Search - Miranda Sex Garden :: Suspiria

Truly Extraordinary

Clay Gilbert | Knoxville, TN | 07/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One problem I see--or, rather, hear--with much music today is that so much of it sounds the same. I don't think anyone could say that about Miranda Sex Garden, and _Suspiria_ is their finest hour. I bought this album in 1993, having also bought _Madra_ and _Iris_. This CD, out of the five that MSG have recorded to date (_Fairytales of Slavery_ and _Carnival of Souls_ being the other ones not yet mentioned), has the most varied, interesting and sophisticated sound. There are gorgeous female vocals--both lead and harmonies--a violin, viola and a cello in addition to the usual bass, guitars, keys and drums. The sounds of strings were never so prevalent in MSG before as here, and haven't been since. I don't want to make you think this album is all pretty and smooth, however--it is *dynamic*, often varying from a soft, harmonic smoothness to an almost disturbing dissonance *within* the same song. I find it highly ironic that the MSG offshoot-band Mediaeval Baebes--started by MSG's Katharine Blake and specializing in acoustic and a-capella medieval and medievalesque music--are much more popular, it seems, than MSG. I still remember waiting in line seven hours to see MSG's single United States gig on the tour for "Suspiria"--and every time I hear the opening crescendo of keys and strings on this CD, I'm right back there again. Take the journey yourself--you'll be exposed to something rare--something actually *unique* in the modern music wasteland."

Very entertaining, sometimes frighteningly beautiful

Matthew Hall | SoCal | 07/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Katherine Blake and Donna McKevitt (who is much more prominent on this album than the others) and company are in top form in this, their first (and longest) full-length release as a full-fledged band. Sounding alternately like angels and witches, the three perfect-voiced vocalists sing lovely melodies above a barrage of thundering drums, guitars and violins. 'Sunshine' reminds me of an early Lush song, with a dramatic cascading wall of guitar and violin feedback in the middle that recalls My Bloody Valentine's 'You Made Me Realise'. 'Play' starts out pretty, but then it starts getting louder and scarier. And just when you think it can't get any scarier, it does, with an avalanche of screams, breaking glass, and Psycho-like high-pitched violins. This cd is worth buying for that song alone. 'Feed' is a beautiful lullaby, like 'Blue Light' from IRIS but louder. 'In Heaven' is similar. 'Inferno' is wonderful, a very long, very intense, violin-heavy instrumental. The album closer 'My Funny Valentine' is about the most normal song on here, a well-done jazzy rendition of the lounge act favorite."

"Unique band, unique sound"

Stranger | Spain | 09/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Miranda Sex Garden's second full length album, named "Suspiria", is one of the most exciting and challenging records I've ever heard; an extreme aural experience that mesmerises the listener while at the same time leaving you completely extenuated. An album that has the same effects as an hallucinogen. Not many records I've found being able to describe dreamlike and unreal landscapes in such a proficient way as this one. Love, grief, madness, loneliness, confusion, longing, strangeness, just name them, all these concepts are portrayed and surface through the music and the lyrics. Without a doubt a must have for fans of alternative and avant-garde music.



The band's line-up has changed since this album was released in 1993, but in those days this fascinating British group was home of three female vocalists of amazing power: Donna McKevitt, Katharine Blake and Kelly McCusker. Very few bands have had at their core so much vocal talent. These three women are responsible for the nightmarish and angelic voices that permeate the album supported by the energetic pounding of drummer Trevor Sharpe and the stinging guitar of Ben Golomstock. The use of organs, violins, keyboards and violas is astounding as well. All these elements put together constitute a weird and unique blend that has to be heard in order to be believed. Dreamy and brooding at once.



It is very difficult, not to say impossible, to describe in detail the contents of this album or just pin it down on a certain musical genre. Miranda Sex Garden's music was widely tagged as "goth rock", but only because there were no other groups remotely similar to compare them to. I think that the true roots of this band don't have much to do with pop/rock music, being their real sources of inspiration in genres such as those of free-jazz, lounge/cabaret music, experimental and modern medieval music; perhaps also in the tradition of film scores as made by artists like David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti (the cover version of "In heaven" is a good example of this). The group was also sometimes misunderstood, being booed (among other disrespectful things) at several concerts while supporting bands like Blur and Depeche Mode (it's got no sense to cast pearls before swine, that's for sure). It is also obvious that Miranda Sex Garden's music is an acquired taste and neither does please everyone nor leaves anyone indifferent. Thank God I'm one of the happy few who can enjoy it anytime.



In conclusion, "Suspiria" is a stimulating album that teases and compels and which I strongly recommend to the adventurous listener. If you own the album and haven't got into it yet, just persist. This is not background music, it demands your full attention; but it will grow on you and will eventually become one of your favourites (I, for instance, didn't get it at all the first time I heard it). It is a complex and difficult album but also really beautiful, rich and remarkable. Miranda Sex Garden managed to create something very special here. The entire record is so full of details and different layers of sound that the listening experience is never the same twice. You always discover something new each time you listen it.



I don't know if this album will go down in music history but for me there's no doubt that "Suspiria" is a historic record. A real jewel.





PLAY IT LOUD and freak out

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