Tag: gothic music

Blog

ISABELLA IS DEAD

Zita Harrison

Isabella is dead, and she is being mourned by Lisa Gerrard, of the band Dead Can Dance.

Lisa starts with a ghostly, inhuman groaning, bringing to mind witches and dark spirituality.

Then she begins howling and wailing in torment, in wretchedness, in madness.

ISABELLA SHE’S DEAD

ISABELLA SHE’S DEAD

SHE’S DEAD

SHE’S DEAD

LG copy

Anyone who has lost loved ones knows how shocking it is, how unacceptable, how beyond our control, how it jars our reality. Our entire being screams in protest.

This song is bursting with all these emotions, emotions that if we gave in to would smash the order that exists in the world to enable us to function. We would be mercilessly driven into the madness that lurks beneath the surface in all of us. How can it not? Just take a deeper look at the world, how can there not be madness? Sometimes, much to the horror of my husband, I want to go screaming and howling out into the streets myself. I really do. But of course I don’t…haven’t reached that point yet. 🙂 Fortunately, we find outlets for it in Art. Books, music, dance, theater.

Dead can Dance  was formed in 1981 in Melbourne by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. In 1982 the two musicians relocated to London where they signed for the alternative post and gothic rock label 4AD. 

Here is “Ocean” by Dead can Dance with the amazing vocals of Lisa Gerrard. Hope it leaves you as stunned as it leaves me.

 

Blog

Kate Bush: the Astonishing, the Freaky the Uncoventional.

Zita Harrison

KB

Being a long time lover of the dark and supernatural, the Gothic, I was drawn to Kate Bush because of her song, “Wuthering Heights”, based on the book by Emily BrontĂ«. It was the most astonishing thing I had ever heard in my life. Kate shrieked and wailed like a cat in desperate heat in her rendition of a dead Catherine Earnshaw, a young woman dead in her prime from unrequited love.

Her phenomenal creativity in music composition, range in voice, singing and dance created an explosion of color and emotion that made everything else in my world look and feel mundane. She channeled topics close to my heart: mysticism, witches, the supernatural. Passionate and intense one minute, little girl the next, clown one minute, and insane the next, she performed with a courage and abandon that was melodramatic, surreal, and groundbreaking back in the 1970s when her song “Wuthering Heights” came out.

Her music drew on a variety of influences: classical music, rock, opera, folk.  Nominated 13 times for the British Phonographic Industry accolades, and for three Grammy Awards, she won Best British Female Artist in 1987. In 2002, she was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and in October 2017, she was nominated for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She is not for everyone. Some people still prefer the Pat Benatar version of “Wuthering Heights”. To each their own. You have to have a love of the astonishing, the freaky and unconventional, the shocking even, to appreciate her.

I met the love of my life because of her. One day in Art school, as I walked by a young man’s desk, I saw the music of Kate Bush sitting next to his things. I raised my hand and gave him a thumbs up. Two years later we were married.

And as I write Gothic novels now, I can’t help but think it’s all related.

Here, performed by Kate Bush, are “Wuthering Heights”, from her first album, The Kick Inside and one of my all time favorites “The Jig of Life” from Hounds of Love, released in 1985.

Blog

Gothic music by Adrian Von Ziegler

Zita Harrison

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, guys! I’ve been focusing completely on finishing my book Owl Manor to get it to my editor! Sometimes writers are devoured by their work!

But I have to share this piece by Adrian Von Ziegler, who is fast becoming my favorite Gothic musician. I listen to him when I write and it fills me with inspiration, and sometimes makes me want to weep with the enormity of life. His music is intensely emotional, mysterious and beautifully dark. It resonates of the sublime power of nature to evoke joy as well as fear. Of windy moors, dark forests, old mansions; damsels in distress and Byronic heroes; deeply flawed, romantic characters with tortured souls and internal struggles. And the existence of spirits, or energy, whatever one wants to call them, in different dimensions. Yummy.

Does anyone not have internal struggles? Is that even possible? Our life experiences define us, they are not always positive, and we do the best that we can with whom we become. A very important lesson I have been learning in life is that we need to accept all aspects of ourselves, seek harmony in even that part that seems damaged or abnormal, understand where it comes from  and that this is what we were given in this life. Only then can we survive and rise above things, and feel empathy and compassion for others. Perfection, after all, is a matter of opinion, right?

Hence my attraction to Gothic literature. Set in the gold mining era of America, Owl Manor is very Gothic, and I am having a delicious time writing it while listening to the music of Adrian Von Ziegler. By the way, what a great name.

Here is Evocation by Adrian Von Ziegler. Enjoy!