If Goth, Why Not Go All The Way? - Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows

It was a long time ago, back in the last century even, when a friend of mine came over with a bunch of eccentric music on CDs. They were rare discs of weird and obscure artists, most of which would not fit even the most meticulously defined musical genres... but that was precisely the idea! Lots of it I could not relate to at all, but some of it sounded interesting enough to make me want to listen again, so I made a few copies, onto cassette tapes, as it was common back then.

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Years later, as I kept revisiting some of these tapes, I still liked the music, though by that time I had no idea about either the artist or the title of the album. Even the genre was difficult to categorize, so I just labeled it as "medieval" or "neoclassic" but in the end neither description helped place this weird but pleasant music anywhere on the spectrum. All this would not have been a problem, had the music not had a strange effect on me: The more I listened to it, the more I wanted to hear of this weird type of music, this certain musician, in fact, get to know the second half of this album, which I hadn't made a copy of.

Shazam to the Rescue

It wasn't until the advent of music recognition software that I finally got to identify these key names and titles, which would enable me to get to know more about this incredible music. And what I found was about as weird as I should have expected: The group's name is Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows which is placed into the categories of Darkwave, Chanson, Dark-ambient, strangely also Baroque and Electro-pop at the same time, as well as the aforementioned Neoclassic, and Medieval. The Germany based group is mostly centered around the multi-disciplinary artist Anna-Varney Cantodea who tries to identify and associate herself with all aspects of her art, surpassing the musical realm to include photography, film, choreography, etc. in an all encompassing "total work of art" in the tradition of Richard Wagner. The name Sopor Aeternus, by the way, means Eternal Slumber in Latin.

The topics of her lyrical poetry often handle the concepts of life, death, and reincarnation, suicide, euthanasia, necrophilia, but also gender identity, as Cantodea herself is a trans woman. Together with the music and the poetry, Sopor Aeternus can best be described as "Medieval Doom Folk" or also the "last representation of true Gothic", both of which claimed by Cantodea.

What IS Gothic, Really?

In the teenage subcultures of the nineties, where I was first exposed to the idea of "goth", I got to know this identification as a type of metal (death metal or black metal) as certain types of rock music. The themes of many of their songs did have a lot to do with death and dying, but in spite of some church organs or church bells sampled throughout their music, it was still mostly fast drums and distorted guitars. And don't get me wrong, all that did have its qualities. Still, it is worlds away from the soft sounds of Sopor Aeternus.

Here the entire auditory experience is much wider. The gentle flutes or the chiming sound of the Glockenspiel put you in a whole different mood. It is melancholy for certain, but essentially really sweet and pretty. And coupled with the pondering philosophy of its timeless lyrics, the listener will instantly feel a weird sense of nostalgia towards some undefined feeling. Lord Byron, Aleister Crowley, or Madame Blavatsky may come to mind... and disappear just as quickly in the cloudy mists of obscure imagery. In fact, it may be this fuzzy aspect of gloomy feelings that gives the "gothic style" it certain edge. And it may be precisely what attracts me so much to Sopor Aeternus.

Embarking on the Musical Exploration

Now that I've managed to identify the artist behind the music, it is time for me to get to know their music for real. Since 1989 Sopor Aeternus has brought out 28 albums, most of which seem to be sold out, and no new releases are to be hoped for. In this regard I feel fortunate to have gotten my hands on their album titled Todeswunsch (meaning death wish) released in 1995 as one of only 3000 copies. Back then a veritable collector's item - not sure if my friend who had the original CD knew and appreciated this. Today, however, this entire album can be enjoyed on YouTube, which all of my links are from.

So far Todeswunsch is the only Sopor Aeternis album I have listened to, but as you can imagine, I've started to completely immerse myself into their music. Though I may not download their songs (though I'm sure there is a way), for now I want to become more familiar with their music, and see if it has changed at all over the years. And for anyone who may be looking for something different, now I know what I'm going to recommend! If you've gotten curious about Sopor Aeternus, I would be curious to hear how you perceived it, and if you could see yourself listening more to it. At least for me, it is the most ideal music at the moment.

For more examples of my eclectic musical taste, take a look at my Monday Music series.