Anna von Hausswolff's debut EP "Track of Time" was released in February 2010 by Kning Disk, magnificent avant-garde pop with its crosshairs trained on the heart. The first album "Singing From the Grave" appeared in May. Everyone who hears Anna von Hausswolff sing, immediately stops, listens and gets touched by her magic. Her voice is that of total expression. Sometimes it caresses you, sometimes it roars up a storm.
On July 9, 2013 "Ceremony" was released in North America by Other Music Recording Co., and Anna von Hausswolff played her debut US show on July 10 at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn. The album received strong support from National Public Radio's Bob Boilen, who said "Von Hausswolff's voice possesses the power to soar with those mighty pipes and still hold tight to delicate, personal emotions. I hope to find one album like Ceremony every year — a rare, thoughtful, inspiring record for a night on the couch or a candlelit evening — and now I've got one for 2013." She was also featured on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, PRI's The World, WNYC Soundcheck, the New York Times, Pitchfork and more.
Ceremony was followed up by "The Miraculous" late in 2015.
Large pipe organs first started to be built in European churches in the 14th century. While much of the music that people at the time heard and played would be dedicated to the glory of God, surely nothing could have prepared them for the sound that now filled their places of worship. As the solemn timbre of the metallic pipes echoed around the stony transept, the congregation must have trembled in their pews before this new instrument of the Almighty. More than ever, the organ turned the church into a place of "mystery, magic and terror".
These are the words that Anna von Hausswolff uses to describe the undisclosed location in rural Sweden that inspired The Miraculous, a place of great natural beauty that nevertheless remains haunted by the blood-stained spectres of a brutally suppressed peasant uprising. Using the 9,000 pipe Acusticum Pipe Organ, Hausswolff has conjured an entire world into being here, forging a unity between reality and imagination that's so immense in its conception that it's initially difficult to properly take in. It's like a gigantic monument that you have to keep stepping back from in order to get any perspective on it.
The sleeve alone should clue the listener to the fact that there's nothing here as heart-stoppingly lovely as 'Mountains Crave' from 2012's Ceremony: Hausswolff appears as a faceless apparition, an erased portrait sitting in a derelict room with faded pictures of Christ and angels on the walls. The elemental vastness of the sound recalls the aesthetic of Swans, while Nico is another key reference point, one woman communing with herself and the world via a droning, medieval keyboard. But The Miraculous certainly isn't all existential gloom and despair. Instead, its sense of dread is offset throughout by a yearning to break free of mortal bonds and become immanent in nature.
'Discovery' immediately sets the tone, a foghorn blast of bass pipes suggesting that something huge is approaching in the dark. A thick wave of organ slowly seeps into every corner of the audio field, before a skirling siren call and the military drums of battles past introduce notes of tension and conflict. It breaks down to the sounds of aftermath from which a spare Morricone-esque guitar line emerges. When Hausswolff finally starts to sing, her voice is strong as she bears witness, but soon the words start to tumble out with growing urgency, and then she's chanting "Run!/Run!/Run to the sun!"
This epic opener is followed by two shorter tracks. 'The Hope Only Of Empty Men' sounds like it's being transmitted from some point in the distant past, Hausswolff's syllables twisted and tortured as they leave her mouth, while the organ pulses like a hangover. 'Pomperipossa' is an awestruck blast of ecclesiastical prog full of unnerving chord changes.
But it's the eleven minute sturm und drang of 'Come Wander With Me/Deliverance' that's the album's massive centrepiece. A slow, sepulchral organ melody is joined by the beautiful controlled tone of Hausswolff's lonely choir girl. There's a great segue into a lumbering procession of the damned which then consolidates into a hammering one chord riff over an increasingly martial beat. Hausswolff sings, "He came from the sunset / He came from the sea / He came from the shadows…" like Elizabeth Fraser on the rack, before dissolving into wordless cries of ecstasy or pain, who knows. Cue guitar solo, and then a little sit down to recover.
It's hard to imagine where to go after that, but another three short tracks pick up the album's themes. 'En Ensam Vandrare' is based on the type of brooding but meditative arpeggios that inevitably bring Philip Glass to mind, while 'An Oath' is a ballad sung against marching drums again. And then 'Evocation' is a summoning up of everything that's gone before, the density of the sound plus the inflection in Hausswolff's voice making me wonder if this is what Sunn O))) recording with Abba would sound like. There's a minute of static and feedback ascending and then disappearing into the sky, and it feels like a natural ending–
But no. 'The Miraculous' itself is an extended drone piece, a gradual layering of chords on the organ as though it's slowly waking up from a deep slumber. Hausswolff's voice drifts over the top, her faceless spirit moving through the pipes, the organ's high notes like swooning strings and brass. Final track 'Stranger' is perhaps the most 'traditional' and romantic song here, a plea for absolution with twanging guitar.
This album is a pretty astonishing piece of work. Hausswolff has pushed out into unmapped territory where post-rock, prog, doom metal, modern classical and high church music all co-exist in uneasy alliance. It's the type of album you have to commit to completely, but for those seeking a glimpse of the numinous, it's worth the effort.
March 2018 sees the release of Anna's fourth album - "Dead Magic", and was preceded by the single "The Vanishing of Elektra" and in the run up to the albums release its first track "The Truth, The Glow, The Fall" was officially released as an audio onto YouTube.
Official site: http://www.annavonhausswolff.com
Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/annavonhausswolff
Come Wander with Me / Deliverance
Anna von Hausswolff Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come here
Come wander with me love
Come wander with me
Away from this sad world
Come wander with me
He said come wander with me love
Away from this sad world
Come wonder with me
He came from the sunset
He came from the sea
He came from this sad world, and can love only me
DELIVERANCE
Walk with love
Walk with soul
Walk with dreams
Through the cold
But I will never be free
The song "Come Wander with Me / Deliverance" by Anna von Hausswolff has two distinct parts. The first part, "Come Wander with Me," is an invitation to escape from the world's sadness and to explore the world with love. The lyrics suggest a destination that is uncertain but promises to be better than the present. In this part, a lover invites another to come and travel together, to journey away from the world that seems to only bring sorrow. The repetition of the phrase "come wander with me" is a simple yet effective way in which the singer conveys the urgency of their desire to escape together.
In the second part, "Deliverance," the lyrics shift to a more ominous tone. Although the invitation to walk with love, soul, and dreams remain, the singer acknowledges that they can never be free. There is a sense of despair in this part of the song, as if the singer is resigned to a fate that they cannot change. The lyrics suggest that even if one walks with love and hope, there is still a cold and lonely reality that one cannot escape.
Overall, "Come Wander with Me / Deliverance" is a song that expresses a deep longing to escape from a world of sadness and explore a new one with someone you love. However, even with love as a companion, the reality of the world cannot be ignored, and one is ultimately forced to confront their limitations.
Line by Line Meaning
Come here
The singer is inviting the listener to come closer to them.
Come wander with me love
The singer is asking the listener to wander with them on a journey of love.
Come wander with me
The singer is asking the listener to go on a journey with them, possibly to escape from the mundane world.
Away from this sad world
The artist is offering a chance to escape the sad, depressing world.
Come wander with me
The artist repeats their request to go on a journey with the listener.
He said come wander with me love
The singer refers back to the person they were talking to and repeats their previous request to them.
Come wander with me
The singer repeats their request again, possibly indicating a sense of urgency or importance.
Away from this sad world
The artist repeats their offer to escape the sadness of the world, possibly suggesting that it is important in some way.
Come wonder with me
The artist uses a variation of their request from before, switching from 'wander' to 'wonder'.
He came from the sunset
The artist describes the arrival of a person who came from the direction of the setting sun.
He came from the sea
The singer describes the arrival of a person who came from the sea.
He came from this sad world, and can love only me
The artist is saying that the person who arrived came from the sad world and only loves them, possibly implying that they have found their true love.
Walk with love
The singer urges the listener to walk with love in their hearts.
Walk with soul
The singer urges the listener to walk with their soul, possibly to indicate a deeper connection with the world.
Walk with dreams
The singer urges the listener to walk with their dreams and aspirations, using them as a guide.
Through the cold
The artist acknowledges that the journey may be difficult, but the listener should continue on anyway.
But I will never be free
The artist reveals that despite the journey and aspirations, they will never be truly free, perhaps from their own internal struggles.
Contributed by Eli J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@icsipsilonzeta0
Come here
Come wander with me, love
Come wander with me
Away from this sad world
Come wander with me
He said "Come wander with me, love"
Come wander with me
Away from this sad world
Come wonder with me
He came from the sunset
He came from the sea
He came from this sad world
And can love only me
Walk with love
Walk with soul
Walk with dreams
Through the cold
But I will never be free
@MarcLatham
The bigger your dreams
the less you rest.
@icsipsilonzeta0
Come here
Come wander with me, love
Come wander with me
Away from this sad world
Come wander with me
He said "Come wander with me, love"
Come wander with me
Away from this sad world
Come wonder with me
He came from the sunset
He came from the sea
He came from this sad world
And can love only me
Walk with love
Walk with soul
Walk with dreams
Through the cold
But I will never be free
@joshualane1716
From a Twilight Zone episode.
@DroogeDan
Gracias !
@trialsanderrors2707
The von Hausswolff sisters redefine epicness...
@jurcamarius6863
Yup...I'm lost for words
@wildwunzmachineproductions6131
Really..? 92k views? This should be in the triple digit millions. Society does not know anything about true artistry. Anna is GODLIKE!!!
@ahandsomefridge
Quality > quantity
@Salmon.seraphim
WILD WUNZ Machine Productions humans are like pigs they don’t care for art
@SenseiBerial
we live in society