FAIRYTALES OF SLAVERY

Since their debut with the exclusively vocal "Madra", MIRANDA SEX GARDEN kept making changes in the music and lineup, 1994 is not the exception, before the release of "Fairytales of Slavery" Kelly McCusker left the band and is replaced by the talented vocalist and keyboardist Hepzibah Sessa and the band recruits Kim Fahey to take care of the bass, leaving Trevor Sharpe only in charge of Drums and Percussion due to the complexity of the rhythm section of this album.

The first problem is how to describe this album, still we can listen the evident and main Gothic/Folk/Medieval influence but with a more aggressive edge that leaves them closer to Industrial and Post Rock with a touch of Symphonic, probably if we listen carefully we'll find some other genres but the main thing is that this is a clearly Progressive Rock album.

It's a pity that "so called" critics have lumped this band into the underground Goth genre keeping it hidden from the world, because it's not accurate, they are Gothic in the classical sense of the world because they are Medieval and as we know Gothic is the name that was given to the last two centuries of Middle Age music (For God's sake, their first album is only composed of Madrigals from the 1600's, how more classical and late Medieval can it get?). .

Of course is obscurantist because the Middle Ages were dark and obscure but this self proclaimed experts probably believe that the main genre is Goth (The black, vampire inspired rock sub-genre) and not just a commercial derivation of this classical epoch, in the case of MIRANDA SEX GARDEN they keep the Gothic sound intact but adding many different influences in a complex and perfectly elaborated way.

If you are searching for epics and abrupt changes maybe you'll be disappointed, but if you love atmospheric, dark and aggressive music, well this is a good choice, sounds like RENAISSANCE meets FANTOMAS, the result is absolutely scary but excellent, somehow like "The Director's Cut" sung by Annie Haslam.

But lets go to check the 13 tracks (Cabalistic number by the way):

The album starts with an unusual rock oriented track based in a strong guitar and the wonderful vocals that seem to float above this chaos of sounds, the violent violin by Donna McKevitt is simply delightful, frantic from start to end with perfect synchronicity between bass and drums, no time to breath, of course the usual strange sounds add the darkness required.

"Fly" starts with a mysterious guitar surrounded by low bass and keyboards absolutely dark and haunting, the vocals slowly blend with this phantasmagoric atmosphere until a sudden explosion shows us that they have enough power, but again they return to the softer and dark sound and again another explosion that marks the end of the track.

"Peep Show" starts so soft that is almost not audible for the first 30 seconds, but in a fraction of second and out of nowhere the band and vocalists attack us based mostly in drums, bass and guitar, the vocals sound as being in a second but different plane, by moments I feel some Oldfield like sections. But of course with Katharine distinctive vocals.

"The Wooden Boat" sounds much more Medieval, like a return to their early Madrigals album, but the soft instrumental arrangements and strange sounds reminds us they have a post rock edge, very experimental song even when not one of my favorites.

"Havana Lied" is a Cabaret song in German (Creating some sort of WWII atmosphere), Andrew Blick's trumpet (Guest musician) is simply perfect for an excellent recreation, this song prove once again that this band is really weird but imaginative and original. "Havana Lied" is a repetitive but interesting experimental track.

"Cover My Face" is brilliant, so strong, so violent and at the same time softened by the beautiful vocals that seem to hide behind all this aggression, some ancient maybe Egyptian influences that can be barely listened above the Industrial background, one of the best tracks by MIRANDA SEX GARDEN, no abrupt changes, but absolutely dramatic, the ending is an absolute chaos, simply love it.

"Transit" of course starts with the guitar drums and keyboards simulating the sounds you can listen in a traffic jam, honestly too weird for my taste, the instruments seem too fight one against the other and Katharine uses his voice only to hound like a police or ambulance siren.

"Freezing" starts almost like Overture from Tommy, the guitar reminds clearly of Pete Townsend, but the howling by Katharine and the other girls return us to a different reality we're before another strange track, short but effective.

"Serial Angels" is one really beautiful track, different to all the previous, the vocals are not so important, the problem is that the first half is recorded so low that you have to rise the volume to the max to barely listen it, but then a soft guitar and drums that go in crescendo mark the change, to a more rhythmic section where all the melody is provided by a soft chorus.

"Wheels" is like a time machine, from the late XX Century we return to the XIV or XV, this is almost like a cyclical song that describes perfectly a carrousel, seems absolutely repetitive but don't let this impression fool you, each repetition or cycle is different to the previous, as I said starts clearly medieval, but in the next round an instrument is added, first some chords, then bass, keyboards and at the end a beautiful and shocking chaos, almost the same procedure used by Mike Oldfield at the end of Tubular Bells side one, but more chaotic.

"Intermission" is just a collection of sounds like an Orchestra of bagpipes, but in the deepest part of this sounds there's a haunting melody, pretty scary but short.

Now if you want weirdness "The Monk Song" is your best choice starts with the strangest vocal arrangements, lots of howling and moaning perfectly synchronized by the three women who have an incredible vocal range, all this screams supported by the drummer playing the metals, interesting and advanced but absolutely out of this world.

The album is closed with the best song "A Fairytale about Slavery" wonderful and magic track that starts absolutely Medieval with piccolo, drums and completely haunting vocals, creating a beautiful melody, the rest of the instruments especially keys and violins blend progressively creating a second tune in the background that slowly starts to take the lead and relegate the vocals to a second plane, until it reaches a point where the aggressive instrumentation and the vocals mix loudly with a very heavy and distorted guitar, creating as usual a dreamy mixture of the ancient and sacred with the modern and Pagan, a collision between two worlds and two conceptions of music, at the end the melody dissolves as if it was blending with the air and we can only listen the repetitive piccolo. 100% Progressive Rock, lovely and brilliant.

Hard to rate it, maybe some people will say this is subjective and too high, but something as adventurous, weird, dramatic and beautiful can't be rated with less than 5 stars, yes it's shocking for people used to melodic Symphonic, but Progressive Rock must also be innovative and dramatic.

If you never heard of this band, start with "Fairytales of Slavery" I'm sure that Symphonic, Post Rock, Folk and even Industrial fans will love it, probably is too weird and aggressive for Art Rock and Neo Prog fans because of it's extreme complexity, but not everybody has to love the same music.

3.5 stars really!!

Down to a quartet, from the five-piece combo of the preceding Suspiria, Fairytales Of Slavery is a relatively provocative and ambiguous album, not just by its artwork and title , suggesting female submission, but also sex role interchangeability as the booklet picture might indicate with two female members portraying as butch and the male suspiciously effeminate-looking. Well sex does sell in music also; check out the women-catering music such as boys-band and teen stars like Britney. So MSG's third album is another building stone and probably their best album ever.

Compared to the previous Suspiria, this album is very synthetic, more electronic but not any less gothic/ from the previous rather acoustic, we now jump to influences ranging from Post Rock/Trip Hop soundscapes (get load of The Wooden Boat) or at times (mostly in the vocals) Bjork mixed with Kate Bush. This FoS album is a more difficult-to-grasp affair than its Suspiria predecessor. Les "folky" or acoustic-driven and much less classically influenced, it is a bit darker too.

Strangely enough, while MSG appears to be on top of their game (but who knows, they probably would've bettered some more), this was to be the last album for six years. Not really familiar with the band's history, I would suppose they had a big "baby break" and started families. But it is always a little sad to see artistes having to stop their career while they are at their peak. Well at least MSG did not overstay their welcome either as generally seems the rule. I would advise most progheads un-familiar with Gothic-influenced muysic to start with this album as it might just a revealming of your Goth aptitudes.

I could be looking at this from a not very progressive angle but nevertheless, I find it a good album.

Only Miranda Sex Garden album I have so I can't really compare it to their other releases, but as for this album the heavy use of goth-sounding violins is what draws me to it. The female vocals are some of the best I've ever heard and the variety of material really makes me glad to hear this album.

So many good things with one bad thing, I just can't get into the album. It always winds up background music somehow. It's probably my fault because I'll lose focus and then when I regain it, I feel "How did I miss that?!"

Good goth-prog-rock, I just got to focus on it more.

Miranda Sex Garden present a confident and polished version of their trademark folky goth with progressive elements on Fairytales of Slavery. Combining curious medieval-influenced wind recorders with esoteric keyboard lines, along with mysterious and evocative vocals, the album adeptly evokes the atmosphere of claustrophobic entrapment in strange magical realms that the lyrics suggest. At times I am almost reminded of something on the border of post-rock, with the unusual instrumentation favoured by the band producing something which doesn't quite sound like any other gothic rock band - think, perhaps, a more avant-garde incarnation of All About Eve or Dead Can Dance, after listening to a lot of late-period Talk Talk and early Steeleye Span.

Review nº 232

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

"How long have you been lost down here? How did you come to loose your way? When did you realise that you'd never be free?"

The repetition of those lyrics above during a sad long track makes you lose the perception of time. Similar to the feeling portrayed on the album concept . How intelligent.

Fairytales of Slavery is the third full lenght release from this female vocal lead band, and honestly, here is where they achieved perfection. It was a great surprise. I got this album right after listening to their a capella debut, and with the first track I thought it would be another average-good post punk album. An agressive change looking back to Madra, their first album, from 1993. But it's deeper than that. Following the album, Fly, the second track, enlightened my curiosity for the rest of the album. Have you heard of CRANES? One of my all time favorites, their thrilling, breath taking album Wings of Joy is some kind of eternal unique piece. And that's what Miranda Sex Garden came offering with this title. The vocals are almost morbid dream apparitions. Fairytales of Slavery slowly moves more and more to an avant-folk ethereal, dark atmospherical gothic realm of claustrophobia, where the industrial/noise rock kicks send us to a medieval imprisonment torture opera. As the entrapment feel and grief approaches reality to the listener, haunted dissonant crescendos appears and levaes as ghosts of your own hallucination. Listening to the complete piece works as a concept album to a imaginative mind as mine. The musical texture describes mood and environmental changes and suggests different states, from lonely moments, when time seems frozen by your fear, to a thrilling escape as we heard on Transit, and so on. Among all those things, the undoubtful climax of the album is the last and the lenghtiest track, called A Fairytale of Slavery (the obvious main song). Nine minutes of painful beauty, feels like reading someone scars of hopelesness. It gives me chills all over my skin. A must have.