11/30/2023 0 Comments Emilie autumn time for tea![]() ![]() Emilie attacks the medicalization and disempowerment of those with mental illness (and women in general) via an angry slam against drug therapy, electric shock and institutionalization. ![]() Take The Pill: One could imagine this as an anthem for Girl, Interrupted. Purportedly, this is about Emilie’s suicide attempt, as opposed to Emily, the Victorian inmate screaming about tea. It’s not universal enough, despite its laments about life and its pain. Within the context of a musical, it wouldn’t be bad, but as an actual album track, it doesn’t appeal. It frankly reeks of “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables and although Autumn had always been somewhat dramatic, this comes off like amateur Andrew Lloyd Weber. What Will I Remember?: A melancholy musical monologue, heavy in strings, this would be the part where the musical rewinds and establishes why, precisely, Autumn wants revenge on every man alive. It’s not a bridging piece that lies well sonically between the preceding and following songs. This is where I begin to take issue with Autumn releasing the proposed cast recording demo, as it were, for a stage show: without the context of the show she sees in her head, the reprise is, frankly, pointless. The whole “scalpel – check” sequence is so plainly ripped off from Repo! The Genetic Opera that it hurts my soul and affirms my theory of Bousman’s influence.Ĥ O’Clock (reprise): A reprise from what, you ask? A reprise of one of Autumn’s many singles released in the five year gap between albums proper (I speak of albums with lyrics there have been instrumentals). The endless repetitions of “Eradicate!” at the end feel unnecessary and spoil what might otherwise be a highly rated track for me. The fake accents actually detract from what is otherwise a clever song that plays off nursery rhymes. Again, the snarled “tea!” seems completely out of place with the other versions of Emilie’s voice (again representing the varying parts she imagines in her stage production). Time For Tea: Transitioning with the sound of gears and chiming clocks, the harpsichord is back in full effect, leaving one nostalgic for the violin Autumn built her name upon. I’m not fond of the seemingly out of place growl in the opening verse. For that reason, one might find this song a little repetitive or a reiteration of Opheliac’s primary message, but it stands alone well enough. If “Gothic Lolita” was the naming of atrocities and sentencing hearing, “Fight Like A Girl” is the justice system coming to dole out the punishment. Fake harpsichord heavy and layered with vocals representing a chorus of women, the song is catchy, if a little ridiculously man-hating. Like a Tarantino film, Autumn has chosen to begin near the end and rewind later. Can an album presented as a soundtrack and standard album all at once hold up for the average listener? Without further introduction, allow me to take you through FLAG.įight Like A Girl: The opening track, from which the album takes its name, is a battle cry slash summary of what the asylum inmates will face throughout the course of the album’s narrative. Musicals are a matter of individual taste: some love them, while others hate them (I, for the record, love them, particularly more modern/rocking/creative works like Spring Awakening and Rent). Presented as the soundtrack of the musical-to-be, Autumn takes her dramatic tendencies to a new level, embarking on a musical retelling of her book and performing all of the parts, both male and female. It is at this point where Fight Like A Girl comes in. Granted, her stage shows have always been heavy in theatricality, but the ambition to create a stage show proper as opposed to a dramatic concert experience is new. Perhaps inspired by working with Darren Lynn Bousman ( Repo! The Genetic Opera) and Terrance Zdunich on The Devil’s Carnival, Autumn has announced her intentions of launching a Broadway musical version of her book. Her autobiographical novel, The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls, is a hefty tome that runs parallel stories of Emilie Autumn checked into an asylum (and somewhat graphic journals about self-injury) and Emily, a young Victorian girl who is sold, used, abused and unjustly incarcerated in an asylum, where she literally winds up in a fight for her life who is, Lake House-style, leaving Emilie letters telling her story… or is she? It is by no accident that she sings so frequently of mental illness, suicide, trauma and asylums. For those who are long-time fans of Emilie Autumn, the personal nature of her music is well-established. ![]()
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