The Changelings - The Changelings

Genre(s) - Neoclassical, ethereal
Origin - Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Year of release - 1996
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 70.53 MB

Supremely independent and haunting music that sounds like it could have been made anywhere and anytime except for the American nineties - here's another Changelings album. Making use of a great repertoire of classical and pre-modern instruments, vividly coloured, swirling melodies are layered like paint in a landscape by Caspar David Friedrich. It gives a similar panoramic width, set in tones of falling dusk on overgrown ruins, etcetera. It runs the gamut from pastoral serenity to percussion-driven bombast in smooth, gradual crescendo, never breaking the constant natural flow. Earthquake at Versailles and Into this Divide stand out in that respect. Wonderfully dreamy chamber music for romantics only.

The band's third album, Amphibian, had already been posted here.

1. Pomegranate
2. Season of mist
3. Earthquake at Versailles
4. Song of the Sephardim
5. Pranam
6. Into this divide
7. Incantation
8. Solitude
9. Awakening
10. Seraphim
11. 11:59 PM October 30
12. Sunday morning
    

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Mediæval Bæbes - Mirabilis

Genre(s) - Ethereal, neo-classical
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 320 kbps
Size - 80.91 MB

My hopes for a true winter are being fulfilled: it hasn't snowed like this for years! I've been trudging through Leiden's monumental 17th-century city centre for a few hours today and it was a more beautiful sight even than usual. Music to go well with weather (and towns) like this is swirly gothic or ethereal, and the Mediæval Bæbes deal in a very neo-classical version of it that suits the name well, as does the fact that it is an all-women band. With various acoustic and old-timey instruments like (f)lutes, harps, percussion and (I believe) all of their voices they create wonderful music that seems to be made for snowy days' candlelit evenings, and especially these days around Yuletide. I have a large and equal fondness for all the seasons; I love winter for its magical dreaminess and I have a feeling many of my posts will be reflecting this. Already a lot of the previous ones do, and of course this one too. Enjoy, if you feel the same way. :)

1. Star of the sea
2. Trovommi amor
3. Temptasyon
4. San'c fuy belha ni prezada
5. All for the love of one
6. The lament
7. Musa venit carmine
8. Kilmeny
9. Umlahi
10. Cittern segue
11. Return of the birds
12. Tam Lin
13. Scarborough Fayre
14. Come my sweet
15. Mark hur var skugga
16. The world fareth as a fantasye
17. Away
    

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Lycia - The Ghosts of Lycia

No cover art; so here's Mike & Tara with a rake and some maize

Genre(s) - Ethereal/shoegaze/dark ambient
Origin - Arizona, USA
Year of release - Never officially released
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 26.42 MB

Some very early material by that darkest of darkwave bands, Lycia. There's not a lot of information on this "release" but apparently it's a collection of very early demo tracks that were released unofficially... somehow and years later. I can't even recall how it ended up on my computer though I remember, back when I was still shuttling back and forth between uni and my parents' place, dozing off to this in the train regularly, watching the winter scenery drift by as the sun came up. It'll work for you too if you let it. It may be distressing music but it's unobtrusive enough to just fuzz out your brain into a blissful, druggy half-sleep. Of course it's only a short spell of music and its age is abundantly clear - it's more frail and unfocused than any of their official releases (among which, for instance, this one), but Lycia fans absolutely need to hear this. And for the rest it may not seem like the best introduction to the band, but it sure did it for me.

1. From foam (original version)
2. Torment
3. In the wake of nothing
4. This sacred place
5. Dismissal
6. The beginning of the end
7. Decline
8. Blinding white fire
   

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Rise and Fall of a Decade - You or Sidney

Genre(s) - Ethereal
Origin - France
Year of release - 1994
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 50.01 MB

Finally, after a long time I found another good ethereal group, and one with a male singer, which is rare enough. The drifting music is akin to a band like And Also the Trees in these 19th-century countryside sort of scenes it evokes. This mood's tranquility is sometimes ruptured by a more forceful drive which keeps the music from becoming too lethargic or single-issued. Listening to You or Sidney, I sometimes can't help but think this trio must be British by their sound, but they're French. What makes this band most interesting though, are the dual vocals of which I especially like the male singer, and their largely acoustic approach that is a little medievalish, but not to excess. There are a lot of subtly beautiful, waltzy melody lines hidden among the music's many layers. For hopeless romantics and children of another era.

1. One of these days
2. The hope seller
3. Mistake
4. Games for dying
5. You or Sidney
6. Strange way
7. European swindle
8. Hold me
9. First
10. Dear assurance
11. Sweet pills
12. Escape
    

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[repost] This Ascension - Sever and more

Band/artist - This Ascension
Genre(s) - Ethereal, gothic rock
Origin - United States of America
Album - Sever
Year of release - 1999

Sever is the last in a line of four full-length albums issued by This Ascension, and definitely among the most extraordinary and versatile discs in their genre that I have ever heard, mostly due to the prominent use of driving electric guitars. Some of the most guitar-heavy tracks (namely Dorado and Amapola; great tracks the both of them) even sound more like space rock than darkwave or neoclassical. Some of the tracks do stick more to genre conventions, but do so with flair; the best example of this is Mysterium. This dual approach could easily have proved disastrous in making the album sound fragmentized, but Sever retains a decidedly ethereal nature throughout with its mystic atmosphere and Heavenly Voice of singer Dru, keeping the album cohesive and in balance. Also take note of the closing track, a wonderful Christmas carol, the ethereal way.

Note: I am reposting this because I have two older albums lying around fully rar-ed and uploaded for a last.fm friend a few months ago. Thought I might as well post them along. I chose to upload Sever for a reaon, but these are also really decent. See below!

1. Fuego cayendo
2. Mysterium
3. Forever shaken
4. Serpent's serenade
5. Dorado
6. Fatal dawn
7. Columba aspexit
8. Interlude
9. I wish
10. Amapola
11. Here alone again
12. Love lost years
13. Carol of the bells
    

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1989 - Tears in Rain
here

1991 - Light & Shade
here

Anathema - Judgement

Band/artist - Anathema
Genre(s) - Atmospheric rock
Origin - United Kingdom
Album - Judgement
Year of release - 1999

Like Katatonia, Anathema used to be important doom band before crossing into unmetal territory and like Katatonia, they now play dark atmospheric rock. However, I think it is safe to say that Anathema is generally more detached and depressive, but their tracks can also seem more uniform than they really are as they're mostly centered around ethereal guitar harmonies that ooze distress and hopelessness. Their best songs are scattered quite evenly among their releases, Judgement was my choice only because on this one I know which ones they are! The title song (always the fucking title song!!) starts out with a decent main melody that steadily gains in intensity, then explodes in some wicked riffing. Anyone, Anywhere is a doomy song feauturing great interplay between guitars and piano, One Last Goodbye has some of the best vocal deliverances on the record and a beautiful solo to boot, and Wings of God is climactic gloom rock at its best. These last six words, methinks, are a great way to sum up the whole record.

1. Deep
2. Pitiless
3. Forgotten hopes
4. Destiny is dead
5. Make it right (F.F.S.)
6. One last goodbye
7. Parisienne moonlight
8. Judgement
9. Don't look too far
10. Emotional winter
11. Wings of God
12. Anyone, anywhere
13. 2000 and gone
14. Transacoustic
    

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Lycia - A Day in the Stark Corner

Band/artist - Lycia
Genre(s) - Ethereal, shoegaze, dark ambient
Origin - United States of America
Album - A day in the stark corner
Year of release - 1996

You could say that what Paysage d'Hiver is to black metal, Lycia is to the dreamy segment of underground gothic music: they have always been a touch more bleak and distant sounding than their peers. The band is often categorized as ethereal but it's in nothing like Black Tape for a Blue Girl or Dead Can Dance, relying much more on drawn-out electric guitar lines and keyboards over a repetitive drum computer than on acoustic or classical instruments. Mike VanPoortvleets yearning whispers bring a whole different meaning to the lyrics than an 'Angelic Voices' soprano would have done. Though certainly beautiful, Lycia's music is a detached, sedated, sorrowful affair overall, and A Day in the Stark Corner is not an album you listen to for fun. If you can recognize yourself in the eccentricity of sometimes enjoying negative feelings, then don't let this one slip.

1. And through the smoke and nails
2. Pygmallion
3. The body electric
4. Wide open spaces
5. The morning breaks so cold and gray
6. The remnants and the ruins
7. Goddess of the green fields
8. Everything is cold
9. Sorrow is her name
10. Daphne
    

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The Changelings - Amphibian

Band/artist - The Changelings
Genre(s) - Ethereal, neoclassical
Origin - United States of America (Atlanta, Georgia)
Album - Amphibian
Year of release - 1998

Here we have something unique and beautiful. The Changelings are a rather obscure ethereal band who have remained largely unsigned - i.e. you might call it über-indie - but managed to release four awesome full-lengths by themselves. I think it may not be quite everybody's cup of tea as this is in many ways stranger and less accessible than most other ethereal. It is driven by drums and percussion, violin and a myriad of unusual, antique and Eastern instruments including hammered dulcimer, musical saw, sitar and a toy accordeon(?). Regeana's voice and some of the electronic effects over the music, like on Maelcum's Rigteous Dub may also take some time to get used to but make the distant, drifting atmosphere complete. This is great music to accompany you on stoned nocturnal wanderings around town. Favourite songs of mine are Port Royale, a pirate song, Frog Song with its whirling melodies and the beautiful Oceana. http://www.changelings.com

1. Deeper than light
2. Melusine
3. Mealcum's rigteous dub
4. Caterwaul
5. Another dead girl
6. Frog song
7. Afternoon of a newt (crap. I don't have this track :/)
   
8. Port Royale
9. Carpathian lullaby
10. Oceana (the mermaid song)
11. Morning's twilight
    

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Faith and the Muse - Annwyn, Beneath the Waves

Band/artist - Faith and the Muse
Genre(s) - Ethereal, gothic rock
Origin - United States of America
Album - Annwyn, Beneath the Waves
Year of release - 1996

Quite in accordance with This Ascension, this band preaches a vision of ethereal (basically a swirly, atmospheric kind of darkwave or gothic with ties to neoclassical and shoegaze) a bit more diverse and edgy than their peers. Like the previously shared TA album, Annwyn, Beneath the Waves combines bombastic percussion-driven chantfests like Cantus or Arianrhod, more gothic rock oriented material like for instance the title track, more traditional ethereal fair and the rather angry song Cernunnos. Throughout is a Celtic pagan, anti-modernist theme. I think out of both bands, this is probably the better one.

1. Annwyn, beneath the waves
2. The silver circle
3. Cantus
4. The dream of Macsen
5. Fade and remain
6. Arianrhod
7. Branwen slayne
8. Hob y derry dando
9. Cernunnos
10. The hand of man
11. The sea angler
12. The birds of Rhiannon
13. Rise and forget
14. Apparition
    

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