Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Genius has landed., 21 Jun 2007
I found Emilie through Last.FM and the first album I bought was her classical/electronic violin album 'Laced-Unlaced.' After listening to her original compositions, and her own renditions of classics such as 'Largo' it was obvious she was a very well accomplished classical musician. So what did I expect of 'Opheliac'? Not this, that's for sure!
It turns out that this album is pretty dark, and has elements of... well, I don't know what of! All I know that this album is one hell of a ride. Gone are her violin instrumentals, in with her vocals which range from beautiful, to bizarre, to down right terrible. Terrible in a good way. It appears that she doesn't care much if she sounds good or not, rather, she just wants to get her point across. I should try to describe the sound to you. There is classical violin, acoustic violin, and electric violin, mixed in with heavy beats and electronic mixing. Any authentic sound is probably some form of a string instrument. She hasn't the best singing voice in the world, but it's hardly the point here, she can still sing okay, and she mostly sings straight, but she has some unique vocal techniques and interpretations too. Worth checking out. It's a dark but catchy album. I'm not gothic, or listen to gothic music (the odd WT or Nightwish, but nothing serious) and I'd normally run a mile from anything like this, but it works.
This album seems loosely based around the Victorian era and literature. Considering the connotations of the Victorian Era you get gothic like literature, murder of prostitutes, repressed women, darkness, industrialisation, etc. It's all here. How she conveys all in a sound I will never know, but as a Victorian Literature student, I think she pulls it all off amazingly well.
There are two discs. The first disc is consistently dark. It's about madness, suicide, murder, rape, anger, alienation, death, stalking and the like. The one exception to this is the light-hearted 'Swallow' where you'll be forgiven if you initially mistake it as an early 90's Madonna record. It's very oddly placed on this album, but you won't regret it being on here. 'The Art of Suicide' is another one. It's not that happy, but the music is a contrast to the lyrical content. I understand people may criticise her lyrics, and since they are about such extreme things, it's a little wonder, but I DO wonder if those people understand the point of what she was trying to do, or how much they know about the Victorian period. There wasn't a lot of happiness for the Victorians, especially when translated into history. I think the lyrics are fantastic. Some people may recognise the story (and title) of 'Shalott' which is a direct rip off of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem 'The Lady of Shalott'. Considering it's my favourite poem of all time, I was wonderfully surprised to hear it, and her lyrical adaptation is altered very well to fit in nicely with the rest of the album.
The highlights of the first disc are definitely 'Opheliac' (Ophelia was a character in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and I think it basically means madness in this songs context), 'Swallow', 'Liar', 'I Want My Innocence Back', 'Misery Loves Company' and 'Let The Record Show'. For 'Opheliac', you will hear a song quite unlike you have ever heard before. It's repulsive yet appealing at the same time. She growls in the chorus, and I usually hate growls but it really works for that song. 'I Want My Innocence Back' is nothing short of terrifying, do not listen to alone in the dark. 'Let The Record Show' is sung from a point of view of a murdered prostitute. Although the content is dark, it's mega catchy. Her vocals on the verse is genius. The chorus is proper jumping if you have it up loud. Again, you wouldn't have heard anything like it.
Now for the second disc. There's not a lot here (three songs, two violin, three spoken poems). Put aside 'Largo' and the three poems, which are all okay, I suppose, but not a great listening experience, you have the genius of 'Dominant', '306', 'Thank God I'm Pretty' and the hilarious 'Marry Me'. 'Dominant' is easily the best track on this disc. It's an instrumental with the violin and electronic mixing, it sounds like it should be part of a dramatic film score. '306' carries on from where 'Dominant' left off, it's not as good though'. The next two songs are comical. 'Thank God I'm Pretty' is Emilie's sarcastic gratitude for being pretty, it's not laugh out loud, but will make you smirk. 'Marry Me' is absolutely brilliant. Not only does she sing really well in it, it's also hilarious, and is based on Victorian upper class marriage. I suggest you find the lyrics and read along with the song, as there are very funny moments it. It's light hearted as well and her vocals verge on operatic during the chorus.
The last thing I should mention about Emilie is that she does albums practically by herself. She doesn't have a team of songwriters, musicians, mixers and a production team she does it all herself. She writes, performs and produces everything. She is immensely talented, I hope she doesn't stay in the shadow of obscurity for too much longer even though I understand why she does. I doubt an album like this could ever be widely accepted by a mass audience.
If you want to hear something different, you must buy this album, and do so with an open mind.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
See the Opheliac in me...., 3 April 2007
There are a lot of things I can say about this CD. I can say how I think it's obscurely brilliant and that it doesn't sound quite like anything else I've heard before. It's quirky and weird, yet strangely compelling and highly addictive to listen to.
I could say how a couple of the tracks such as 'Dead is the new alive' and 'I know where you sleep' are wonderfully random in their execution and at times you're not quite sure where the track is going to go.
I could also say how the track 'Swallow' starts out almost like a bad 90's dance track but carries on and easily ends up being (for me at least) one of the stand out tracks on the album.
It can also be said that the lyric-less piece 'Dominant' on the 2nd CD is a wonderful addition to the album and is a very refreshing and most exquisite piece of music.
All of this however, is not very helpful because it doesn't actually tell you what this album really sounds like. 'Victorindustrial' is the word that Emile Autumn herself uses to describe her music and I cannot think of a better one.
What you are looking at is an older style of music with a modern twist. Picture orchestral industrial music complete with the ideal of being an anachronism. Perhaps it is what the makers of music would have done in the Victorian times had they the technology to do so. If this idea appeals to you then you should definately buy this album.
It is only due to it's lyrical content that it recieves 4 instead of 5 stars. Lyrically, it is over the top and somewhat pretentious. The best way to describe it would be as a friend of mine said 'She sounds great but she's talking utter rubbish!'. I argued with my friend and said that the lyrics reflected the tone of the music and you couldn't really have another set of lyrics because it just wouldn't fit. My friend argued that, that fact alone made it more pretentious.
In other words, this CD is not for everyone but it certainly was for me. Fan of the DRESDEN DOLLS? You will probably like this.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply brilliant., 17 April 2007
I bought this album after hearing a few tracks online and I wasn't disappointed! Granted it takes a few plays to get into the style of music (for me, anyway) but once you've taken the time you'll never regret it.
I'll definately be buying her back-catalogue!
Stand out tracks for me are :
Liar
I know where you sleep
Thank god I'm pretty
Poem: Ghost
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