Improvisation is the basis of Shub-Nigguraths's music. Refined in practise and structured iteratively by the whole band, the approach to composition is liberal, pieces often being extended and altered when playing live. The essentials remain but the filigree changes. The aesthetic of the band has generally been one of force of expression over style; the former takes precedence and provides a careful consistency. The mode of presentation of their music has always been severe. I think it becomes progressively more severe as they have matured. To many, it appears dark, gothic and foreboding. Véronique Verdier has expressly stated that this ambience is not intentional: extreme expression is the real goal, take it how you will. Different audiences, the band reports, react in different ways to the music. They have favoured audiences not steeped in modern classical as a rule; naïve audiences tend to have less biases. In essence, I agree that to treat it as dark and terrible music is to miss the point somewhat; there is much beauty in their work but not the sort with which we are used to being spoiled in Western culture. Obviously then, not easy listening either but as Verdier puts it, they would rather profoundly touch a small audience than superficially touch a large one ...
Many people compared the band to Magma, something which, along with other comparisons, the band came to grow rather tired of. This is understandable as Shub-Niggurath, particularly after the early stage of their career, have never been much like Magma. The general zeuhl ambience is apparent but little beyond that can possibly have them sitting comfortably with Magma-derived bands like Eskaton. Far darker, far more improvisation, noise and attention to sonority and timbre set them in quite a different sphere. Without doubt Shub-Niggurath thought very highly, and rightly so, of Magma but also of much other music which likewise failed to be an overpowering influence. As Véronique Verdier puts it, Magma are somewhat of "another generation" to Shub-Niggurath, thus, they feel, preventing a particularly close link; Shub-Niggurath's music has never been "directly made in the zeuhl style".
I put it to Hervé and Verdier that much of their music seems to be a process of generating and then controlling noise in a manner conducive to a powerful resulting aesthetic.
"You have well understood our intentions: from the beginning and mainly today, we are intending to control the "noise"."
Following with a comment that this, if handled correctly, makes for music that can be called "beautiful" in a properly considered sense of the word, the reply came:
"We are not surprised you can say our music is beautiful. We don't want to make something ugly or dirty. Our music is EXTREME, we have invested ourselves totally in it ..."
This is an important aspect of Shub-Niggurath; that they are of such a skill as to be able to convince on this point which is anathema to a common unthinking aesthetic. Experience of beauty does not mean one cannot be terrified at the same time. Unsurprisingly, this is coupled with a well-developed sense of musical appreciation:
"... we can't say that the only "good" music is "new music" or "jazz" or "rock" or "classical" in every sort you find the bad, the indifferent and "the best" in the style."
It is unlikely that foreseeable new material will include vocals as Shub-Niggurath tend to "play with the people we meet" and they have not met any singers recently. Also, the loss of Ballaud also meant the loss of their main melodic creative force. Currently, they are interested in examining the role of timbre and electroacoustic mixes. However, they plan to do this solely with "live" instrumentation: no tapes.
