In the Rain (album)

Last updated

In the Rain
In the Rain (Sol Invictus album).jpg
Studio album by
Released1995 (1995)
Genre
LanguageEnglish
Label Tursa

In the Rain is the eighth studio album by the English band Sol Invictus, released in 1995 by the record label Tursa. On this recording, Sol Invictus wed trumpet, violin and cello to folk arrangements. Lyrically, the album focuses on the fragility of life and the certainty of death.

Contents

Recording and production

In the Rain was the first Sol Invictus album to fully incorporate classical instrumentation. It was the last on which the musicians David Mellor and Sarah Bradshaw participated. [1]

The frontman Tony Wakeford has described it as his most personal album. According to the book Looking for Europe: Neofolk und Hintergründe, the song "An English Garden" appears to be inspired by the film The Innocents , based on the novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. [1] The album liner notes include drawings by Tor Lundvall. [2]

Reception

John Bush of AllMusic described In the Rain as "a good collection of pop songs" but criticised Wakeford's vocals for being "occasionally erratic". [3] The music scholar Isabella van Elferen analyzed the track "An English Garden" in 2013. She used its lyrics as an example of the nostalgia and sense of "not-belonging" present in goth music, and wrote that the instrumentation, song structure and chords evoke the "idealised British home of Goth", which becomes "musically disclosed as the locus of nothing less than the uncanny itself". [4] The French music critic Jérôme Alberola  [ fr ] wrote in 2016 that the album significantly changed the genre of neofolk, because it added cello, violin, piano and trumpet to the acoustic guitar and vocals, creating a new formula based on "slick production and the simple but effective beauty of the melodies". [5] Cesare Buttaboni and Marco De Baptistis of Ondarock  [ it ] call it "undoubtedly Sol Invictus' masterpiece up to that point", highlighting the album's relatively varied vocals, the absence of filler tracks and how the lyrics attribute spiritual value to everyday details, which creates a message that is pessimistic but open to hope. [6]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Europa in the Rain I"1:06
2."Stay"4:47
3."Believe Me"3:52
4."Down the Years"4:22
5."In the Rain"4:41
6."Fall Like Rain"6:28
7."Oh What Fun"2:55
8."An English Garden"4:11
9."The World Shrugged"4:12
10."In Days to Come"4:03
11."Europa in the Rain II"3:18
2011 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Hedda Gabbler"8:28
13."Did You See"4:45

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sol Invictus (band)</span> British neofolk band

Sol Invictus are a British neofolk band formed by Tony Wakeford in 1987. Wakeford has been the sole constant member of the group since its inception, although numerous musicians have contributed and collaborated with him under the Sol Invictus name over the years.

<i>Music, Martinis and Misanthropy</i> 1990 studio album and spoken word by Boyd Rice and Friends

Music, Martinis and Misanthropy is an album by Boyd Rice, released in 1990 by New European Recordings. It was recorded in Tokyo, Japan and Denver, Colorado between July 1989 and March 1990 and features several notable neofolk artists - Douglas P., Tony Wakeford, Rose McDowall and Michael Moynihan and Bob Ferbrache of Blood Axis. Most of the music was arranged by Douglas P. in collaboration with Rice and Ferbrache.

<i>The Blade</i> (Sol Invictus album) 1997 studio album by Sol Invictus

The Blade is the ninth studio album by the English band Sol Invictus, released in 1997. It continues the classical instrumentation established on the band's preceding album, In the Rain (1995), but adds more martial drums and electric guitar. The frontman Tony Wakeford brought in two classically trained musicians, Eric Roger on trumpet and cornet and Matt Howden on violin, with whom he had worked in his other band L'Orchestre Noir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Wakeford</span> British musician

Anthony Charles Wakeford is a British neofolk musician, who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus. He is also a member of the punk rock band Crisis and a co-founder of Death in June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Read (musician)</span> English musician

Ian Read is an English neofolk and traditional folk musician, and occultist active within chaos magic and Germanic mysticism circles.

Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumentation with various other sounds.

<i>Ich töte mich...</i> 1994 studio album by Sopor Aeternus and The Ensemble of Shadows

"...Ich töte mich jedesmal aufs Neue, doch ich bin unsterblich, und ich erstehe wieder auf; in einer Vision des Untergangs..." is the debut album by darkwave band Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows, and was released in 1994. The original pressing had no title, though the "...Ich töte mich..." line was printed in blackletter on the back cover; later editions identified the printed sentence as the official title. Originally released as a limited edition of 1,000, the album has been re-released at least three times.

<i>Sol Veritas Lux</i> 1990 studio album by Sol Invictus

Sol Veritas Lux is an album by the English neofolk band Sol Invictus. It combines the first Sol Invictus release, the mini-LP Against the Modern World, with the second release, the live album In the Jaws of the Serpent, onto one CD.

<i>Unforgettable... with Love</i> 1991 studio album by Natalie Cole

Unforgettable … with Love, also known as simply Unforgettable, is the twelfth studio album by American singer Natalie Cole. Released on June 11, 1991, the album includes covers of standards previously performed by her father, Nat King Cole. It was also her debut for Elektra Records, after being given her release from EMI Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ataraxia (band)</span> Italian neoclassical dark wave band

Ataraxia is an Italian neoclassical dark wave band founded in 1985. Fronted by vocalist Francesca Nicoli, it combines modern technology with archaic instrumentation. Its lyrical themes are frequently drawn from nature and ancient cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crisis (band)</span> British punk rock band

Crisis are an English punk rock band formed in 1977 in Guildford, Surrey. An openly left-wing and anti-fascist band, they performed at rallies for Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League, and at Right to Work marches. British music magazine Sounds used the phrase "Music to March To" to describe their controversial and radical left-wing form of music.

Elizabeth Hooijschuur, known by her pen name Freya Aswynn, is a Dutch writer and musician, primarily known for her activities related to modern paganism in the United Kingdom. She was an early exponent of a form of Germanic neopaganism centred on women and has influenced the international modern pagan community through her book Leaves of Yggdrasil. Aswynn was involved in the early neofolk music scene in London in the 1980s, when several musicians of the genre lived in her house in Tufnell Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ordo Equitum Solis</span> Musical artist

Ordo Equitum Solis are an alternative music band consisting of French Leithana, pseudonym of Nathalie Herrera and Italian Deraclamo, pseudonym of Paolo De Marco. The duo formed in 1988, and released albums and toured between 1990 and 2000. In 2001 the band suddenly broke up, but there was a reunion in 2010.

<i>Cult of the Holy War</i> 1995 studio album by RaHoWa

Cult of the Holy War is the second and final album by Canadian Rock Against Communism band RAHOWA. The album was released in 1995 on lead singer George Eric Hawthorne's Resistance Records label. It was reissued in 2001 on vinyl by Showdown Records. The album marked the shift from the predecessor's Oi! and hard rock roots towards gothic metal with elements of neoclassical and neofolk music. It also experimented with a National Socialist black metal sound. In an interview with dis-Emi-A, Hawthorne cites Danzig, Morbid Angel, Moonspell, Type O Negative, Laibach, Death in June, Blood Axis, Sol Invictus, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Poledouris, Wagner, and Nietzsche as influences for the album. It was reissued on vinyl by Resistance in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hautville</span>

Hautville is a progressive neofolk music project that was formed in 2006 by Leonardo Lonigro (guitars) and Francesco Dinnella who had already played together in some progressive rock bands. Simona Bonavita (vocals) later joined the project.

Forseti was a German neofolk band formed in Jena in 1997 and disestablished in 2005. The band is known for its musical settings of German romantic poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jännerwein</span>

Jännerwein is an Austrian folk music and neofolk group formed in Salzburg in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern pagan music</span>

Modern pagan music or neopagan music is music created for or influenced by modern Paganism. Music produced in the interwar period include efforts from the Latvian Dievturība movement and the Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt. The counterculture of the 1960s established British folk revival and world music as influences for American neopagan music. Second-wave feminism created women's music which includes influences from feminist versions of neopaganism. The United States also produced Moondog, a Norse neopagan street musician and composer. The postwar neopagan organisations Ásatrúarfélagið in Iceland and Romuva in Lithuania have been led by musicians.

<i>Island</i> (HÖH and Current 93 album) 1991 studio album by

Island is a studio album by HÖH and Current 93, released in November 1991 through Durtro. It differs from much of Current 93's output due to its prominent use of synthesizers and ambient music. Some of the compositions also appear on HÖH's soundtrack for the film Children of Nature. The CD release of Island includes humorous bonus tracks.

References

Citations

Sources

  • Alberola, Jérôme (2016). Pushin' the limits. Anthologie de l'extrémisme et de la transgression dans la musique moderne (in French). Rosières-en-Haye: Camion Blanc. ISBN   9782357798298.
  • Bush, John. "In the Rain - Sol Invictus: AllMusic Review by John Bush". AllMusic . Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  • Buttaboni, Cesare; De Baptistis, Marco. "Sol Invictus. Il sole invitto sulle rovine" [Sol Invictus: the unconquered sun among the ruins]. Ondarock  [ it ] (in Italian). Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  • Diesel, Andreas; Gerten, Dieter (2007). Looking for Europe: Neofolk und Hintergründe (in German). Zeltingen-Rachtig: Index Verlag. ISBN   978-393687802-8.
  • Elferen, Isabella van (2013). "Globalgoth? Unlocatedness in the musical home". In Byron, Glennis (ed.). Globalgothic. International Gothic. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 91–104. ISBN   9780719087950.