Monday, April 6, 2009

 Mystic Lady

The musical persona of the Mystical, dare I say Witchy, Woman has made a huge comeback recently. While ol' Stevie Nicks is probably the most famous pioneer of this sort of style (drug-damaged and ethereal, a sort of hippie version of the femme fatale), I prefer Kate Bush.  



Wild eyed to the point of seeming possessed, draped in modern-dance widow's weeds, in the gauzy light of this video she appears as a wraithlike cunning woman performing weird musical spell-casting.  It's a powerful feminine persona, a pagan spiritual alternative to the futurist androgyny of a Patti Smith or Laurie Anderson.

Compare "Babooshka" to the brand new "When I Grow Up" by Fever Ray.  



The same disheveled drapery, possessed/wounded robot dance moves, and over all, the same mysterious mystic aura.  (This time married to Laurie Anderson's vocal distortions).  She'll put a spell on you.  Compare also:




etc




2 comments:

  1. Dude put BFL, Ladyhawk, and Fever Ray on a Lilith Fair 2k9 package and I'm THERE!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I imagine this version of Lilith Fair would culminate with Sara McLachlan being put inside a Wicker Man and being set ablaze.

    ReplyDelete