Artist Spotlight: Meet Stefan Lovin
Photo Credit: Protomaterial Records
Punk Head: Heaven Shines Like Silver feels deeply spiritual and rooted in tradition – what was the initial idea or feeling that sparked this album?
Stefan Lovin: Everything started when Joan Arnau Pàmies, my producer, contacted me and proposed recording an album for his Label. At that moment I brought together all my experience, musical knowledge, and sources of inspiration aiming to create something genuinely different from my previous solo projects. I wanted to integrate all the musical genres that have shaped my artistic thinking over the years into a single expression and concept. The result is this album, which I consider to be the most complete and personal work I have created so far.
Punk Head: Did you approach this album as a continuation of past projects, or as a new chapter entirely?
Stefan Lovin: Apart from using two pieces from a previous album – “Romanian New Year’s Carol” and “Magi from the East” – all the other compositions are new. I included these two works in order to bring elements of Romanian winter tradition into the album, which were essential for shaping its overall form and the contrasts present throughout the recording.
Punk Head: Romanian folk music plays a central role in your work. Can you tell us more about it? How did your cultural roots shape the compositions on this album?
Stefan Lovin: I believe that Romanian music has preserved, throughout the centuries, a kind of Proto-Indo-European music vocabulary, transmitted through folk and peasant traditions. This millenary heritage was something I had the chance to hear and study at the Conservatory, where it represented a particularly fascinating field of study for me. Years later, when I listened to artists like Keith Jarrett or Chick Corea using American and Latin folk elements, it deeply struck me - although at that time I did not yet fully understand the power of this Idioms. With time, I realized that incorporating folk material generates both an emotional and intellectual resonance that penetrates deeply and leaves lasting traces in the human soul. From this perspective, I see the use of folk narrative as a natural process in music-making, even when it not always recognizable as such.
Punk Head: Sacred elements like Gregorian chant appear alongside folk themes. What draws you to spiritual music as a creative source?
Stefan Lovin: From an early age I have studied classical music. Classical music itself draws its roots from the Gregorian tradition. Along this trajectory, classical and Gregorian music merge into a single mystical body that reflects a natural spirituality and an ongoing progression – one that has reached remarkable peaks in its history. Those who draw inspiration from this source are naturally inclined to transcend limitations and boundaries. Perhaps also connected to the fact that I was born under the zodiac sign of Pisces, I have always been drawn to opposing, contradictory, and contrasting elements (coincidentia oppositorum). This may explain the coexistence of folk, Gregorian and even mundane themes – such as childhood or funeral imagery - within the same album.
Punk Head: Do you see spiritual music as something timeless, or something that must be reinterpreted for each generation?
Stefan Lovin: I believe that the message and beauty of spiritual music are timeless. However, the way in which this music reaches different audiences changes from generation to generation. Someone who listens mainly to jazz may have never encountered Gregorian chant, and vice versa. It is the role of the composer to bring these worlds together – or to choose not to. Personally, I felt the desire to gather all the sources of inspiration that shaped me and bring their beauty into this album. Whether I succeeded or not, I leave that conclusion to the listener.
