A lifetime's worth of musicality all in one mix… or in this case three, underground classics revisited, fresh from their signing with Metropolis, effectively opening its dark doors and welcoming this heralded creation Faith and the Muse, a duo arisen from the likes of Christian Death and Strange Boutique.

Featuring the haunting, beckoning, new age vocal gentility of Monica Richards, and the lush instrumental layers of William Faith, and thus Faith and the Muse meld as one, an all-encompassing journey through the ages.

Beginning with "Elyria," their 1994 debut, the story begins to unfold… a saga that harkens back to the roots of music as we know it today-to do that, we must look back several thousands of years and the very first chants which echoed through the valleys… and what would eventually bring forth the likes of Chamber music, Medieval, Gothic, Folk and ultimately what many a modern day performer will point to as reference, the Renaissance, the Classical period, and on up to modern day influences based on the realm of Electronic, Industrialized styles.

Faith and the Muse explore seemingly everything written and performed throughout the ages-early on "Elyria," lead song on their monumental debut, features the gracious windswept chanting, nearly Celtic but wholly organic, a new age feel overtakes the listener before the sensuous strains and "Sparks" fly on their original club hit, which for all its Gothic grace and hollowed beats yields an unyielding romantic tendency…

And nearly throughout the entire recording, there moves this spirituality, sometimes flighty, others transient, but always an effect… here's where it all began for Faith and the Muse…

And two years later came "Annwyn, Beneath the Waves," continued on the darkly ethereal journey first embarked a couple of years earlier and the adventuresome nature first displayed early on was now advancing to feverish proportions.

With unexpected immediacy, the title track darts straight towards you, an unbridled mix of driven guitar echo supporting the sensuous and subdued singing over a watery landscape upon the splendor of blessed tranquility… and yet there's an unsettling nature to it all, and without question, here's the defining moment to this record, one which embodies this time a completely thematical concept, steeped in experimentation, built upon and advancing further than the foundations of its predecessor displaying their breadth of talent, unencumbered vision, and desire to transcend any and all boundaries ever swept upon them.

And on up to the present, "Evidence of Heaven" was conceived out of the silent, dismal memory of a fallen comrade and amazingly enough comes across as perhaps their most dynamic and diverse.

While there remains a plentitude of spirituality and soft focus in this deep exploration of the other side of life-"The Chorus of the Furies," "Patience Worth," acoustically tuneful, gothically touching, and then there's "Dead Leaf Echo," which like a sudden brief twist of a rain cloud, let's off an outpouring of emotion, featuring a writhing melody bed over evocative lyrics and beckoning, the female voice never as prominent as here, nearly Kate Bush meeting Enya in an otherwise startling setting-Fleetwood Mac in an age of modernity where uneasy is the feel but splendorous without bewilderment.

And at the half way point, just before arriving at their conceptually-inspired "The Haunted Palace (In 3 Acts)" and seven songs further, we're nearly left to ponder whether this was in fact the same source responsible for the stimulating club-reared mix of "Scars Flown Proud" which a lifetime ago it seems, nearly impossible but a further reach for the complexity and character shown by an inimitable combination destined to extend their already broad range of talent.

Released by Metropolis Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]
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