Faith & The Muse - Ankoku Butoh - Live 2009 - Part 1
Faith & The Muse - Ankoku Butoh - Live 2009 - Part 2
Full disclosure here: the very nice people at Mercyground sent me Ankoku Butoh for review. Which made me clap my hands with glee, because honestly, I would have purchased it. I love Faith & the Muse, and have loved them since I read about them in Carpe Noctem magazine and sent off a money order to purchase Elyria way back in 1994.
Ankoku Butoh is not just a new Faith & the Muse CD. Oh no, there is also a DVD and a book (not a CD case insert) of art and lyrics. The only downside to this package is that, well, it’s a bit pricey. ($29.99 USD) But! The DVD contains a concert video (filmed at Convergence XIII, and hey, I was at that show! Oh, nostalgia.), music videos for two of the tracks off of Ankoku Butoh, an interview with Monica Richards and William Faith, and a section of “Rarities and Extras” that includes videos and performance footage of tracks from previous releases. So all in all, a visual retrospective feast, especially for Faith & the Muse fans who’ve never been lucky enough to see the band perform live, or who had no idea that they had made music videos.
To me, Faith & the Muse are a classic Goth band. Their songs are always lush, with William Faith’s guitar providing a driving framework for Monica Richards’ soaring voice. Add drums, bass, occasional lashings of violin and harpsichord, and lyrics that are steeped in romance and haunting imagery, and the result is mesmerizing. Many bands have tried similar things, and come off as, well, trying, and sound like they’ve breathed in too much pretension with their AquaNet hairspray. Faith & the Muse never sound calculated, as if they sat down to figure out how to sound As Goth As Possible; their passion for what they’re doing and the ideas they want to communicate glimmers at the heart and edges of each song they create.
With Ankoku Butoh, Faith & the Muse move their focus from Celtic-tinged spiritualism to more Japanese and Shinto influences, complete with Taiko drums providing a thunderous counterpoint to William Faith’s arrangements. References to Japanese mythology and nature worship weave seamlessly into Faith & the Muse’s usual themes of becoming aware of the unseen world around us. From: https://gothic-charm-school.com/charm/?p=398
Ankoku Butoh is not just a new Faith & the Muse CD. Oh no, there is also a DVD and a book (not a CD case insert) of art and lyrics. The only downside to this package is that, well, it’s a bit pricey. ($29.99 USD) But! The DVD contains a concert video (filmed at Convergence XIII, and hey, I was at that show! Oh, nostalgia.), music videos for two of the tracks off of Ankoku Butoh, an interview with Monica Richards and William Faith, and a section of “Rarities and Extras” that includes videos and performance footage of tracks from previous releases. So all in all, a visual retrospective feast, especially for Faith & the Muse fans who’ve never been lucky enough to see the band perform live, or who had no idea that they had made music videos.
To me, Faith & the Muse are a classic Goth band. Their songs are always lush, with William Faith’s guitar providing a driving framework for Monica Richards’ soaring voice. Add drums, bass, occasional lashings of violin and harpsichord, and lyrics that are steeped in romance and haunting imagery, and the result is mesmerizing. Many bands have tried similar things, and come off as, well, trying, and sound like they’ve breathed in too much pretension with their AquaNet hairspray. Faith & the Muse never sound calculated, as if they sat down to figure out how to sound As Goth As Possible; their passion for what they’re doing and the ideas they want to communicate glimmers at the heart and edges of each song they create.
With Ankoku Butoh, Faith & the Muse move their focus from Celtic-tinged spiritualism to more Japanese and Shinto influences, complete with Taiko drums providing a thunderous counterpoint to William Faith’s arrangements. References to Japanese mythology and nature worship weave seamlessly into Faith & the Muse’s usual themes of becoming aware of the unseen world around us. From: https://gothic-charm-school.com/charm/?p=398
