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The name of
Emilie Autumn may be unfamiliar to some as a solo artist but may be more
recognisable as a member of Courtney Loves touring band The Chelsea as has
been dubbed the Anarchy
Violinist.
This year sees
the re-release of her highly acclaimed 'Opheliac' opus to a worldwide
audience.
The term gothic
was made for Emilie as she mixes underlying gothic tones with harpsichord,
violin and electro Goth element in an album that defines GOTH.
The album gets
underway with the title track 'Opheliac', a heady mix of the
aforementioned musical styles with Autumn adding her own distinctive
vocals into the mix, but it’s the violins that really stand out on this
track and give it its dark edge.
‘Swallow’ again
brings the whole industrial Goth sound kicking and screaming into 2007
with its modern pop Goth feel. It's a veritable dance track in the
making here, whereas ‘Liar’ is a more deliberate track with Autumn making
a definite statement with the vocals on this one. The harsh realism
of loves anguish is felt wholeheartedly throughout the lyrics and it's
meant to be not only listened to, but also felt.
The darkness is
continued with ‘The Art of Suicide’, this one has a definite Parisian feel
from the vocals mixed with the subtle harpsichord and gentle violin,
before it’s back to the deliberate vocal stance with the hard edged ‘I
Want My Innocence Back'.
The tempo and
mood is brought right back up with seemingly unlikely titled ‘Misery Loves
Company’. To describe the tempo as "up" would be stretching it, but
this one has more of a contemporary mix of styles running throughout it.
It's not long
before we're once again taking a trip along the darkside with ‘God Help
Me’ and the harpsichord filled ‘Shalott’.
This album is as
much an eclectic mix of styles as a mix of moods and feelings, as once
again we enter the electro mix with the superb ‘Gothic Lolita’, where we
find Emilie taking up the violin and attacking it like a classical
Malmsteen, only to be driven by the music and suddenly as it really takes
hold on ‘Dead Is The New Alive’, she starts to really shred that violin
like some manically possessed gypsy queen.
‘I Know Where
You Sleep’ is a totally different animal with its industrial tones
combined with robotic like vocals, this is definite Cyber Goth. The
album closes closes with ‘Let The Record Show’, which is probably my
favourite track on the whole album as Autumn comes over as a modern Lena
Lovich.
The album also
features two remixed tracks, firstly ‘Dead Is The New Alive’ which is
given the Manipulator Mix treatment courtesy of Dope Stars Inc., and
'Liar' which is remixed by Brendon Small for the MurderMix.
This re-release
is sure to get Emilie some air time in the near future so watch your late
night chat shows closely because she will be there in the darkness waiting
to unleash her own violin frenzied Gothic tones on an unsuspecting Friday
night audience. |
