Netherworld interview: ‘I need silence in this artificial, noise-filled world’
Twenty years ago, the first release on the Italian label Glacial Movements appeared: “Cryosphere”, a compilation album. The label’s founder, Alessandro Tedeschi, was already active as a musician under the name Netherworld. Over the years, many other artists found their way to Glacial Movements, while the Netherworld discography continued to grow. Alessandro’s sonic alter ego gradually became a calling card for the label, embodying its distinctive identity and artistic vision. Glacial Movements is rooted in a genuine, almost spiritual philosophy that weaves together music, the experience of nature, silence, solitude, and the disappearance of pristine landscapes. This year, Netherworld released a new album, “The Hermit”, a particularly intriguing work in its own right. The tracks were originally composed even before Netherworld came into existence. Rediscovered by chance, they took on a new significance when Alessandro revisited them, struck by the atmosphere they captured and its profound connection to his inner state and spirit at the time. The result is a beautiful work that sits somewhere between Dark-Ambient and the Cinematic soundscapes for which Glacial Movements has become known. In my view, it is a magnificent opus, and I seized the opportunity to ask Alessandro a few questions about it. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: Alessandro, I’ll get straight to the point: I really feel there is a great deal of emotion behind your ‘latest’ album, “The Hermit”. Firstly, because the album might never have been released without your three-year-old daughter, and secondly, because the music acts as a kind of mirror in which you recognize your own state of mind. That calls for some explanation, doesn’t it?
Alessandro: I’m really glad to hear that this album moved you. Actually, I see it as a collection of improvised experiments—my very first explorations of sound using various objects and truly lo-fi equipment. I’m referring to 2002 and 2003, when I hadn’t yet conceived of what would later become Netherworld, let alone my label Glacial Movements, which was founded a few years later.
Dafne, who is now 4 years old, was essential… yes, without her, “The Hermit” would never have emerged from the darkness. It was thanks to her that I rediscovered these old CDRs, which I had completely forgotten about. When I finally managed to listen to them (not all of them, actually, because many others were by then corrupted and deteriorated), I had a sudden epiphany. The spontaneity of these sounds struck me immediately… somber, vague, and barely hinted at. I felt like a hermit on a mountaintop. Isolated, detached from reality, but also with a deep sense of anguish. Unfortunately, for very personal reasons, my life from 2023 through early 2025 was put to the test—so much so that I had to put my recording activities on hold, among other things. I experienced moments of anxiety and despair. I felt lost, and I found that same state of mind while listening to these seven tracks from “The Hermit.” It all seemed very coherent and connected to me, and that gave me the push I needed to get back to work and release it—especially since this year I reached the 20-year milestone in my career of Glacial Movements. So it was definitely worth celebrating in some way.
Q: If I understand correctly, the original music you created here over twenty years ago was a precursor to what would eventually become Netherworld. I find it hard to believe that you had completely lost track of those recordings and experiments. What did they mean to you back then, and what do they reveal about how you viewed and approached music at the time? And how much of that young Alessandro still remains today?
Alessandro: You’re right. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), that’s exactly how it is… time, my artistic and professional life, my family, and a million other things really made me forget about them… but also because I didn’t consider them finished works, just experiments recorded on CDRs. Despite that, even today, in my opinion, they still sound really good. There’s something pure about them, even though they’re quite obscure and esoteric. A lot of it remains, because I later realized that my approach—and what I truly want to express—hasn’t changed. The means by which I express my thoughts have changed, but not the thoughts themselves.
Q: I imagine that restoring and reworking older songs and recordings is by no means a straightforward task. How did you approach the process, and what new elements did you introduce along the way? What was the biggest challenge?
Alessandro: The hardest work actually fell to my friend and sound engineer Matteo Spinazzè, who has mastered almost all of my previous albums. Once I’d selected the CDRs that still worked, I listened to the tracks that sounded best and that I knew could be salvaged. From all this selection and listening, I chose the seven tracks that were then exported from the CDRs themselves. From there on, the mastering and editing were carried out… we wanted to preserve the lo-fi feel, so the mastering was focused on cleaning up the overall sound and achieving as consistent a dynamic range as possible across the various tracks. In some tracks, we chose to add bass to give them more depth; otherwise, they would have sounded a bit flat.
Q: You mentioned that you had been going through a personally difficult and dark period for quite some time when you rediscovered those old recordings. I find it fascinating how, on the one hand, one can find the creativity and energy to compose precisely during such a period, while on the other hand, music can act as a regulating force—and therefore a form of therapy—for the person behind the musician. How did you experience this yourself, and to what extent do you think music and artistic expression in general should be integrated into the treatment of people experiencing mental health difficulties?
Alessandro: As I explained earlier, this collection of sounds dates back quite a while. The sounds were composed in the early 2000s, while the experiences I went through and the difficult times refer to the years 2023, 2024, and, in part, 2025 as well. So I didn’t compose them; they were already there… thanks to Dafne, they were rediscovered. I found a strong connection between these sounds and my emotional state during those years. Yes, it could be very useful. And I’m also sure that sound is already being used as therapy.
Q: You set out to restore and rework the original recordings, but how much of the original material actually remained? And how would you connect your own state of mind at the time with the central theme that has always driven Glacial Movements—namely, ‘Ambient and Electronic Arctic soundscapes’?
Alessandro: Everything on the album is original material. Only some bass lines were added to a few tracks… but nothing else has been added or altered. We wanted to leave absolutely everything exactly as it was to preserve the spontaneity and simplicity of these sonic approaches. I felt exactly like the ice explorer in the album’s cover art. I felt isolated and lost, just like the scientists of the early 20th century who explored the Poles.
Q: When I think of images and stories about Antarctica, I think not only of nature and our planet, but also of silence—a silence that can act as a kind of antidote to the world we live in: a world of bustling, overcrowded cities where people are increasingly becoming alienated from one another and from the planet itself. What does silence still mean to you, both in today’s world and in your own life? And isn’t the album’s title, in a way, an extension of that silence and of this connection with nature?
Alessandro: Silence is fundamental, and nature is the only salvation for the human conscience. And that is why Netherworld and Glacial Movements exist… to rediscover that very connection with everything around us that has been lost. The hermit, distancing himself from worldliness and chaos, embraces silence and the contemplation of nature and its mysteries. In some ways, I am a hermit, and I need silence in this artificial, noise-filled world.
Q: Now that the album has been completed for several months, I find myself wondering about your state of mind today and how you look back on the entire process. And to what extent do you feel a renewed sense of drive and energy to work on future projects?
Alessandro: Today I’m more at peace; those moments of tension and emotional instability are now behind me. And in fact, I’ve started working on new releases for Glacial Movements again. On October 15, Vigilant’s “Threads of Memories” has been released, and then in early 2027, I’ll release Gruth’s “Dvalen.” If luck is on my side, I’ll have the chance to work on an album by Bernard Trontin of The Young Gods, as well as a new album by the duo Dirk Serries & Chihei Hatackeyama, which will conclude their trilogy of releases on Glacial Movements. Then there’s the return of Stefan Weglowski, my friends and fellow countrymen Retina.it, and much more to come.
“The Hermit” is available as a digital album and CD via Glacial Movements’ Bandcamp page.
About Netherworld
Alessandro Tedeschi founded the Italian dark ambient label Glacial Movements, which marked its 20th anniversary in 2026. Netherworld is his own project on the label, with a catalog that includes “Alchemy of Ice”, “Algida Bellezza”, “Vanishing Lands”, the Eraldo Bernocchi collaboration “Himuro” and the Bvdub collaboration “Equilibrium”. Side-Line first interviewed Tedeschi about Netherworld in 2020, in ‘Click Interview’ with Netherworld: ‘Silence Is Essential’, and announced “The Hermit” in May 2026. The album collects recordings Tedeschi made in 2002 and 2003, before Netherworld or Glacial Movements existed, and was released via Glacial Movements on June 29, 2026. Tedeschi also plans further Glacial Movements releases, including Vigilant’s “Threads of Memories”, out October 15, 2026, and Gruth’s “Dvalen”, due in early 2027 — context he discusses in this interview alongside “The Hermit” and the label’s twentieth year.
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