I & II).
- Kam Lung (Clement Rossignol Lagandre) on vocals (Athak I & II).
- H.R scarset on piano and vocals (Athak V & VIII)