Searching for dark, Gothic music, I stumbled upon this collection by Adrian Von Ziegler, a Swiss composer. How is that for irony? The Swiss are usually characterized as unemotional, pragmatic, neutral. But Adrian’s music is anything but that. It’s haunting, ethereal, forbidding. It’s deliciously dark and emotional. I’ve been listening to it while I write for inspiration, and it transports me.
I’ve been attracted to darkness all my life, been an avid reader of Gothic literature, and even did my Masters on it, definitely a result of my experiences in life. And I have sometimes faced thinly concealed disdain for it from people who want life to be pretty all the time. To each their own. Life is not a formula. And life is not always pretty and wholesome and doesn’t have to be. What is that anyway if not a judgment imposed by those who would rather live a life of denial born out of fear rather than embrace and acknowledge that the darker side that exists in all of us is an integral part of who we are? It doesn’t have to be destructive or ugly, and we can only grow if we accept it and learn from it, use it as an expression of our creativity. For the beauty and depth found in darkness adds fascinating layers to a life that otherwise could be seen as very one-dimensional.
This is White Specter by Adrian Von Ziegler.
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