Songs from the inverted womb
| "Songs from the Inverted Womb" | ||||
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| Studio album by Sopor Aeternus | ||||
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Publication |
2000 |
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| Label (s) | Apocalyptic Vision ( Trisol Music Group ) | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
72:33 |
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Songs from the inverted womb ( en .: songs from the inverted womb “Womb”: uterus sounds like “Tomb”: grave) is the eighth production by Sopor Aeternus . The material was recorded in autumn 2000 in the night shift studio ( Rödermark ) under Tobias Hahn. For the time being, an A5 book edition limited to 3000 copies and an LP edition limited to 666 copies were published. Because of many plagiarisms, the album was digitally edited and republished in 2004 by John A. Rivers . Except for one song, it is in English. For the 2004 rereleases, Varney added translations into the other language. According to Varney, it is "the most complex, heaviest and therefore most powerful album to date." It bears the dedication:
"To the memory and resurrection of Little Seven, who died at the age of six"
content
Something even wicked creeps up ... embedded in a funeral march, a musical leitmotif of the album is exposed in a parallel movement of the highest and lowest organ registers . The text heralds perhaps the saddest of all stories . The hated term “ mother ”, which is associated with great suffering, is brought up. The march elements are developed into a pathetic dance by rhythm and wind instruments. Melody elements that are very similar to the first minor theme from Chopin's funeral march are thrown in and end in the motif with which they began.
In the face of this suffering, the protagonist withdraws into a crypt, the circumstances of which he describes in the second song. Flowers in a well-thought-out arrangement lie around there, rotted and their scent is still noticeable. This and other quirks seem to have been prepared for a maddened guest in the hope of being recognized. Someone hunted by voices and choirs of the dead will one day find a scared dead little boy paralyzed by sadness.
The second story outlines a walker who comes to a tower through love. This tower has eyes, this grave hears every word and everything in this place, even the place itself, is upside down. It is pointless to fight off the stream of tears. Fear of himself, however, lets the protagonist wander deeper and deeper into the tower that winds down. Both stories are written in rondo form in front of pathetic brass and have a strong epic character.
The bearer of sadness represents a suicide attempt. A 4-part harpsichord motif rotates in front of an omnipresent bass sound in front of a minimalist string accompaniment and repeating death bells that indicate the motif. The text clearly explains the longing for death.
The résumé begins with a lament bass in the cello. The rondo structure is taken up again. Three prose parts are opposed to 2 parts of the complaint and a conclusion. The infinity of the passage of time is contrasted with the finitude of the world. Time does not heal wounds. It was even time itself that struck my wounds ... - As soon as I close my eyes in sadness, a thousand seasons fly by. In addition to the longing for death, at the end there is the realization that death cannot heal the wounds that defy the passage of time.
The little dead child reduces this six-part structure to three formal elements: a string part, which is characterized by parallel composites and organ-dotted bass lines, is juxtaposed with a carillon that mechanically weaves the leitmotifs of all previous stories into a melody. Both parts flow together to form a lament: the dead child, who was barely seven years old yesterday, now carries thousands of years in his bones. Guilt and shame combine and paralyze the will, which culminates in an eternal damnation and a new violin motif.
After this turning point, the work returns to the first leitmotif. A second actor appears and wants to kiss the first wound.
In the ballad from Reich am Meer, there is again a rondo form with three-bar stanzas that break down into 2 + 2 symmetrical sections. Unlike the previous songs, which are in the third person, the story is told from the first person perspective. The narrator finds himself in a land by the sea. In the country itself there is an overgrown ruin, in whose underground vault the narrator is led by a boy and which he recognizes as a grave. A closer look in the next stanza reveals a heap of a black, charcoal-like, but hardly tangible and unreal matter. Under this powder the narrator discovers the bones of the boy's mother. Without being asked, he explains that this is a protective mechanism, because this is the only way to ensure that the mother does not get up again: every time she succeeds, she persecutes him mercilessly. The powder and this place work like a seal, but must be maintained at great expense. The refrain follows again and bears the addition that expresses a deep understanding of the fears of each individual and the repression of them.
The little velvet knight is a much faster dance. Two alternating 4 + 4 periods form the backbone of the stanzas. The instrumentation and rhythmic design is much more lively. Phantoms and ghosts always appear in the shape of children and always at the time when they are least expected and completely unprepared. A brave knight, armed with masks, is haunted by such a child in his sleep, where the mask slips off his face. From a tower that grows downward, it steps into the face of the man himself. The knight, whose eyes are turned inward, recognizes the boy as a dragon and is terrified to death. He realizes that this dragon has to be killed, even though he has beaten him many nights before. The narrator urgently appeals to all velvet knights to slay the dragons and themselves in the attempt. Because the monster is immortal and the fight is meaningless. In a change in the music and a break in the drums, an extended quiet part follows, depicting the child and his intentions as good and sincere. It is just an aspect of the dreamer himself ... and thus also of the part of the dream. A brass quartet ends the song conciliatory.
Edgar Allan Poe's poem Eldorado is set to music .
photography
Tracklist
- "Something wicked this way comes ..." - 4:42
- "Tales from the Inverted Womb" - 4:48
- "Do you know about the water of life?" - 4:49
- "... And Bringer of Sadness" - 6:45
- "Résumé ..." - 8:28
- "Totes Kind / Little dead Boy" - 7:18
- "May I kiss your wound?" - 7:00
- "Saturn devouring his Children" - 7:02
- "There was a Country by the Sea" - 12:03 pm
- "Little velveteen Knight" - 5:52
- " Eldorado (by Edgar Allan Poe )" - 3:42