The forum has introduced me to so much underappreciated art, most lately your music - thank you for sharing! I guess I wasn't very active at the time of your post and missed it originally, but I'm glad I found it now. The videos immediately caught my eye, as I've for some time had a vague idea of shooting nude photography in places like uninhabited houses, natural sites that seem to have a "presence" ("haltia" in Finnish) - where ever one can really feel the ghosts and daemons on ones bare skin. The sudden off-tempo movements were lovely and indeed unsettling - they made me think of Sopor Aeternus' aesthetics, particularly the old-timey low-framerate filming techniques she sometimes uses in her videos. The negative picture flashing in sync with the single high piano note at the end of "O Death" was a great finishing touch, really underlining the work that has gone into the visuals. Even the glitch art-like rendering of the song's name on Youtube seemed very thought-out and contributed to the overall atmosphere.Polyhymnia wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 7:05 am I'm in a band where music is the vessel which carries a portion of my magic and ritual work. Before recording I perform rituals, and even months leading up to recording I will prepare myself spiritually. The music I create flows through me from a place higher than myself, but also from somewhere very deep inside myself. Performing it is the place I feel closest to the heart of my magical practice. Post-production my bandmate and I like to experiment with various elements as a study in the human psyche and the way it reacts to music. Sometimes we will deliberately set the tempo just slightly off, or add specific sensory triggers. Watching people react is always the most amazing experience if they are open to it. Most people aren't aware of the magic that goes into what we produce, and I find "unsettling" is the most common adjective used after listening to our music. There's usually a visual element (photo or video) to accompany a track, and I find that the meshing of visual with audio heightens the ritualistic nature of the piece.
I'm quite nervous to share, but here's a little sampling and I hope you enjoy
This is our version of the traditional song O Death (also known as Conversations with Death):
https://poewinters.bandcamp.com/album/o-death
There's a shorter version and a longer, more minimalistic version.
And this is a link to our video for our song Ninth Circle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw8tBT_n0Eo
I'm piano/synth/vocals in this project, though I also play a little guitar, ukulele, and bass.
I hope I'm not directing my attention at inconsequential details here - those kinds of things just stick out to my neurotic, perfectionist mindset. The music itself I can't say very much about, being totally inept musically. I liked it, a lot - it made me want to dance - but, as usual, I lack ways to interestingly articulate why.
Also, you have a wonderful voice (if I understand correctly that it's you singing). Ave already accurately described it; I guess I'll just underline what she wrote.