| Opheliac | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1, 2006 [1] | |||
| Recorded | Mad Villain Studios, Chicago | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 86:30 | |||
| Label | Trisol Music Group | |||
| Emilie Autumn chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [2] |
| Sputnikmusic | [3] |
Opheliac is the second studio album by Emilie Autumn. Originally released on September 1, 2006, by Trisol Music Group, and recorded at Mad Villain Studios in Chicago, Illinois, [2] it was the first album by the artist to receive widespread distribution around the world.
The album Opheliac was preceded by the Opheliac EP, released in Spring 2006. [4] Released through Autumn's own independent label, Traitor Records, this was a preview of the full-length album, and featured the first six tracks plus "Marry Me" and "Thank God I'm Pretty", the latter as a hidden track following the former. However, track 5 "I Want My Innocence Back" does not play on any copies of the EP, due to a manufacturing error. Earlier that year, on January 12, Autumn appeared on the WGN Chicago Morning Show to promote the album, [5] and on January 13 performed an "Opheliac album preview show" at the Double Door in Chicago. [6] [7] [8]
Opheliac was originally released as a limited edition digipak in Europe on September 1, 2006, and worldwide on September 22, 2006, to coincide with Autumn's birthday. [1]
As of August 6, 2008, Autumn announced that she would be releasing Opheliac nationwide in music stores across the US on October 7, 2008. [9] The US release features exclusive tracks, such as "The Art of Suicide - Acoustic" and out-takes from the Opheliac recording sessions.
After Autumn parted ways with Trisol, a third issuing of Opheliac, entitled The Deluxe Edition, was released by The End Records on October 27, 2009, to coincide with her first American tour. [10]
The album received mixed-to-positive reviews. Greg Prato of AllMusic commented, "It's easy to detect similarities at times between Autumn and such renowned female artists as Kate Bush and Tori Amos [...], but when you come across the electronic/symphonic "Gothic Lolita" and the swirling "Let the Record Show," Autumn sheds her influences and finds her own original voice." [2] Alissa Ordabai of HardRockHaven.net said of the album, "[...]Autumn’s voice is alternately sweetly pitch-perfect and ruggedly punky, mirroring perfectly the conflict between chaos and order that’s at the centre of her act", and, "After all, under all of her grotesque buffoonery and a desire to shock hides a shrewd knack for writing a perfect pop song and vocal chops that can carry through and deliver any message she chooses – from deliberately neurotic to artfully vacuous." [11]
The word Opheliac is derived from the character Ophelia from the Shakespeare play Hamlet . Autumn explained:
"Opheliac" is word I childishly made up to explain the condition of a person having the characteristics of "Ophelia" and the "Ophelia" archetype. While the original Ophelia did indeed go "mad", it was not primarily caused by her boyfriend knocking off her dad, but rather by not only Hamlet but also all the men in her life manipulating and pushing her to the point of no alternative. I didn't exactly name the album after her as much as I named it after myself. As the truest "Opheliac" I know, this album is my story from beginning to end. Listen thoroughly and you'll know more about me than my closest friends, this being because I generally write songs about things I would never tell a living soul. [12]
The album, largely written and recorded in the wake of Autumn's hospitalization due to bipolar disorder, [13] touches on themes ranging from mental illness, suicide, and child abuse, as well as societal expectations of women and misogyny. [14] Autumn has described the album as being "about women, water, and madness", stating that every song on the album contains some reference to water or drowning. [15] She has also described the album as her "mad scene", referring to the famous scene in Act IV of Hamlet in which Ophelia, shortly before drowning herself, seems to go "mad", handing out flowers and singing songs. [15] Autumn also makes frequent use of literary allusions, both to Shakespeare and to other "Opheliac"-type characters; for instance the song "Shalott" is based on the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Autumn has said that the lyrics to the song "Liar" were largely not written by her, but were instead taken nearly word for word from love letters written to her by an ex-boyfriend. The song also serves a reference to a scene in Hamlet in which Ophelia is forced to return Hamlet's love letters and he denies having ever written them. [15]
"The Art of Suicide" includes a critique of the popular song "Gloomy Sunday"; specifically the fact that some English versions of the song have a "second ending", in which the protagonist wakes up from a bad dream and no longer wants to commit suicide. [16] [17]
All tracks are written by Emilie Autumn, except where noted
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Opheliac" | 5:33 |
| 2. | "Swallow" | 6:15 |
| 3. | "Liar" | 6:01 |
| 4. | "The Art of Suicide" | 5:32 |
| 5. | "I Want My Innocence Back" | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Misery Loves Company" | 4:28 |
| 7. | "God Help Me" | 5:58 |
| 8. | "Shalott" | 4:04 |
| 9. | "Gothic Lolita" | 6:03 |
| 10. | "Dead Is the New Alive" | 5:04 |
| 11. | "I Know Where You Sleep" | 3:15 |
| 12. | "Let the Record Show" | 3:54 |
| Total length: | 59:55 | |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dominant" | 3:47 | |
| 2. | "306" | 5:36 | |
| 3. | "Thank God I'm Pretty" | 4:01 | |
| 4. | "Marry Me" | 4:50 | |
| 5. | "Largo for Violin" | Johann Sebastian Bach | 4:06 |
| 6. | "Poem: How to Break a Heart" | 1:01 | |
| 7. | "Poem: Ghost" | 2:38 | |
| 8. | "Poem: At What Point Does a Shakespeare Say?" | 0:36 | |
| Total length: | 26:35 | ||
In addition to the audio tracks, Opheliac features live concert footage, clips from her performance of "Misery Loves Company" on the WGN Morning Show on January 12, 2006, and four short video clips entitled "Inside the Asylum: Lessons in Being a Wayward Victorian Girl".
| Opheliac (The Deluxe Edition) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 27, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | Mad Villain Studios, Chicago | |||
| Genre | Dark cabaret, electronica, classical, electro-industrial | |||
| Length | 1:58:14 | |||
| Label | The End Records | |||
| Emilie Autumn chronology | ||||
| ||||
All tracks are written by Emilie Autumn, except where noted
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Opheliac" | 5:33 |
| 2. | "Swallow" | 6:15 |
| 3. | "Liar" | 6:01 |
| 4. | "The Art of Suicide" | 5:32 |
| 5. | "I Want My Innocence Back" | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Misery Loves Company" | 4:28 |
| 7. | "God Help Me" | 5:58 |
| 8. | "Shalott" | 4:04 |
| 9. | "Gothic Lolita" | 6:03 |
| 10. | "Dead Is the New Alive" | 5:04 |
| 11. | "I Know Where You Sleep" | 3:15 |
| 12. | "Let the Record Show" | 3:54 |
| 13. | ""Opheliac" Recording Out-Takes" | 4:11 |
| Total length: | 64:06 | |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Thank God I'm Pretty" | 4:01 | |
| 2. | "Dominant" | 3:47 | |
| 3. | "306" | 5:36 | |
| 4. | "Gloomy Sunday" | Rezső Seress | 3:22 |
| 5. | "Asleep" | Morrissey, Johnny Marr | 2:26 |
| 6. | "Mad Girl" (Acoustic Version) | 3:50 | |
| 7. | "The Art of Suicide" (Acoustic Version) | 5:45 | |
| 8. | "Thank God I'm Pretty" (Shoegaze Version) | 4:29 | |
| 9. | "Largo for Violin" | Johann Sebastian Bach | 4:06 |
| 10. | "Marry Me" | 4:50 | |
| 11. | "Excerpt from The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls " | 1:40 | |
| 12. | "Interview with EA" | 4:46 | |
| 13. | "Poem: How to Break a Heart" | 1:01 | |
| 14. | "Miss Lucy Had Some Leeches" | 2:20 | |
| Total length: | 51:59 | ||
| The Opheliac Companion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album (commentary)by | |
| Released | August 2009 [18] |
| Recorded | Mad Villain Studios, Chicago |
| Genre | Commentary |
| Length | 7:29:24 |
In August 2009, Autumn released a companion "album" to Opheliac, consisting of an approximately eight-hour long director's commentary style interview/chat between Autumn and her "sound guy" Inkydust. The discussion covers everything from the equipment used during production, to musical composition, to Autumn's writing process and inspirations behind the lyrics. [19]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 4:49 |
| 2. | "Opheliac" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 1:06:04 |
| 3. | "Swallow" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 34:10 |
| 4. | "Liar" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 47:03 |
| 5. | "The Art of Suicide" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 46:04 |
| 6. | "I Want My Innocence Back" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 29:53 |
| 7. | "Interlude" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 16:34 |
| 8. | "Misery Loves Company" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 14:08 |
| 9. | "God Help Me" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 17:07 |
| 10. | "Shalott" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 16:32 |
| 11. | "Gothic Lolita" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 1:36:04 |
| 12. | "Dead Is the New Alive" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 20:59 |
| 13. | "I Know Where You Sleep" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 14:21 |
| 14. | "Let the Record Show" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 23:17 |
| 15. | "Ending" | Emilie Autumn, Inkydust | 2:19 |
| Total length: | 7:29:24 | ||
Clan of Xymox, also known as simply Xymox, are a Dutch rock band formed in 1981 best known as pioneers of darkwave music. Clan of Xymox featured a trio of singer-songwriters – Ronny Moorings, Anka Wolbert, and Pieter Nooten – and gained success in the 1980s, releasing their first two albums on 4AD, before releasing their third and fourth albums on Wing Records and scoring a hit single in the United States. The band is still active, continuing to tour and release records with Moorings as the sole remaining original member.
"The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and one of his best-known works. Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text Donna di Scalotta, the poem tells the tragic story of Elaine of Astolat, a young noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from Camelot. Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one published in 1832, of 20 stanzas, the other in 1842, of 19 stanzas, and returned to the story in "Lancelot and Elaine". The vivid medieval romanticism and enigmatic symbolism of "The Lady of Shalott" inspired many painters, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, as well as other authors and artists.
Emilie Autumn Liddell is an American singer-songwriter, poet, author, and violinist. Autumn's musical style is described by her as "Fairy Pop", "Fantasy Rock" or "Victoriandustrial". It is influenced by glam rock and from plays, novels, and history, particularly the Victorian era. Performing with her all-female backup dancers The Bloody Crumpets, Autumn incorporates elements of classical music, cabaret, electronica, and glam rock with theatrics, and burlesque.
Shalott most commonly refers to:
Lahannya is former English singer, songwriter and performer. She was the vocalist and front woman of her own band with Lutz Demmler as co-songwriter, producer and bass player. Lahannya and Lutz are complemented live by Christopher Milden and Luca Mazzucconi.
Ophelia, a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet, is often referred to in literature and the arts, often in connection to suicide, love, and/or mental instability.
Enchant is the debut studio album by Emilie Autumn, originally released on February 26, 2003, by Traitor Records and re-released on August 17, 2007 by Trisol Music Group. The original release also included the Enchant Puzzle.
Laced/Unlaced is a two-disc instrumental album by Emilie Autumn, released in 2007 by Trisol Music Group. Disc one, "Laced", is a re-release of On a Day..., Autumn's fledgling record, with the addition of several previously unreleased live recordings from her teenage years. Disc two, "Unlaced", contains all electric violin recordings. A limited-edition CD + book set was released on March 9, 2007 with just 2000 copies being printed worldwide, and the jewel case album was re-released on June 15.
4 o'Clock is an EP by Emilie Autumn, released on January 18, 2008, by Trisol Music Group. The first version was a limited edition digipak. A standard jewel case was released on February 29, 2008.
"By the Sword" is a charity single released by Emilie Autumn in response to the events of September 11, 2001. All proceeds from the sales for the release were donated to AmeriCares and the American Red Cross. The single was released on Autumn's own label, Traitor, which no longer exists.
Liar/Dead Is the New Alive is a 2007 EP by Emilie Autumn, released through Trisol Music Group; the title derives from two tracks taken from her album Opheliac. The release also includes a preview version of the song "Unlaced", which was later released on the Laced/Unlaced album.
On a Day: Music for Violin & Continuo is the debut instrumental album by Emilie Autumn, released in 1997. The album was recorded the same year, when Autumn was seventeen years old. Its title refers to both the Shakespeare song and the fact that the album took only a day to record. It consists of her performing works for the baroque violin accompanied by friends on the cello, harpsichord, and lute.
Lene Marlin is a Norwegian musician, singer, and songwriter.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody is an EP by Emilie Autumn released on September 22, 2008 by Trisol Music Group. The first version was available for pre-order as a limited edition digipak bundle, which came with a limited edition "Goths Have More Fun" T-shirt. A standard jewel case was released at the same time.
Dope Stars Inc. is an Italian alternative and industrial rock band from Rome, formed in 2003. The band was founded by Victor Love, Darin Yevonde, Grace Khold and Brian Wolfram. They have five albums and three EPs released, with the latest being released on February 27, 2015. The band has signed with multiple labels since their inception, with Trisol Music Group being their first. Currently, their albums are distributed by Trisol in Europe, Subsound in Italy, Metropolis Records in North America, and other small labels including Deathwatch Asia in Japan and other countries.
Gigahearts is the second studio album by Italian industrial rock band Dope Stars Inc. Lyrically it focuses on traditional cyberpunk beliefs and themes. The album was released in 2006 first in Europe and in other countries including North America and Australia in the following weeks. Like Dope Stars' previous album and EPs, Gigahearts was recorded on the Trisol record label and distributed by them in most of Europe, while Metropolis Records was the distributor in the United States, Canada and much of the rest of the world. Other companies have handled distribution in some counties.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls is a semi-autobiographical/psychological thriller novel by Emilie Autumn. It was published in 2009 as a companion to her 2009–2010 North American, European, and Australian tour, the Asylum Tour. The book chronicles Autumn's experiences in a modern day psych ward as well as those of a fictional young girl, "Emily-with-a-y", in Victorian England who is admitted into an insane asylum. The first and second editions, published in 2010, were large, hardcover, full-color illustrated editions, with glossy pages and weighing nearly five pounds. This version of the book has since been discontinued due to the expense involved in printing, and as of 2017 the book is only available in black-and-white in ebook and paperback forms. An audiobook version, narrated by the author, was released in 2016.
This is the discography of Emilie Autumn.
Fight Like a Girl is the third studio album released by Emilie Autumn. It is a concept album, based on her novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. She has referred to the album as a preview of her forthcoming full-length musical based on the book.
Ophelia is a 2018 historical drama film directed by Claire McCarthy and written by Semi Chellas about the character of the same name from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Based on the novel by Lisa Klein, the film follows the story of Hamlet from Ophelia's perspective. It stars Daisy Ridley in the title role, alongside Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, George MacKay, Tom Felton and Devon Terrell. The dialogue is in modern English.
