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Album Review : Various-The Lighthouse Saga (ScentAir Rec. 2020)


The Moscow based label ScentAir Records has released the CD compilation "The Lighthouse Saga", as a limited edition. The lyrics of each piece here were written by the poet Lory Fayer and set to music by groups from various countries. The lyrics tell a sort of romantic saga with the romantic protagonists par excellence, a siren and a sailor. They illustrate the love between the two, starting from the poignant call of the magical creature who seeks his sailor, while in the background enchanted shores are outlined, albeit pervaded by melancholy, to arrive, after the painful collapse of all illusions and the end of hopes, to a union of souls, the overcoming of the material world and the triumph of the dream.

It was Lory who offered the lyrics to artists she considered suitable to interpret and put them into music and the results showed the validity of her choices. First, we have the Greek vocalist Elisabeth Kotronia (known also from her previous band En Garde) who opens the compilation with her refined 'classical' piano piece "Sirens Sing For Love" that interprets the siren's yearning for love. Then, with "The Lighthouse Dream" we find a collaboration between Lory who also presents the vocal part, and Silentport (Roman Rütten solo project), who knows how to give the song the right dose of gloomy evocation while on the atmospheric and melodic "Lost Sailor" the act Winter's Course collaborates with Francesca Nicoli (of Ataraxia) on vocals, the only piece in Italian. Deus Faust (aka André Savetier and Raymond Nelson) on "Al Di La Del Mare" cover the touching words with soft scenarios and poignant piano notes. Then, with the song "Awakening" we have the collaboration between Eirene and Paris Alexander, that offers a short ethereal and spooky interlude. The act Afterglow on "From Our Prison" cloaks in darkness what has now become a prison for the soul.

Halfway through we find Cendre Froide that present a post-punk arrangement for "Mal de Mer". On the next rack "Tomorrow Became Never", Nouvelle Culture with singer Carissa Denee, sing about solitude and despair in a more electro mood. While on "A Promise Left Behind" we have a classical arranged piece set to music by the Mexican Condemnatus. Immediately after, the Portuguese act The Dreams Never End with Sandra Pereira on vocals designs the most dramatic atmosphere for "Dangerous Game". Sadaemon, places the suggestive words of "Until The End Of the Years" in a heavenly background. The Italian Vestfalia’s Peace that gives life to one of the most beautiful episodes, "The Ghosts of the Lighthouse", romantic and evocative. The sad story of the mermaid and her sailor finally comes to an end with "Play A Serenade To The Moon" arranged respectively by the melodic coldwave act Antipole (featuring Eirene and Paris Alexander) and "My Little Siren" by Silentport.

Text by Nick Drivas with reference to MRS. LOVETT Italian review for ver sacrum

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