Evidence of Heaven - Faith and the Muse
Of all Faith & the Muse's albums, this one strikes me as the most "goth" in terms of genre and style. Its sound evokes images of Victorian frill with a dark heart. The bulk of the tracks consist a series supertitled "The Haunted Palace in 3 acts," which sets a tone of courtly opulence shaded by spectral horror and presented as a theatrical drama. References to theater recur throughout the songs.
As usual, Faith and the Muse combines old and new instruments, but uniquely in this album the most pervasive representative of the old is harpsichord. It evokes a very specific period in European history, the Renaissance, when this piano ancestor was popular. Most notably, the harpsichord stars in the incurably catchy and curiously-titled instrumental, And Laugh - But Smile No More.
The association with the Renaissance time period is strengthened by lyrical choices. Importune Me No More takes its lyrics from a poem often attributed to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Plague Dance seems like a contemporary heavy metal piece, but seems to contain veiled references to the plague itself.
But the album is far from being a mere exploration of Renaissance history though music. Listening to it feels much more like hearing a ghost story - or, if the night is dark and you’re in the right mood, like conversing with a ghost yourself. Not necessarily a scary ghost, mind you - this album is not nearly as spooky as Elyria. Rather, it’s like having a friendly encounter with an afterworld that is pleasant, even seductive - like finding evidence of heaven. Through the Pale Door, a voice says “Welcome my dear / please take my hand / it’s wonderful here / it’s really quite grand.”
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