Ceremony
Swedish singer/songwriter and keyboardist Anna von Hausswolff—the daughter of controversial artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff—sits down at the Annedal church organ in Göteborg for nine of this album\'s 13 tracks and creates a sound that truly deserves to be called gothic. Her second album, *Ceremony*, starts with the organ instrumental \"Epitaph of Theodor,\" which settles on a drone reminiscent of Nico\'s harmonium days on a grander budget. The passivity is deliberate. It follows onto \"Deathbed,\" where finally—just shy of five minutes—the unorthodox power of her heaven-sent vocals make themselves known. \"Mountains Crave\" introduces a succinct composition with a compact melody and more conventional instrumentation (guitar and synths). It\'s nothing you\'d call \"pop,\" but it\'s a sign of other potential. \"Goodbye\" returns to the sounds of the earth\'s core opening by the end of its six-plus minutes. Avant-garde pieces (\"No Body,\" \"Harmonica\"), piano poems (\"Liturgy of Light,\" \"Ocean\"), and further gothic moves (\"Epitaph of Daniel,\" \"Sova\") make for deep, rewarding listening.
Anna von Hausswolff's mesmerising second album is a work of darkness, gloom and beauty.
Swedish singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Anna von Hausswolff issued her debut full-length Singing from the Grave in 2012.
If you think the title of Ceremony’s opening instrumental Epitaph of Theodor sounds grandiose, wait till you hear its brooding church organ melody – an imposing herald for its majestic parent album. Throughout, Swedish songwriter Anna Von Hausswolff’s compositions are toweringly dramatic: whether evoking ruin or resurrection, doom or desire, her spiralling vocals are as radiant as its organ rumbles are deep.