Comets Ov Cupid’s new release ‘Eros 433’ emerges from a deeply personal place, one where the cosmic and the primal collide.

The music taps into forces both ancient and unknown, pulling listeners into a world where creation and destruction coexist in a constant dance. Inspired by the asteroid Eros 433, the album evokes the unpredictable energy of the universe, blending the mystical with the earthly. Recorded in North Dakota’s vast, resonant spaces, ‘Eros 433’ captures the sounds of nature alongside recordings of comets and mission control chatter, creating a connection between the stars and the soil. The project, which draws from the infinite and the uncharted, remains driven by an exploration of inner and outer worlds. For those ready to journey beyond the familiar, ‘Eros 433’ offers a haunting soundtrack to the unknown.

“Comets are seeds of creation and destruction”

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

Jason Kesselring: Yes, my background is one where I started in music very early. I come from, and still live in, rural North Dakota, not too far from the Devil’s Lake area. My music background is pretty basic—classical training and jazz. I was fortunate, as a teenager, to play several sets with a group at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1993. I also played in various art rock bands before hitting my full stride with my space rock band, Skye Klad (not to be confused with the folk metal band) in Minneapolis. The mid-nineties shoegazer/spacerock milieu is really the root of all my musical sensibilities, from the upper Midwest down to Denton, Texas. I see that as the springboard for what I want to do.

Eros 433: The title alone evokes images of celestial bodies in love, but there’s almost primordial energy in your music that feels more like a collision than a caress. Are we hearing the echoes of creation, destruction, or something altogether beyond human comprehension?

Well, the title itself refers to my favorite of all space rocks—Eros 433, an asteroid with some mythological and eschatological significance. It has been visited by a NASA probe and is said to harbor secret alien bases. Who knows? I’m interested in its folkloric reputation, as well as its potential to be one of the asteroids that could hit the Earth. The name Comets Ov Cupid itself is a reference to the starseed theory. Comets are seeds of creation and destruction. To the ancients, the comet was seen as a dragon—both malevolent and beneficent. I see the universe much like the ancient sage Heraclitus—Panta Rhai, “all in flux,” creation and destruction. I would like my music to serve as a window into these cosmological processes.

<a href="https://cometsovcupid.bandcamp.com/album/eros-433">Eros 433 by Comets Ov Cupid</a>

Can you share some further details on how your latest album was recorded?

Very simply, actually. No more than 8 tracks (at most), recorded live to capture as much room ambiance as possible. Many of the giant reverbs were achieved by placing mics at a distance. A lot of the tracks were recorded in a giant old log barn in North Dakota, using the natural reverb of the environment. I also used a lot of my own nature recordings from out here along the river valley and near Devil’s Lake. Some other things of interest include NASA recordings of comets fed through my guitar pickups, as well as various mission control chatter and number station calls.

You’ve described Comets Ov Cupid as a “Faustian music project.” Are we to believe you’ve made some unholy pact to pull these sounds from the void? What’s the cost of conjuring such a sonic landscape?

The term “Faustian” comes from the German historian Oswald Spengler. He saw Western culture as generally “infinity-seeking,” and this is the term he gave it. It really seemed to fit the bill for where I wanted to go; it’s really intended in the Promethean sense rather than the Judeo-Christian sense of demonic pacts. But then again, maybe there is a connection. Maybe “Promethean music” is a better term. But what is the cost? Singed wings. Ever onward.

What would you say was the initial concept behind the project, and can you take us through the timeline of how it came together?

The initial concept was simply to create guitar-based music that was spacious, timeless, and dramatic. It came out of the demise of my former band, Skye Klad, a space rock group from Minneapolis. After releasing albums on Camera Obscura and Dark Holler, we broke up, and I wanted to try something instrumental and even more infinity-seeking. Comets itself is a solo project, but it can also include various other members. It goes from just myself playing solo sets to various power trio formats. This album in particular featured a bit of both of these formats.

“The soundtrack to your personal orbit, wherever that may be”

Do you see your work as an escape from the human condition or a deep dive into it?

I see it as more of a tool of enhancement for the human condition—inner space and outer space. The soundtrack to your personal orbit, wherever that may be.

Your work traverses everything from blistering black metal to meditative drones. How do you prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for such a wide range of expression?

At this point, much of the external technical influence has been internalized. I’m not really thinking in terms of genre and the like. It’s more about trying to invoke and then evoke primal forces—listening and reflecting. Practice, always practice. That lets these energies flow.

Your video for ‘Vikings Spacecraft’ suggests a connection between your music and space exploration. Is there a parallel between how you approach creating music and how one might approach a journey into the unknown, like the cosmos?

I would say it always begins on the intuitive side of things. I definitely aim for the void. I let go of the reins, so to speak, and let it take me. Weirdly, it’s like sculpting. You know there is a figure in the uncarved block, and then, when it reveals itself, you engage and refine its detail.

With all the talk of AI-generated music and synthetic sounds, where do you see the future of cosmic and experimental music going?

For me, I’m finding myself inspired to go the way of cosmic groups like Popul Vuh and many of the German space music groups—more organic and less mediated by the recording process. More flexibility with rhythm and sound, and less “perfection.” Exploratory in the way the old Vikings of Iceland were. Simplify the technology and flex with the environment.

Are any of you involved in any other bands or do you have any active side projects going on at this point?

I still have a connection to Minneapolis, and there are underground, cosmic-minded musicians who play music with this kindred spirit. A couple of recent groups I’ve contributed to are Thunderbolt Pagoda (heavy, apocalyptic space rock), American Cream (groovy and very experimental), Vortex Navigation Company (rural psychedelia), and Darkrad (dark ambient).

Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately that you would like to recommend to our readers?

Well, lately I’ve been obsessed with Richard Pinhas and Heldon’s new releases. But really, anything by him I love. I listen to a lot of Glenn Branca symphonies and have been digging out old Flying Saucer Attack albums… So good. Too many different things to name. I’m always listening to old German space rock, of course. One album I pulled out that’s really great from the early nineties is Mazinga Phaser’s first album ‘Cruising in the Neon Glories of the New American Night’—an amazing album. A band that sounds like Medicine meets Miles Davis’s ‘Bitches Brew.’ Brilliant and criminally unknown.

Klemen Breznikar

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