![]() For instance, aggressive entries like opener “Pain,” “Burn,” and “ Insomnia” find her delivering gorgeously operatic chromatic assaults, whereas some softer pieces-namely, “Fall” and “Love”-allow her room for more lusciously angelic and urgent performances. While comparisons to previously alluded to singers like Anneke van Giersbergen and Marjana Semkina are apt, Murphy very much stands out on her own, too. Of course, the final product is a very collaborative effort, and coupled with its complementary artwork (courtesy of Romanian graphic designer Costin Chioreanu, whose worked with icons like Ulver and Opeth in the past), The Spell is surely one of 2019’s true hidden gems.įirst and foremost, Murphy’s vocals must be praised, as her precisely controlled array of earnest theatricality and reserved vulnerability is both technically laudable and ostentatiously appropriate from beginning to end. Specifically, Cellar Darling calls the record “a dark fairytale for the modern era” that revolves around “an unnamed girl who is birthed into a world that is full of pain, damaged and debilitated by the human beings that inhabit it.” They add: “We follow her as she searches for meaning in life, when suddenly she meets and falls in love with death – concluding with an ambiguous ending that leaves the listener wondering.” The genesis of the chronicle came to Murphy as she was hiking with her father, and while she initially “set out to create abstract rather than autobiographical lyrics,” she now sees it as quite a personal saga. The Spell drips with fictional magnetism (it even comes with a bonus audiobook full of intriguingly written and recited narratives that are backed by faintly exquisite and varied arrangements). ![]() Fortunately, the LP wasn’t a pleasant anomaly, either, as the three-piece’s follow-up, The Spell, is even more conceptually and cohesively impressive, with plenty of clever nuances to warrant and reward – if not outright require – repeated journeys. Mixing captivatingly histrionic fervor (a la The Gathering) and cathartically harmonious fragility (a la iamthemorning), the band- Anna Murphy (vocals, hurdy-gurdy, flute), Ivo Henzi (guitars, bass), and Merlin Sutter (drums), all of whom previously played in folk metal outfit Eluveitie-cemented itself as a poignant powerhouse in one fell swoop. Founded in 2016 with the goal of “unleashfeelings and experiences by telling stories and drawing symbols,” progressive folk trio Cellar Darling quickly became one of Switzerland’s most promising genre newcomers with 2017’s debut LP, This is the Sound.
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