The album I am creating has a theme of dark moon magic, fairytale enchantment and Gothic Romance. I have loved the Gothic genre since I read Dracula aged 12; I became enchanted by the nebulous beauty and tragic tales of lost love & forbidden romance that permeates the genre as a whole. Although I am not a Goth - that's a different thing entirely - I am very drawn to all kinds of dark Gothic romance.
Without giving too much away, my new album has a working track list of 16 all original songs, and I have written 8 so far, so lyrically I am half way through the album. Melody composition comes next, then it will go into the label Paradise Music for pre-production after which I will re-record my vocals, tweaking things as I go, so there is still a long way to go before the album is ready for release, but I am really excited by this project - I think even more so than I was with Moon Chants as I have a better idea of what to expect this time around; I have more confidence in my ability and I feel able to experiment without worrying people will say "who does she think she is?!" Let them say it! This is my baby and I'm having fun with it!
While I am still very much a musical novice when it comes to theory and instrumentation, I do feel that I am finding my stride with my own natural musicality. I spend a lot of my time at my piano, just playing with sounds and finding my zone and for me, Moon Chants opened up so many doors to my creativity which I didn't even know were there - in this album I am venturing through some of those doors to find what lies beyond. Its exciting and I love feeling so inspired; it makes me very happy to be so creative and to be studying music along the way. I am even thinking of buying an Irish Harp and learning to play that too! This is not something I would have thought of were it not for the opportunity to work on musical projects.
Inspiration is much like magic - it is all around us, all the time. My main inspiration for the new album is darkness - but in a beautiful way. The album is magical of course, and various archetypes are met through the tracks as the album progresses. Mostly though I want to be true to the Gothic Romance genre which first inspired me, so the album features all the elements of a true Gothic novel or Edgar Alan Poe poem. I am very drawn to fairytales too, in their original form before they were so heavily sanitized for children, and so I plan to write the sleeve notes in the style of a Gothic fairytale.
Other inspirations are many and varied - the deep velvet black circle of a dark moon; various silvery dreamscapes; the goddess as Crone; Gothic instrumental music such as Nox Arcana, Dark Sanctuary and Llewellyn's Ghosts album; the creative work of Tim Burton; the artwork of Anne Sudworth (I met her at Whitby once, she told me she likes my books! Nice lady) Jessica Galbreath, Anne Stokes and particularly of Victoria Frances, as I have lots of her prints framed around my house and I have all of her books too. She is my favorite Gothic artist, so I was delighted to find the video above on You Tube which showcases her beautiful artwork, alongside Sally's Song from Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas which is being sung here by the exceptionally talented Amy Lee of Evanescence. The video was put together and uploaded by moon seed26 some years ago, and as it perfectly illustrates some of my main inspirations for the new album I wanted to share it with you. I am now off to practice piano and work on the album some more. Enjoy the video and look out for more musical updates here and on Twitter @marie_bruce
Have a great weekend x
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