Assemblage 23 is getting close to celebrating nearly four decades worth of material. As many others start, Shear began in 1988 as a man with a vision and a niche hobby in a niche genre. But that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most beloved acts to ever grace the dark scene. The modern day hasn’t slowed him down none, either, as his most recent album Null has been on a few End of the Year lists already. In this quick and short interview, we discuss his career and his latest album.

Hello Tom! Welcome to Brutal Resonance. Let’s get started with something simple for those who don’t know you. Who are you, what do you do, and what is your favorite movie of all time, and why?

My name is Tom Shear, and for the past 30+ years, I’ve been releasing music mainly as Assemblage 23 (but also as Nerve Filter, Surveillance, and Helix with my wife). My favorite movie of all time is probably “Fargo”. I love the Coen Brothers’ films. They have a real knack for telling intriguing stories about sort of everyday losers who get themselves into situations way above their heads. No one is a jacked-up superhero with secret powers. They’re just shlubs like the rest of us in extraordinary situations. This movie is full of great performances from Francis McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi, not to mention all the weird side characters. Even the musical theme of the movie is fantastic.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate you on not one, not two, but ten albums. After all this time, what is it that keeps you going?

Thank you! It’s honestly not really even voluntary at this point. Haha Music is just a sort of drive I have inside me. Just the same as breathing air or eating food. It sustains me and keeps me (relatively) sane. I can’t imagine my life without it.

Revisiting the idea of having ten albums under your belt, do you ever feel as if any of your music has themes that are revisited? How do you ensure that your music stays fresh?

I think as an artist, you are always in a constant state of refinement. There are common threads that follow you throughout your creative career, but you explore them from different angles or find better ways of expressing them. I think motifs, in a sense, exist not just within a single song, but across an album, or even an entire discography. At the end of the day, that’s sort of what makes up your musical “personality”. You’re sort of curating the things you like to hear, and hopefully the audience also likes those things. You’re balancing between providing the listener with the things that draw them to your music while adding new perspectives, hopefully in a way that doesn’t completely alienate your fans. I’d say growth and consistency are equally important.

I read that the title of the album Null can be a bit ambiguous. You compared it to that of a cancer patient being told that they have been treated, but at the end of treatment they’re left with a grand total of nothing left in their bank account. Can you expand upon that theme and what it means personally to you?

I’m not sure that’s exactly what I said, but yeah, I liked the title because how you interpret it really depends on context. “Zero” can represent a starting point or an ending point. As a kid, I liked to draw a lot and there was nothing more exciting to me than a piece of paper with nothing on it. It was full of endless possibilities for what I could create with it. On the other hand, if you’re trying to be creative and you’re struggling with writer’s block, that same blank piece of paper can be a source of great stress and negative feelings. I also just thought it would be kind of funny to call my tenth album “zero”. Kind of taking the piss out of myself.

A lot of the subject matters you cover are rather dark and drastic in comparison to the brighter future pop beats that is your mainstay. How do you connect the two? Do you feel as if the difference is what makes Assemblage 23 what it is?

Fad Gadget and early Human League were big influences on me when I first started making my own music. In both cases, they mixed somewhat synth-poppy music with darker lyrical themes, and that mix always really appealed to me. I think contrast makes for good art. You lure the listener in with catchy melodic hooks and take them by surprise with an unexpected lyrical direction.

Lastly, I’d like to thank you for your time and wish you the best of luck. I leave this space for your to mention anything else we may not have covered.

Thanks so much to you and to everyone who has reached out to me about the album. I can’t believe I am so lucky to still have people give a shit about what I’m doing. We’re looking forward to getting back out and playing this new stuff live, so I hope we’ll see lots of you out there!