Songs from the Inverted Womb

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Songs from the inverted Womb
Soporinvertedwomb.jpg
Studio album by Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows
Released Fall 2000
Recorded 1998–1999
Genre Neoclassical
Length72:33
Label Apocalyptic Vision
Producer Sopor Aeternus
Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows chronology
Dead Lovers' Sarabande (Face Two)
(1999)		Songs from the inverted Womb
(2000)		 Es reiten die Toten so schnell
(2003)
Alternative covers

Soporinvertedwombbox.jpg

Limited edition box cover

Soporinvertedwomb2004.jpg

2004 re-release cover

Songs from the Inverted Womb is the sixth album of darkwave band Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows, released in 2000. The album is dedicated to the "memory and resurrection" of Little Seven, a boy who died "at the age of six". [1] A double vinyl edition and a CD boxed set were also released in limited quantities of 666 and 3,000 copies, respectively.

Contents

Overview

Songs from the Inverted Womb builds on the chamber music-inspired sound of the Dead Lovers' Sarabande albums by adding more conventional song structures and by adding a live drummer. With even more expressive arrangements and enhanced songwriting, Inverted Womb shares many properties with progressive rock. Two songs from previous albums were re-recorded: "May I kiss your Wound ?", from The Inexperienced Spiral Traveller appears in a new arrangement; while "Résumé... -" is a dramatic re-working of "Time stands still... (...but stops for no-one)" from Sopor Aeternus' first album, "...Ich töte mich jedesmal aufs Neue, doch ich bin unsterblich, und ich erstehe wieder auf; in einer Vision des Untergangs..." .

Chamber music form of classical music composed for a small group of instruments

Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.

<i>Dead Lovers Sarabande (Face One)</i> album by Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows

Dead Lovers' Sarabande is the fourth album by darkwave band Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows, and was released in 1999. It is the first concept album by the band, and the first of a two-album suite detailing the mourning of a lover who has recently passed. (Face One) was also the first Sopor Aeternus album to be released in multiple formats, including a double vinyl edition and an A5-sized boxed set edition; both were limited pressings, of 500 and 3,000 copies, respectively. It was also the first to be promoted with an accompanying video.

Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid to late 1960s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing.

As the album is dedicated to "Little Seven", much of the lyrics revolves around finding and caring for the dead boy, as well as other dead children; most of the lyrical imagery revolves around familial plots in small towns in the Middle Ages. "Saturn devouring his Children" deals with necrophagia (the act of eating a corpse), while "There was a Country by the Sea" is an epic tale of finding a boy in a foreign land who has built a catacomb underneath his house; the boy explains to the protagonist that he was able to seal away his mother's bones using "jet-black granules" "piled up in a certain, specific form", but he remains ever vigilant in the tomb so that she will not return to life. [1]

Middle Ages Period of European history from the 5th through the 15th centuries

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

"Résumé... -" was used by Bam Margera in two of his films: Haggard: The Movie and CKY3 ; "Eldorado" also made an appearance in CKY3. Though not publicly mentioned by Cantodea or Apocalyptic Vision, the inclusion of "Résumé... -" on the Haggard soundtrack indicates that permission was granted for use of the two songs.

Bam Margera American skateboarder

Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American professional skateboarder, stunt performer, filmmaker, musician and television personality. He came to prominence after appearing as a main cast member in MTV's Jackass. He has since appeared on MTV's Viva La Bam and Bam's Unholy Union, all three Jackass movies, and Haggard: The Movie and Minghags: The Movie, both of which he co-wrote and directed.

<i>Haggard: The Movie</i> 2003 film by Bam Margera

Haggard: The Movie is a 2003 American independent comedy film based on the story of how reality television personality Ryan Dunn's girlfriend may have cheated on him. The film was financed, directed and produced by Bam Margera.

Songs from the inverted Womb was re-released on CD with newly packaged artwork in 2004.

Track listing

All tracks written by Anna-Varney Cantodea.

No.TitleLength
1."Introduction: Something Wicked this Way comes..."4:42
2."Tales from the inverted Womb"4:48
3."Do you know about the Water of Life ?"4:49
4."...And Bringer of Sadness"6:45
5."Résumé... -"8:28
6."Totes Kind / Little dead Boy" ("Dead child / Little dead Boy")7:18
7."May I kiss your Wound ?"7:00
8."Saturn devouring his Children"7:02
9."There was a Country by the Sea"12:03
10."Little velveteen Knight"5:52
11."Eldorado (by Edgar Allan Poe)"3:42

Personnel

Violin bowed string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths

The violin, also known informally as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.

Cello musical instrument

The cello ( CHEL-oh; plural cellos or celli) or violoncello ( VY-ə-lən-CHEL-oh; Italian pronunciation: [vjolonˈtʃɛllo]) is a string instrument. It is played by bowing or plucking its four strings, which are usually tuned in perfect fifths an octave lower than the viola: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 and A3. It is the bass member of the violin family, which also includes the violin, viola and the double bass, which doubles the bass line an octave lower than the cello in much of the orchestral repertoire. After the double bass, it is the second-largest and second lowest (in pitch) bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The cello is used as a solo instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles (e.g., string quartet), string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras, most modern Chinese orchestras, and some types of rock bands.

Double bass Acoustic stringed instrument of the violin family

The double bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra.

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References

  1. 1 2 Liner notes for Songs from the inverted Womb
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