Chosen
by Interview Magazine as one of their "14 Artists to Watch," the Los Angeles-born starlet's
theatrical stage show is a sexy circus of glam-rock burlesque,
backed by a scantily-clad girl band known to EA's devoted
fans as the Bloody Crumpets.
But as the sole composer, performer, and producer of her
latest full-length album, the double disc "Opheliac," EA gets personal. Written
in the style she calls "Victoriandustrial," this magnificent musical adventure draws upon
EA's background as a child-prodigy classical violinist
growing up on the stages of concert halls around the world,
and combines it with her passion for harsh industrialism,
aggressive metal, and all things Vaudeville. The
subject matter of this elaborate concept album is much
darker however, bravely and often humorously addressing
highly controversial issues ranging from manic depression
(the harpsichord-driven title track as well as the contagiously
danceable "Swallow"
and the epic "Misery Loves Company"),
self-mutilation ("Liar,"
a terrifying decent into hell), and sexual abuse ("Gothic
Lolita") to suicide (the beautifully
ironic "The Art of Suicide"),
and touching on EA's real-life experience as a psych ward
inmate (the tragically funny "Thank God
I'm Pretty," from the "Opheliac
-- Deluxe Edition" Bonus Disc).
As EA herself explains: "I
learnt to walk in the back stages of theatres and opera
houses, amongst the beautiful chaos of costume changes,
circus performers, sweaty ballerinas, dripping make-up,
and far too much glitter. Then, I went mad and was locked
up. This is simply what it sounds like inside my head.
'Opheliac' is my 'mad scene'."
Accentuated
by EA's signature electric violin pyrotechnics, heartbreakingly
lush orchestrations, hard-core beats, and menacing lyrics
growled with enough intensity to make your hair stand
on end, the resulting noise is a harpsichord-heavy romp
through Victorian asylums where screaming is allowed and
girls always get revenge.
2007, 2008, and
2009 were filled with nearly non-stop European touring
for EA and her traveling circus, and the Asylum stage
show has grown with each incarnation, quickly changing
viewers' expectations from rock show to Broadway musical,
complete with singing, dancing, fire-eating, stilt-walking,
aerial flying, stripping, burlesque feather fan dancing,
highly inappropriate comedy bits, and much, much more.
November 2008 marked the first Asylum performance in the
USA, a sold-out New York extravaganza.
Since
her European breakthrough in late 2006, EA has recorded
and released two album-length EPs ("Liar/Dead
Is The New Alive"
and "Four
o'Clock"), a double disc all-violin album ("Laced/Unlaced," which showcases both her
classical and industrial-metal violin skills), a double
feature single boasting a stunning rendition of Queen's
"Bohemian
Rhapsody," and a sexed-up version of Cyndi Lauper's
"Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun,"
as well as re-releasing an album of rarities and recordings
from her teenage years, including a volume of poetry ("Enchant," "A
Bit o'This & That,"
and "Your Sugar
Sits Untouched").
Despite
this wealth of new material, Emilie Autumn's focus remains
firmly fixed on the "Opheliac" album, a work so unique and rich in both theatrical
content and musical ability to reach a vast variety of
listeners (the age of EA's evenly split male/female fanbase
ranges from six to sixty, and includes devotees of the
industrial, metal, goth, classical, and mainstream pop/rock
genres) that even her two-and-a-half hour long stage show
has not yet been able to accommodate all of the album's
tracks.
Previously available
only as a European import, Emilie Autumn's seminal album
"Opheliac" has finally
been launched in America and beyond. On October
27, 2009, The End Records
released the ultimate version of EA's entirely self-written/performed/produced
double-disc masterpiece as "Opheliac
-- The Deluxe Edition," featuring five
new and exclusive tracks, live concert footage, video
interviews, and hilarious album out-takes.
Emilie, who claims
to live in an insane asylum for wayward girls, will support
"Opheliac -- The Deluxe Edition"
on her Fall 2010 N. American tour before taking the show
to S. America in November. Entitled "The
Asylum Tour: The Door," Emilie's first
S. American tour promises to unlock the gate and bring
the Asylum experience to those who have been waiting to
see it for the very first time.
Of course, for
those who can't want to wait to get past the Asylum gates,
EA's debut autobiographical novel, "The
Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls,"
is now available directly from www.emilieautumn.com.
Written and lavishly illustrated by EA, "The
Asylum..."
book is more than a gorgeous volume that will take up
most of the space on your tea table -- it is also one
of the most complete accounts of bipolar disorder ever
penned, and will take readers behind the doors of both
modern day psych ward and Victorian insane asylum in this
true life horror tale of madness, murder, and medical
experimentation.
But
beware: It is much easier to get into the Asylum than
it is to get out...
