YEARS OF DENIAL: ‘Art doesn’t function to improve anything or anybody’ ‣ CVLTARTES

YEARS OF DENIAL is the alter-face of French musician/DJ/producer Jerome Tcherneyan and Czech performance artist/DJ Barkosina Hanusova. Their music is known for its moody, atmospheric, and hypnotic soundscapes, driven by distorted, echoey vocals, pulsing beats, and brooding synth melodies.

Another strength of the band’s music is the way they combine electronic beats and rhythms with moody synth melodies and atmospheric soundscapes. This creates a hypnotic and immersive listening experience perfect for late-night listening or dark dance clubs. Despite the heavy themes and dark subject matter of their music, YEARS OF DENIAL‘s sound is ultimately cathartic.

Hi, and thank you! Now, tell me – what kind of people listen to Years of Denial? Who are they, what are they thinking, and how do you think they perceive life?

Hi, thank you for the invite! Who listens to “Suicide Disco”? All kinds of people, young and old, goths, ravers, music lovers, all the counterculture heroes, you name it. People who are free-thinkers and dreamers attempting to re-think society who perhaps exists outside or on the fringes of mainstream culture? But we don’t like placing everyone in the same basket. Every individual perceives life differently depending on their personal experiences. Music travels without borders to create unity and collective energy. Music should bring us together and connect our differences. It is an art form that belongs to people, not businesses or corporations. Therefore, it is natural to think of people in alternative cultures than mainstream ones.

I believe that all authentic music is based on the musician’s personal experience. Is this the case for Years of Denial?

Yes, it is. We like the idea of exploring the dialogue between everyday life and art, referring to the human condition and the complexity of feelings. Generally speaking, any art medium people decide to communicate with is an extension of their mind, emotions, and personality, sharing how they experience the world. Like that, others can find themselves or their life stories in it. In other words, others can identify with the work.

It is interesting to create art based on personal life experiences because there is this vast space of freedom and expression during the creative process, a sense of self, channeling and challenging the deepest corners of your soul. But then you give it away to the other because that is the purpose of doing it. So, in the end, it is an act of selflessness. People go through similar pains and pleasures in life, and everybody craves the same thing;

to be loved

to be understood

to be seen

What do you want people to feel primary when listening to Years of Denial? How would your latest album, “Suicide Disco Vol 2,” be best served?

We want them to feel less alone in this sad and beautiful world. Loneliness is a disease of modern living, and it will get worst. “Suicide Disco vol.2” is best served with a glass of red wine or maybe a bottle.

If you were, to sum up the whole album in a single word, which would that word be and why?

DEVOTION because of the inevitable dedication and compromise that comes with Art and the journey every artist endures, ready to suffer.

What song “costs” you emotionally so much that it’s difficult to perform it nowadays? Speaking of, which of your songs has the most interesting backstory to it?

There are no songs difficult to perform, only some that evoke certain emotions, for instance, ‘Regarding the Pain of Others,’ ‘The Letter’ or ‘Death of a Lover.’ Some are dedicated to people who left us way too early, and some are inspired by darker times.

We like the backstory of ‘Art Break’ – the song is about an artist who is on the verge of a total breakdown and existential crisis, realizing that Art has no more value in our society because people are focusing too much on fame, attention, and money, stuck in an algorithm, and hype. But the artist doesn’t know any other craft and so is trapped – like a loner in the cage – Am I truly free, If Art is a drug for me? One day, the artist goes to bed young and wakes up old and tired, looks around, and captures how the world completely changed. The artist feels out of place, listening to sad music of humanity, romanticizing death, and later in the day writes on a piece of paper – There isn’t such a thing as a happy end. After that day, the artist disappears in a way that cannot be explained.

Have you ever thought about what would have happened to your lives If there wasn’t music? Do you ever wonder about this?

We would probably never meet, and our lives would be different. But creativity is our oxygen. Maybe we would come up with other crazy ideas. Life without music is unthinkable.

Despite the events throughout history, it seems that mankind hasn’t learned much about behaving for their own good. To what extent can art actually improve the world as long as it seems it’s losing its authenticity?

Well, we learn as we go, and we are here to fail in order to become better. Making mistakes is an essential part of living and learning. The artist exists because the world is not perfect. Art doesn’t function to improve anything or anybody. Its purpose is to reflect upon our existence and actions, to question why we do what we do, or on the other hand, to escape reality and explore imagination and fantasy. But life imitates art, and heroes and villains are crucial for every story. Perhaps creativity and empathy are more critical ingredients for humans, and maybe it’s true, maybe what we need right now is more heroes than artists.

To what important historical event would you see Years of Denial playing and why?

Sexual liberation, because we always end up playing sex parties, and people fuck to our music, and they all seem very ecstatic.

If that’s not a historical event, then it should be.

What albums have influenced your career so far?

Barkosina: Laurie Anderson – “Bright Red”
Patti Smith – “Horses”
Lydia Lunch – “Big Sexy Noise”
Nico – “Behind the Iron Curtain”
Chris & Cosey – “Songs of Love and Lust”
Einstürzende Neubauten – “Silence Is Sexy”
Cabaret Voltaire – “Electropunk to Technopop”

Jerome: The Cure – “Pornography”
Dopplereffekt – “Gesamtkunstwerk”
Neurosis – “Souls at Zero”
Spectrum – “Forever Alien”
I.f – “The Man From Pack”
Scorn – “Evanescence”
Joy Division – “Unknown Pleasures”

If your music would be proposed as a movie soundtrack for the world’s current situation, what song would you pick?

‘La Pendue.’

We know that music is a form of cultural expression and, like any other type of art, it can be educational. Considering your music, do you think is educational in some manner?

We don’t make protest songs or nursery rhymes. “Suicide Disco” captivates the essence of the human mind and the heart. Songs are bedtime stories we all need, even in adulthood. Our music conveys something technical, physical, and emotional but not educational. “Suicide Disco” is a playful way of capturing the contrast between upbeat dance grooves and heavy existential poetry/songwriting, guiding listeners through familiar narratives. Dancing to Darkness. Dancing with Demons. Channeling pain and suffering through a hypnotic state of drum beats and lyrical voices allows the body and mind to let go.

When you perform live, how do you want your audience to feel as they leave the show?

The same way we feel after our performances – Cathartic release, mesmerized, energized, and exorcised.

You can order “Suicide Disco Vol. 2” at this link.