The Triad, the long-awaited fifth record from Pantha Du Prince, comes out this week on Rough Trade, but as Hendrik Weber reveals to Exclaim!, it may be the last from his project. Asked whether there is an "end point" to which he's been working, Weber claims that after The Triad's release, he may actually retire Pantha Du Prince, the name under which he's release four critically acclaimed albums and has often referred to in the third person.
"I think that's the end point now. I think The Triad is something that can end the process," Weber says. "Probably that's the last Pantha record. That's very much possible."
Weber claims that since Pantha isn't him, necessarily, another musician could potentially take up the mantle, whose limits — Weber has always reserved the project name for his distinct, softly rhythmic minimal techno compositions — the musician has outgrown.
"For a certain time, it was really liberating not being 'me,' but at a point, you really want to become a normal human being, and probably even give Pantha Du Prince to someone else, you know? Someone else can be Pantha Du Prince; it doesn't have to be me. So maybe, at some point, I will just pass it on."
Though The Triad is already markedly different than previous Pantha Du Prince releases, in that it features vocals (either by Weber or collaborators Joachim Schultz and Scott Mou, a.k.a. Queens) on over half of the tracks, it's closer "Wallflower for Pale Saints" that stands as the record's most outside-the-box moment, due to its beatless, guitar-centric nature.
Weber notes that the song's inclusion was something of a death knell for his continuation of the project.
"We wrote it, and we wanted to make more of it, and then I felt the necessity that I needed to finish the Pantha album. So I asked Scott [Mou] if we could put our creative process into that together, but then I also decided that it's part of the album, because it's part of our interaction. For me, it's also kind of a — let's say a prospectus on what can happen next. I always like it when albums have this open end, and just kind of make you curious about what's next.
"You end up on an overlook, and you can see what you went through, and oftentimes that's a new place, no?"
It's unclear whether this means Weber will return either to a previous moniker, such as Glühen 4, or start a new project, but certainly, it will make anticipation for Pantha Du Prince's potential swansong even more feverish.
Watch the new video for the album's "In an Open Space" below. The Triad arrives Friday (May 20).
"I think that's the end point now. I think The Triad is something that can end the process," Weber says. "Probably that's the last Pantha record. That's very much possible."
Weber claims that since Pantha isn't him, necessarily, another musician could potentially take up the mantle, whose limits — Weber has always reserved the project name for his distinct, softly rhythmic minimal techno compositions — the musician has outgrown.
"For a certain time, it was really liberating not being 'me,' but at a point, you really want to become a normal human being, and probably even give Pantha Du Prince to someone else, you know? Someone else can be Pantha Du Prince; it doesn't have to be me. So maybe, at some point, I will just pass it on."
Though The Triad is already markedly different than previous Pantha Du Prince releases, in that it features vocals (either by Weber or collaborators Joachim Schultz and Scott Mou, a.k.a. Queens) on over half of the tracks, it's closer "Wallflower for Pale Saints" that stands as the record's most outside-the-box moment, due to its beatless, guitar-centric nature.
Weber notes that the song's inclusion was something of a death knell for his continuation of the project.
"We wrote it, and we wanted to make more of it, and then I felt the necessity that I needed to finish the Pantha album. So I asked Scott [Mou] if we could put our creative process into that together, but then I also decided that it's part of the album, because it's part of our interaction. For me, it's also kind of a — let's say a prospectus on what can happen next. I always like it when albums have this open end, and just kind of make you curious about what's next.
"You end up on an overlook, and you can see what you went through, and oftentimes that's a new place, no?"
It's unclear whether this means Weber will return either to a previous moniker, such as Glühen 4, or start a new project, but certainly, it will make anticipation for Pantha Du Prince's potential swansong even more feverish.
Watch the new video for the album's "In an Open Space" below. The Triad arrives Friday (May 20).
