Dark Companion Records

The contents of this box contain three such projects in ‘sketch’ form.

1. ‘A Warning To The Curious’ – a long cherished project of mine that was to have been – and may yet be – recorded with a chamber orchestra. All the songs are based on the deliciously creepy ghost stories of the Victorian English scholar Montague Rhodes James, one of my favourite authors. This demo version of the album features Mick Crossley on electric guitar, bass and backing vocals.

2. ‘Carmilla – A Gothic Chamber Opera’ – Having composed ‘A Grimm Fantasy For Orchestra’ I felt the next logical step was to write a chamber opera (ie a scaled down piece for 3 singers) in the manner of Brecht’s ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ with a nod to Britten’s ‘Turn of the Screw’). We had an agreement from Sonja Kristina of Curved Air who was keen to sing the title role, but in the end, time wasn’t on our side, so you’ll just have to make do with me! 

3. ‘The Anubis Engine’ with Ralf Jesek – After the Italian premiere of my gothic ballet ‘Nosferatu’ I was looking for a new project that might prove suitable for the dancers. This electronic adventure is a ‘Stargate’ inspired ancient Egyptian-theme concept album. As before, I aimed for short melodic phrases and ‘orchestrated’ the tracks so that they wouldn’t meander into aimless ambient noodling. And the brief narrative segments hopefully evoke specific scenes so that it all comes together like a movie in the mind.

4. ‘Unreleased Songs’. There simply isn’t enough time to record all of my songs in the studio with the various line ups that I would like (folk rock, pastoral acoustic folk, psychrock band etc) and anyway, I really enjoy playing all the parts at home and ‘colouring in’ my demos, so I don’t feel these are in any way inferior or rough drafts.
Paul Roland

Credits
music performed by Paul Roland