Nordicum-Mediterraneum
Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies
Author Affiliation
Research Fellow
University of Oslo
Oslo, Østlandet, Norway
The three peaks of the triangle represent past, present and future, corroborating the
interpretation of the album as a temporal journey. Lyrics were written in French and
English and evoked images ranging from the United States to England, France and
Africa, in a somewhat post-modern and grotesque portrait of a globalized world. The
very first strophe of the opening song „Proprietors of Red‟ , which the band also
enclosed as a disclaimer in the last page of the booklet, can work as a case in point:
„The world is my will and I will a cigar / A coronas corona creation of sound / Cedar
matchsticks light the best Cuban brand / Hiroshima hides in this far Havana / A
motion picture to rewind and remaster / The Director died in a Nietzschean crash /
Franco American power première / CK II Chanel no. 6‟.[1]
Soon after the release of Neonism, Jakhelln started his career as a writer, publishing
his first book Gebura Muse. Quadra Natura 0001.[2] It is a mixture of poems and
prose, which is important to our subject in different ways. Firstly, it marked
Jakhelln‟s first reference to mythology: Gebura Muse is the story of a djinn, a genie
belonging to the Islamic tradition, which is named Ibliis and is sent to Earth by the
Geburah, the fifth Sephiroth of the tree of life. In a way, Gebura Muse is comparable
to Solefald‟s Neonism for its taste for travel narrative. Here we see Ibliis riding a
Lamborghini Diablo in the USA, discussing Norwegian politics and turning into a Jim
Morrison-like character. Furthermore, an intriguing token of intertextuality arises
between Jakhelln‟s production as musician and poet. The poem „Ned den
kanelstrødde boulevarden til det kremfylte slottet‟[3] is a quite evident rewriting of
Solefald‟s song „Tequila Sunrise‟. The same applies to the poem „Nutrisco et
exstinguo‟[4], which bears the same title and directly refers to the opening song of
Solefald‟s fourth album, In Harmonia Universali.[5]
After having changed record label, Solefald published a concept album entitled Pills for the Ageless Ills[6], which narrated „the story of two brothers, Pornographer Cain
and Philosopher Fuck, and the days before their deaths. Cain, a pornography
director, is found guilty of the murder of Kurt Cobain. Meanwhile, Fuck is exiled from
the United States and dies in a hospital in Paris. Both brothers represent the
28
