The Miraculous Explained

The Miraculous
Type:Studio
Artist:Anna von Hausswolff
Cover:Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous.png
Alt:A black and white photo of a blonde woman with her face covered and wearing a black dress beside a room surrounded by portraits.
Studio:
Genre:
Label:
Producer:Filip Leyman
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The Miraculous is the third studio album by Swedish musician Anna von Hausswolff. It was released on 13 November 2015 by her own label Pomperipossa Records. As in her previous album Ceremony (2012), The Miraculous contains a pipe organ, which was recorded at the Studio Acusticum concert hall in the Swedish city of Piteå. When writing the album, Von Hausswolff took inspiration from a place where her family used to tell her stories as a child, and the book Källan by Swedish writer Walter Ljungquist.

The Miraculous marks a departure from the gothic pop-led music of the singer's previous works, exploring genres like folk metal, post-rock, and neoclassical music. Music critics praised the album, and it debuted at number eight in Sweden. The Miraculous was supported by three singles, all of which but the third one received a music video: "Come Wander With Me / Deliverance", "Evocation", and "An Oath".

Background and recording

The Miraculous takes its title from the name von Hausswolff gave to a then-undisclosed village in Sweden that she visited with her family since her childhood.[1] A place of "mystery, magic, and terror" for her, the singer's parents used to tell her tales about Swedish folklore there.[2] Historically, a 1542 uprising against the rule of Gustav I happened in that location, in which peasants from Småland protested the heavy taxes imposed by the king but ended defeated. Von Hausswolff compared the landscape and history of "the miraculous" place to the setting and plot of the 1985 film Come and See.

Visiting the place in her adulthood boasted von Hausswolff's creativity and prompted her to create her own stories.[3] Years later, she revealed that the name of the place that inspired The Miraculous is Kisa, which is located in the Östergötland County, Sweden.[4] [5] The album was also inspired by her instrumental recording Källan performed at the Lincoln Cathedral, which was named after the 1961 book by Walter Ljungquist. Read by von Hausswolff when she was touring in 2013, she describes the book to be "about curiosity and the possibility that there is something more to this world than what you currently know." After reading the book and watching the film, she thought of composing an album with a new soundscape for her but similar to the structure of Källan. Even though they are related, von Hausswolff clarified that The Miraculous and Källan are two different projects.[6]

Von Hausswolff recorded The Miraculous with her backing band and producer Filip Leyman at the Studio Acusticum concert hall located in Piteå, Sweden.[7] This hall houses a nine thousand-pipe organ built by Gerald Woehl, which is one of the largest in Europe. She decided to record the album in the hall because she was interested in playing its organ after she declined a request to perform there in 2013. Another recording location was Leyman's studio in Gothenburg, which was also the place where the album was mixed. A friend of Von Hausswolff presented the song "Come Wander With Me", written by Jeff Alexander and Anthony Wilson, to her and became one of her favorite compositions. After she began to cover the song during live performances, "it grew bigger and bigger and another song [titled 'Deliverance'] started to take shape," turning into the album track "Come Wander With Me / Deliverance".[8]

Music and lyrics

Musically, The Miraculous is a gothic,[9] folk metal, neoclassical, art pop,[10] drone metal,[11] and post-rock album.[12] With the Acusticum pipe organ, von Hausswolff sought to create an experimental work, marking a musical departure from the gothic pop sounds of von Hausswolff's previous efforts.[13] The singer is accompanied by her backing band, which consists of Leyman on synthesizers, drummer Ulrik Ording, and guitarists Joel Fabiansson and Karl Vento. The Acusticum pipe organ incorporates several instruments like glockenspiel, vibraphone, celeste, percussion, and pipes partially submerged in water that cause high-pitched shrieking sounds. John Freeman of The Quietus described it as "a huge, brooding record that fuses ethereal fantasy with the portentous drama of rumbling organ drone." Von Hausswolff's flexible and acrobatic vocals shift from alto to soprano though they are used sparingly throughout The Miraculous.[14] Even though the lyrical content in the album stands between fantasy and reality, she stated the lyrics were different to storytelling, describing them as fragmented and abstract.

Release and promotion

The Miraculous was released on 13 November 2015 by von Hausswolff's record label Pomperipossa Records in Scandinavia; City Slang and Other Music released it the same day in North America and the rest of Europe, respectively. Nevertheless, British magazine Fact had the album available for streaming on 6 November 2015. The album's lead single, "Come Wander With Me / Deliverance" was released on 19 August 2015. The accompanying music video was released on 28 September 2016, one year after the single's release.[15]

"Evocation" was released as the album's second single along with its music video on 13 October 2015.[16] The third and final single "An Oath" arrived on 29 October 2015.[17] Von Hausswolff and guitarist Vento recorded a live session for "Stranger", which was uploaded to the singer's YouTube channel on 2 December 2015.[18] [19] To promote the album, von Hausswolff embarked on a tour that visited Europe in December 2015. In October 2016, she was an opening act in support of experimental rock band Swans's Europe tour.[20]

The black and white artwork for The Miraculous was shot by Anders Nydam in an abandoned house in Sweden's forests. Even though he was skeptical about visiting the location, von Hausswolff convinced him to do it. After shooting the cover with an analog camera, Nydam chose a photograph that he "freaked out" because he felt it represents the album's concept.[21] Critics perceived the artwork to be inspired by nightmares because of von Hausswolff's faceless picture.[22] [23] [24] The singer also made copper etchings for the packaging of the album.

Reception

The Miraculous received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 11 reviews. Drowned in Sound ranked the album at number 76 on their list of "Favourite Albums of Year 2015".[25] The Miraculous was nominated for Rock of the Year at the 2016 Grammis Awards, and was named Album of the Year by Elin Unnes from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.[26] [27] In Sweden, The Miraculous debuted at number eight for a week, becoming von Hausswolff's first album to miss the top five in that country.

Track listing

Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Miraculous.[28]

Musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

Chart (2015)! scope="col"
Peak
position
UK Independent Album Breakers (OCC)[29] 16

Notes and References

  1. Peltsch. Fabian. Anna von Hausswolff: "Meine Fantasie ist einfach zu mächtig". Anna von Hausswolff: "My imagination is just too powerful. Rolling Stone. Germany. 8 January 2016. 25 January 2023. de. https://web.archive.org/web/20160211001342/http://www.rollingstone.de/anna-von-hausswolff-meine-fantasie-ist-einfach-zu-maechtig-941935/. 11 February 2016. live.
  2. Day. Laurence. Anna Von Hausswolff unveils 10-minute "doomscape", announces new LP The Miraculous. The Line of Best Fit. 20 August 2015. 25 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230719/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/anna-von-hausswolff-unveils-10-minute-doomscape-announces-new-lp-the-miracu. live.
  3. Freeman. John. Organ Heritage: Anna Von Hausswolff Interviewed. The Quietus. 13 October 2015. 25 January 2023.
  4. News: Raugei. Elena. Anna von Hausswolff: l'organo dell'immaginazione. Anna von Hausswolff: the organ of the imagination. The New Noise. 12 November 2020. 14 April 2023. it. 14 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230414145945/https://www.thenewnoise.it/anna-von-hausswolff-lorgano-dellimmaginazione/. live.
  5. News: McNair. James. Anna von Hausswolff's says new album Dead Magic is a 'clash of negative and positive energies'. The National. 1 March 2018. 14 April 2023. 14 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230414151448/https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music/anna-von-hausswolff-s-says-new-album-dead-magic-is-a-clash-of-negative-and-positive-energies-1.709357. live.
  6. Hannah. Andrew. Anna Von Hausswolff talks searching for the divine on epic new album The Miraculous. The Line of Best Fit. 13 November 2015. 25 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/anna-von-hausswolff-talks-searching-for-the-divine-on-the-miraculous. live.
  7. Web site: Gotrich. Lars. Viking's Choice: Anna Von Hausswolff, 'Come Wander With Me/Deliverance'. NPR. 19 August 2015. 25 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/08/19/432738739/vikings-choice-anna-von-hausswolff-come-wander-with-me. live.
  8. Web site: Korman. Matt. Listen to Anna Von Hausswolff's gargantuan, dominating 'Come Wander With Me/Deliverance'. The 405. 21 August 2015. 26 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20150822114616/http://www.thefourohfive.com/music/article/listen-to-anna-von-hausswolff-s-gargantuan-dominating-come-wander-with-me-deliverance-144. 22 August 2015. dead.
  9. Stream Anna von Hausswolff's gothic epic The Miraculous in full. Fact. 6 November 2015. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230723/https://www.factmag.com/2015/11/06/anna-von-hausswolff-gothic-miraculous-stream/. live.
  10. Stasis. Spyros. MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Metal Albums of September 2020. 13 October 2020. PopMatters. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.popmatters.com/metalmatters-september-2020-end-of-summer-2648163232.html. live.
  11. Mokoena. Tshepo. Five albums to try this week: Anna von Hausswolff, Jeff Lynne's ELO and more. 16 November 2015. The Guardian. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/16/five-albums-stream-listen-anna-von-hausswolff-jeff-lynnes-elo-the-drink. live.
  12. Web site: Jurek. Thom. Dead Magic – Anna von Hausswolff. AllMusic. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.allmusic.com/album/dead-magic-mw0003133551. live.
  13. Hughes. Rob. Limelight: Anna Von Hausswolf. Prog. 18 December 2015. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230724/https://www.loudersound.com/features/limelight-anna-von-hausswolf. live.
  14. News: Sommer. Tim. Tim Sommer. Reinventing Rock in the Shadows: Anna von Hausswolff and Sunn O))). Observer. 3 February 2016. 26 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://observer.com/2016/02/reinventing-rock-in-the-shadows-anna-von-hausswolff-and-sunn-o/. live.
  15. Web site: Hilton. Robin. Watch: A Chilling Masterpiece From Anna von Hausswolff. WNYC. 28 September 2016. 27 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230723/https://www.wnyc.org/story/watch-a-chilling-masterpiece-from-anna-von-hausswolff/. live.
  16. Curtis. Ben. Anna Von Hausswolff shares new video for "Evocation" and announces London show. The Line of Best Fit. 13 October 2015. 27 January 2023. 28 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230128034336/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/anna-von-hausswolff-shares-new-video-and-announces-london-show. live.
  17. Innis. Charles. Anna von Hausswolff – "An oath" (Stereogum Premiere). Stereogum. 29 October 2015. 19 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.stereogum.com/1840718/anna-von-hausswolff-an-oath-stereogum-premiere/news/. live.
  18. Munro. Scott. Anna von Hausswolff issues Stranger clip. Prog. 4 December 2015. 27 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.loudersound.com/news/anna-von-hausswolff-issues-stranger-clip. live.
  19. News: Anna von Hausswolff – Stranger (Live session). YouTube. 27 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230721/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shITgBENI6w. live.
  20. Eede. Christian. WATCH: New Anna Von Hausswolff Video. The Quietus. 28 September 2016. 27 January 2023.
  21. The 405 Staff. Behind the Cover: Anna von Hausswolff's The Miraculous. The 405. 4 November 2015. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20151107020519/https://www.thefourohfive.com/culture/article/behind-the-cover-anna-von-hausswolff-s-the-miraculous-144. 7 November 2015. dead.
  22. Web site: Paul. John. Anna von Hausswolff: All Thoughts Fly. Spectrum Culture. 14 October 2020. 27 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230724/https://spectrumculture.com/2020/10/14/anna-von-hausswolff-all-thoughts-fly-review/. live.
  23. Banks. Joe. Anna von Hausswolff. The Quietus. 12 November 2015. 26 January 2023.
  24. Hua. Vee. Album Covers of the Year 2015. Redefine. 31 December 2015. 27 January 2023. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230728/https://redefinemag.net/2015/album-covers-of-the-year-2015/4/. live.
  25. Adamsr. Sean. Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of the Year 2015. Drowned in Sound. 17 December 2015. 26 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20151218185630/http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4149657-drowned-in-sounds-favourite-albums-of-the-year-2015. 18 December 2015. dead.
  26. News: Nunstedt. Anders. Grammis 2016 – här är alla nomineringarna och missarna. Grammis 2016 - here are all the nominations and misses. Expressen. 17 December 2015. 27 January 2023. sv. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127235228/https://www.expressen.se/noje/blogg/andersnunstedt/2015/12/17/grammis-2016-har-ar-alla-nomineringarna-och-missarna/. live.
  27. News: Unnes. Elin. Här är årets bästa skivor 2015. Here are the best records of 2015. Dagens Nyheter. 8 December 2015. 27 January 2023. sv. 27 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230127230722/https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/skivrecensioner/har-ar-arets-basta-skivor-2015/. live.
  28. The Miraculous . liner notes . . Pomperipossa Records . 2015 . PRCD001.
  29. Web site: Official Independent Album Breakers Chart Top 20 . . 14 July 2023.

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