I was recently listening to Richenel’s ‘L’esclave Endormi’ (I know, I know, 4AD tranny gone awry… ) and was struck on how gorgeous it really is. That and his work on ‘Fire Brothers’ and ‘I must have Been Blind’ on Filagree and Shadow by This Mortal Coil was so far more interesting than Jimmy Somerville at the time. A few years back I had the pleasure of catching a counter-tenor concert at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam ( it wasn’t Andreas Scholl, but close) which rekindled my love for the sound. I wonder: could the ‘Icelandic’ sound have as much traction without it happening in the early 80’s first?
Androgyny was an important part of the New Romantic era and counter-tenor was certainly a part of that. An interesting trajectory: Ziggy Stardust-Visage-Richenel-Sigur Ros, with others in between, of course.
-MERKUR
