As summer draws to a close and we begin the transition into autumn, lately I have found myself listening to more sombre, instrumental music. Music is one of the easiest ways to create an atmosphere, and when you add in some seasonal scents too, your home will soon begin to feel like a cosy autumnal oasis. So today I have been burning Poison Apple wax melts from The Upturned Cauldron, to fill my house with all the fragrance of an apple orchard in September. In addition, I have been playing some very seasonal music, while putting out a few new home decor items that I have purchased in recent weeks, to lend my home all the autumnal vibes I love.
Macabre by Steve Orchard is an album of quite surprising contrasts. It has all the tones you would expect from a New World Music album, such as nature sounds, pan pipes and haunting vocalization, but this album is blended with more up-tempo undertones, reminiscent of soft rock. This merging of styles wasn't what I was expecting, but I really liked it nonetheless. I enjoyed the fact that the album kept on surprising me, moving seamlessly from say, a peal of thunder, into electric guitar, strings and piano.
It's a very atmospheric album, with some tracks drawing on electronic orchestral sounds, while others have a more traditional New Age feel to them that reminded me of Clannad. Macabre has that same blending of both ethereal and pop-rock vibes that Clannad are famous for.
I did enjoy some tracks more than others, with Lady in Grey being a firm favourite. This is a track that I was totally lost in, with haunting vocalization and a gentle, feminine soundscape. I loved it.
In contrast, I also enjoyed the Phantom Drummer Boy, which starts out with a strong Celtic sound, similar to the music that is played at a Scottish ceilidh. It's quite a foot-tapping track, giving military vibes and marching drums, as you would expect from the title. If Lady in Grey is a feminine track, then Phantom Drummer Boy is pure masculinity, making me think of battlefields such as Culloden Moor and Falkirk.
Other particularly noteworthy tracks include Marie Celeste, which opens with the sound of strong winds and ocean waves, before moving into evocative pan-pipes, like a wordless sea-shanty, which is exactly what you want in a melody inspired by a famous ghost ship! I also enjoyed Dark Angel, which opens with a very spooky male vocalization, before moving into strings and piano. This track has a ghostly monkish feel to it, which is both unexpected and very sinister!
The cover art for Macabre is just stunning, although there are no ravens cawing in the background on any of the tracks, which was a little disappointing, as the cover treatment seems to suggest that there would be. All in all there are twelve tracks on this album, which plays for over an hour, so you get a lot of bang for your buck. It would be the ideal background music for any spooky autumnal gathering you are planning, such as Samhain or Bonfire Night, or a simple gathering of friends for seasonal treats and wine. I know that I will be playing this CD throughout the dark season, because it is such a spooky, sonic delight. If you like Llewellyn's Ghosts album, then you will probably enjoy Macabre too.
If classical music is more to your taste, however, then this double album of both Dark and Light Academia might be right up your street. This is a compilation of some of the best known classical music, by the worlds finest composers. Furthermore, because it's a double album, it will see you right through the year, so it's perfect if you are on a budget, as you get two CDs for the price of one! The music is divided by whether it subscribes to either dark or light academia vibes, so you could play the Dark Academia CD through autumn and winter, and then play the Light Academia CD during the spring and summer months.
Like most classical music, this album is ideal for studying, revising, creative writing, journaling and so on. It's also nice to play in the background when you are doing needle craft such as tapestry or crochet. Both CDs are full of pieces of music that you probably didn't know you knew, until you hear them! Classical scores are featured so heavily in films and on TV that we tend to absorb them without being aware of it, so there are sure to be lots of melodies on this double album that are already familiar to you, plus a few lesser known tracks too. The cover treatment is pretty, being dark and gold on the front and ivory and gold on the back, to match the musical register of each CD. This is a sophisticated double album and one that I have been playing a lot since I received it some months ago.
For now, as darkness begins to fall, I'm going to add another Poison Apple tart to my burner, make a pumpkin spice hot chocolate and curl up to watch a few episodes of Supernatural. Sounds like the perfect end to the perfect spooky, autumnal day!
Happy autumn vibes!
BB Marie x
AD; Some of these items were gifted to me for the purposes of review. The albums mentioned are available now in CD and digital format.
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