The dark, ambient artist known as Julius Mitė has spent years creating some of the most unique and unsettling sounds accompanied by nature’s visual anatomy making sounds that might seem wrong in nature’s natural setting and audio pictorials that would make Bob Ross back away from the canvas.
Vėlių Namai is the name of Mitės creation. The Lithuanian musician brings sounds out of the laptop and instruments that nature never intended yet fits into the multi-landscaped locations he’s filmed at giving each video and song different moods, feelings and emotions. Whether it’s a fog-laden creepy hill reminiscent of A Werewolf in London or Silent Hill or simplicity in bringing out the dark, looming menace of creepy trees, he makes nature look sinister and beautiful at the same time.
The band name is pronounced “Veliu (Velu) Namai (na-mey). Translated as ‘home of the spirits’, “It’s a Baltic concept,” Mite says. He’s taken his musical inspiration creating a collection of fascinating, unique videos showcasing nature from tranquil forest streams to super creepy churches submerged in dense fog in a different form of storytelling, “Sometimes I think the band is not only a musical project but, in a way, a visual project, I sometimes joke that I could make a feature film. Maybe I could get across what I’m trying to portray. I mean its music but in a way, it’s about the Baltic/Pagan past and the Baltic concept of death. Which is similar to Hindu concept’s in some ways.” Reincarnation is explored.
He says its different worlds, “I’m trying to mix it with trance and techno. I thought it would be interesting to have the listener experience this through sound.”
The new record’s called Alkai, (Al-kay), “A lot of them (songs) have really strange names, many can’t pronounce them,” he jokes.
Band members are often seen in masks on camera and on stage. “That mask, that’s not a Lithuanian mask. It comes from the coast” They were preparing for the summer ritual and Lithuanian festival. His brother was flying into Lithuania and asked if he needed any ritualistic or Shamanic masks. “I was like, hellyeah, he brought different masks and instruments that were incorporated into the music.”
The mask is of African origin, “The mask is an African god of death or birth. I use it as a symbol of death. The funny thing is, my brother’s wife, though she comes from a very different culture when she watched one of the videos she completely got it. She was like, ok this character’s that guy; this character’s that guy. It was amazing to see how this was cross cultural.”
The video for “Alkai” is black, white and creepy as hell, playing like a bizarre waking dream with plot, telling a story void of brightness or color from a dilapidated house to a wind shaking bone-tangled tree. ”This was shot in the neighborhood here, around the summer house that my great grandfather built. It was very special to my father and he passed away recently so I made that video in a way about that. The video’s about accepting death.” The death of someone you know personally. Two different characters that have experienced a lot of loss in their life, they commit suicide but it’s up to the viewer to decide, pass into different worlds and meet this god of death, this creepy tree of life and they dance with death, accepting it. Kinda have fun together.”
Some locations were nearby and personal while others had to be researched and found. “I kinda feel like, ok this is a very strange place or some places for example are old burial sites or are some other historical importance.”
There’s a lot of solitude in the video for “Vilkobelė” “That’s an interesting one. It started as a personal reflection on life and solitude, completely shot during the first Covid lock down. It ended up being a song about sadness and not knowing what happens and being locked inside. The whole video was shot inside because we were locked inside the house.”
“It was a crazy time and I also joke that if that happens again I always have music to fall back to. Then it was like, no more music.”
“The Invocation of the Nine-Horned God” is another bleak masterpiece of eerie Shamanic story and creepy atmospheric ritual ambiance about a Baltic totem and a demigod. “This dear with nine horns carries the sun and the planet on his horns symbolizing the winter and summer solstice, the character that brings back or takes away the sun. We got this summoning, this sort of god, with mushrooms and stuff like that.” Mitė says he doesn’t condone the use of non-culinary mushrooms, it’s just a subplot.
There’s a YouTube video of them in Belaruss, “Live in Minsk” in 2019. Is this the best example of them live? ”I think that was the best video that projected what we played live. At present I’d say “Saulės Kalvis” the newest video showing a huge performance of what we’re going for more now.”
He says there’s a lot that goes into the production, 15 full bags of equipment and props in fact. “I think I might have to cut down on it a little.” The show is rich in Turkish, Arabic and Middle Eastern influence with a musician on guitar another on drum/sometimes flute along with various dancers and performers.
The woman spinning around is a past member of the band. “It was on the song “The Plateau,” the whole performance works up to that song in which a trance happens then it’s finished. On the video for the song he says with a smile, “Trees can be very eerie sometimes and kinda scary.”
With each video Mitė has captured the essence of scenery and nature from the most tranquil flowing water to the creepiest buildings drenched in fog, the darkest tree shadows and creepiest natural elements. With the most sinister vibes and visions of nature in simplistic, noir, horror movie like fashion. “Sometimes I think I’m going for the horror pagan genre in a way, not sure if there’s that much in the music than in the cinema. People ask me why and I don’t know. I just enjoy it and it’s spooky and cool.” If it’s spooky, abandoned or desolated, he’s interested.
While not Hitchcock in nature, “Paskandos” does use the sounds of creepy birds chirping. “It’s a bird that flies around my other summer house. It makes this super creepy sound like they’re killed in the air.” He included them for creep factor adding field recordings from the area for extra effect. The visual of hands and the arms was an accidental but weird visual he kept.
“Aftensinn” is atmospheric, carrying a bit of a Blair Witch, old-school colonial vibe with creepy scenery and an immense, immersive fog covering a church and everything else, lurking in the background. “It’s a super cool church, shot in Slovenia about two kilometers above sea level. All the smoke is actually clouds on the church, built by a really famous Slovenian architect. Who’s other work, I didn’t know when I was filming but one of my favorite churches when I lived in Prague was built by him. When we came to that valley, it felt like, being in this horror movie and maybe Viking, Valhalla. It kind of looked like that with fog everywhere.”
The fog was present, day of shooting ready to be captured. “I was told by locals that I was very stupid to go there because apparently people die there because it gets that foggy that you can’t see one meter in front of you for like eight hours. Apparently it’s a dangerous place.” The creepy, witchy, nature vibe’s worked out for him so far.
The video for “Leliumoj” was shot around a summer house with a neighboring house having a very dark, creepy, violent history. “There’s a super creepy story about a neighbors summer house. In that summer house, about 600 meters away, it’s a place where a lot of bad things have happened throughout history.” Murder and suicide are part of its history addling to its creepy lore. “How horrible and evil that place is. That video is about that evil stuff.”
“1042” has the ghost hunter vibe and simply shows just how creepy and spooky being in the forest at night can be with just a light. “It can get really scary.”
Vėlių Namai has four records out so far with Kurir.and Alkai on iTunes with a steady US following developing.
Live show impressions depends on who’s there. “We might play in a techno club. I might have some older people show up.” Regardless if there are techno fans in the crowd, metalheads or anyone else, it’s often a mixed bag of people and reactions. If it’s a full show, video screens are used showing accompanying images and elements.
It’s a unique, darkly creative mulligan stew of genre’s and subgenres “I think it’s a mix, there’s the metal side. I come from that community, there’s the technical side, the ambient and dark ambient side.” It’s an eclectic and mangled mix CD of diverse, dark and demented dawn’s early light to dusks long shadow with nature’s eerie voice calling the shots.
Among other esoteric instruments used, electric guitars and drums also appear. “The last song on the new album finishes with atmospheric black metal. Drums would be nice but the music would have to change a lot for drums.”
He turns historical stories into lyrical concepts supported by music inspired by nature’s natural elements as the spinal wood backbone. All records have a story. “The last one was kind of a concept record. About the Baltic tribes that were Viking at the age of Vikings. There’s this thing with Viking sagas, these Lithuanian tribes are mentioned as being fearless. The Vikings were actually scared of them. That was a bit of a concept in that way. Usually it’s just what life brings and the kind of histories and stories I read.” It’s his version and personal narrative of Valhalla.
Mitė comments on the ongoing debate of technology and music with laptops used on stage as instruments. “It depends. In one way I agree, laptops shouldn’t be on stage. Play normal instruments. On the other hand it depends on the music you’re playing. I’m not pretending to be a regular, full on band. I would love to do that but would need 10-15 people on stage. A song might have 30 tracks happening at the same time. To really perform the same way, live is always better, as long as your 100% live.”
His cinematic taste comes off post apocalyptic with dystopian horror. The Ritual and The Witch inspired him along with Tchaikovsky and Akira Kurosawa s films.
Fan behavior at live shows ranges from mosh and circle pits but no walls of death, yet, to people completely zoned out dancing and crying. The ambience twists and turns people’s emotions into unexpected behavior putting them into their own world.
He hasn’t toured yet but has played with different bands including funeral doomer’s Pantheist and some pagan folk bands. He’s also shared stages with various black metal bands showing the wide range his show has. “The last show I played, Unleashed was there.”
A future bucket list gig would be opening for Shape of Despair, one of his favorite bands. “I’d have to change the content a bit, to be sadder and more depressing, less spooky.”
This year he’s got a few gigs, “I still can’t say those dates yet. They’re not 100% confirmed.” He’s eyeing some shows in Europe and wants to put a tour together in the next year or two. A Scandinavian trek would be ideal. He thinks the Finnish would love his show. Every time I see Finnish people at my shows they go crazy. I think Finland would really enjoy my shows and the US would be interesting as well, just to experience it, in a five year time table maybe.”
More videos are planned and new material’s already in the making. “A new album is started though the last one took five years, in part to Covid, it should have taken three.”
Though, it’s all in the writing stage. “It should be similar but slightly different. Try to point it in a slightly different direction. What I really want to do is have a lot more vocals. Have a really good vocalist for this.”
While Mite continues his creations, new fans and those in the know can check out Vėlių Namai’s collection and story so far. At its darkest and most ambient he captures the blackest part of the forests midnight soul balancing with the quiet, soft and tranquil rivers flow and nature’s early warming greeting and whisper.
The music is definitely something different to rapture ears and eyes with. With sounds similar, befitting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre soundtrack to the uber-creepy, home video menace of Sinister. His choice of instrumentation might be rare to many ears, though its all part of his ritual.
Mite’s music of dark folk, black metal, dark ambient, ritualistic, dark wave, techno, industrial, pop and even some twisted choir singing messes with the mind and senses conjuring haunted images and vicarious visuals. While we wait for new material check out Vėlių Namai’s world of sound, nature and scenery.
Facebook – www.facebook.com/VeliuNamai
YouTube – www.youtube.com/@veliu_namai
