Paul Amlehn - Text
Frank Freeman - Voice
Alfred Kubin - Drawing

Terminus (An Excerpt from Tasmantis)

Probably the worst one man industrial band from Escondido.

I was trained in tradition, yet I stepped beyond its walls. Sound is my language, not to decorate but to liberate. Composer, performer, and listener — one fire, three sparks, inseparable.

I write and compose to uncover what is hidden: the truth buried beneath power, the dignity of the ordinary, the current of awareness that flows through all.

I belong to no authority, only to sound, to truth, to the silence from which all begins. My work is not mastery, but remembrance — a manifesto in every note, every word, every breath.

I am a composer of the 21st century: a studio artist. The studio is my forge, my battlefield, my sanctuary. Machines hum like choirs, circuits burn like torches, cables twist like roots in the earth. Tradition breaks open in this fire — the score turns to light, the instrument becomes the world itself.

To be a studio artist is to seize sound at its rawest, to sculpt electricity and breath as one, to summon the invisible power that belongs to all. Here music is not bound by walls, not enslaved by profit, not tamed by form. It is free, untouchable, unending — a living flame for the century that is ours.

My name is Paul Amlehn. I am an artist working in the mediums of literature, music, visual art, theater, opera, dance, performance art, and film.

My poetry, prose, and texts for theater and opera have been published in literary journals in 23 countries, including Exquisite Corpse, the California Quarterly, Poetry Salzburg Review, and Evergreen Review.

My paintings, photographs, music, and video art works have been exhibited throughout the world, including at Artist's Space, Luhring Augustine, the Chelsea Art Museum, and Tate Liverpool, and at festivals which include Art 42 Basel (with the Serpentine Gallery - curated by Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist), documenta 14, and the 51st, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, and 60th Venice Biennales.

On my music projects I have collaborated with Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Ulrich Krieger (Lou Reed), Chuck Hammer (David Bowie), Jamie Saft (Iggy Pop), Susan Stenger (John Cale), Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno), Michael Blair (Tom Waits), David Van Tieghem (Laurie Anderson), Michael Johnson (Joy Division), Joe Gore (PJ Harvey), Terry Edwards (Tindersticks), Mick Rossi (Leonard Cohen), Jem Finer (The Pogues), Mark Egan (Arcadia), Eberhard Kranemann (Kraftwerk), Thomas Stern (Einsturzende Neubauten), Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), Susan Alcorn, Suzanne Ciani, Keiron Melling (The Fall), Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnsons), Laurent Petitgand (Wim Wenders), Jen Baker (Werner Herzog), John King (Merce Cunningham Dance Company), Robert Black (Bang on a Can All-Stars), Frank Cassara (Steve Reich and Musicians), Andy Findon (Michael Nyman Group), Andrew Sterman (Philip Glass Ensemble), Jeff Zeigler (Kronos Quartet), and many others.

On my film and video art projects I have collaborated with actors, actresses, singers, and dancers, including Philippe Nahon (Gaspar Noe), Artur Barciś (Krzysztof Kieślowski), Anne Louise Hassing (Lars von Trier), Kate Moran (Peter Greenaway), Kate Fisher (Robert Wilson), Elisa Lasowski (David Cronenberg), Pamela Flores (Alejandro Jodorowsky), Stefania Casini (Andy Warhol), and many others.

I am currently working on an album of music which has texts and vocals by William S. Burroughs, in cooperation with the Burroughs Estate. I am also presently working on an album of music which reimagines the work of John Cage, in cooperation with the John Cage Trust.

Cover art for my albums has been provided by painter Gerhard Richter and artist, musician, and filmmaker David Lynch.

At the end of 2024, I worked on several re-creation compositions which utilzed sonic elements from pre-existing songs by Brian Eno and David Byrne, Nine Inch Nails, and Grimes, from their albums "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," Ghosts I-IV," and "Miss Anthropocene, combined with new music by myself and other musicians.

Earlier this year, I collaborated with painter Gottfried Helnwein on a short film called: Epigenetic Trauma Painting No. 1.

I'm presently working on a new music recording project. Musicians taking part in this project are: Stan Harrison (Talking Heads), Ben Somers (Seal), Jarboe (Swans), Ghazi Barakat (Pharoah Chromium), Rob Burns (David Gilmour), Nicholas Currie (Momus),  Peter Hess (Philip Glass Ensemble), and others.

Soli Deo gloria.

Terminus (An Excerpt from Tasmantis)

Paul Amlehn 3