Many bands soften their sound as they progress, chasing more commercial routes. Not so for the experimental collective, Miranda Sex Garden, who followed up their goth rock album Suspiria with this absolute barnstormer.
Fairytales Of Slavery, released in 1994, was co-produced by Einsturzende Neubauten’s Alexander Hacke. The band had toured with them, and some of the German industrial pioneers’ influences had possibly been etched into their songwriting. There was a marked brutal new aspect to guitars and percussion, along with their trademark folk/chamber/baroque flavours. They were always out of step with trends… This was halfway through the Britpop era, remember.
The line-up too, had changed. Katharine Blake was still the lead singer, but some boys (Trevor Sharpe and Ben Golomstock) had also joined the once all-female band, and there was queer sexuality being expressed in the photography (always sexy to play dress- up ,cross- dress, etc). Blake has always chuckled at where the band have played before morphing back into the more overtly classical Mediaeval Baebes: churches; fairs, book shops and at Torture Garden, amongst other interesting locations.
Of course, songs like Play from Suspiria , were pretty unhinged, but Fairytales drew further into kind of oddball neo-classical/goth/prog –Peep Show, Fly, Cut- and even nods to saucy Weimar republic cabaret, as with the German- sung, strutting cover of Brecht’s Havana Lied.
The (almost) title track is ineffably sad, though, and points to darker themes of corrupted innocence and, obviously, slavery. Recorders symbolise innocence (who didn’t play recorder at school?) and Blake reiterates “when did you realise… that you’d never be free” as the song ebbs away. It’s a grim(m) tale, all right.
It’s camp, dark, glittery and disturbing, like a theatre troupe from Angela Carter or Martin Millar got together and formed a band. Of course such wilful eclecticism and wild soulful music spoke to this goth’s heart, and still does.
Hit The North 