Ethereal wave,Glasnost Wave magazine, issue # 42, p. 32/34, genre classification of the bands Trance to the Sun ("Ghost Forest"), This Ascension ("Light and Shade"), Soul Whirling Somewhere ("Eating the Sea"), Cocteau Twins and Lycia, Germany, April 1994Thomas Wacker: Projekt Records label portrait, Black music magazine, issue # 7/97, p. 66, Spring 1997 also called ethereal darkwave,Janet Sturman: The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, SAGE Publications Inc, London 2019, , p. 728 ethereal gothPropaganda: Projekt: Ethereal Gothic, advertisement, issue # 19, p. 19, New York, September 1992 or simply ethereal,Hyperium Records: "Ethereal, Gothic & Dark Ambient", CD order form, booklet insert of the Beneath the Icy Floe v. 3 compilation (German pressing), released in 1995Discogs: Cover of the Projekt: Gothic compilation (see tagline), released in 2002 is a subgenre of dark wave music. that is variously described as "gothic", "romantic", and "otherworldly".Michael Fischer: "The ethereal romanticism of this EP makes for the closest thing in pop to a music for Gothic cathedrals", Cocteau Twins review ("Love's Easy Tears"), The Michigan Daily, p. 7, March 23, 1987Beautiful Noise: Robert Smith (The Cure) describes the Cocteau Twins' sound as "ethereal" and "romantic" It developed in the early 1980sCD Review magazine: Cocteau Twins album review, p. 44, issues # 1-6, 1990. "The Cocteau Twins' calling card — ethereal soundscapes marked by offbeat, haunting female vocals — was unique back in the early '80s".Rick Poynor: Vaughan Oliver. Visceral Pleasures, p. 75, Booth-Clibborn 2000, .Fred Perry Subculture: Book presentation of Martin Aston's Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD , September 2013. "...the 4AD roots lay within a sub-set of post-punk, and it is this period in the 80s where 4AD have developed a cult status. The label, alongside its artists, nurtured and raised a new and defined sound, predominantly ethereal and dark..." in the United Kingdom as an outgrowth of gothic rock, and was mainly represented by 4AD bandsStaci Bonner: "Interview with the Cocteau Twins", Reflex magazine, September 1988. "In 1982, they hand-picked their record label, 4AD — a company that had corralled all that was gothically ethereal...".Colin Larkin: Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, p. 1156, Guinness Publishing 1992, . "... the label which, more than anyone else, was capable of handling their brand of ethereal, dreamlike elegance." such as Cocteau Twins,Oliver Köble: Vollendete Gothic-Ästhetik, Interview with William Faith of Faith & The Muse (and Tess Records), Glasnost Wave magazine, issue # 44, p. 11, Germany, November/December 1994 This Mortal Coil, and early guitar-driven Dead Can Dance.Thierry F. Le Boucanier: Batcave Memories, Camion Blanc, 2011, . "Les groupes d'éthéré les plus représentatifs et précurseurs sont Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins et This Mortal Coil."Olivier Bernard: Anthologie de l'ambient, Camion Blanc, 2013, . "L'ethereal wave s'est développée à partir du gothic rock, et tire ses origines principalement de la musique de Siouxsie and the Banshees (les Cocteau Twins s'en sont fortement inspirés, ce qui se ressent dans leur premier album Garlands, sorti en 1982). Le genre s'est développé surtout autour des années 1983–1984, avec l'émergence de trois formations majeures: Cocteau Twins, <3 This Mortal Coil et Dead Can Dance... Cela est rendu par des effets d'écho, de reverb et de delay très imposants sur les guitares... On relève une prédominance d'un chant féminin haut perché ou très ample et de voix masculines soufflées, douces at contemplatives. Les paroles sont parfois difficilement compréhensibles... L'ethereal wave (et notamment les Cocteau Twins) a grandement influencé le shoegaze et la dream pop. Les labels principaux promouvant le genre sont 4AD et Projekt Records."
In the second half of the 1980s, the genre continued to develop in the United States and was primarily associated with C'est La Mort Records, which featured artists such as Area (later the Moon Seven Times) and Heavenly Bodies, a band formed by ex-members of Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil,Option music magazine, p. 102, Sonic Options Network 1988 as well as with Projekt Records, which featured groups like Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Love Spirals Downwards and Lycia.
Ethereal wave, especially the music of Cocteau Twins, was one of the key inspirations for the British dream pop/shoegaze scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Etymology In the mid-1980s, several Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil records were described as "ethereal",The Cavalier Daily: "This Mortal Coil album review" ("It'll End in Tears"), p. 8, November 7, 1985Michael Fischer: Cocteau Twins album review ("The Pink Opaque"), The Michigan Daily, p. 7, April 9, 1986 "etherealism",Record-Journal: "Cocteau Twins review", June 15, 1986 and "ethereal romanticism". In September 1988, Staci Bonner of Reflex magazine described the music of British label 4AD as "gothically ethereal". Print media in the US, such as Alternative Press,Alternative Press, issue 8, 1995, p. 95. "...If the ethereal goth movement is heading anywhere, it's towards a collision with the new age, without any of the bog-awful connotations which that phrase normally evokes." Billboard,Carrie Borzillo: Artists & Music, Billboard magazine, 28 October 1995, p. 117 and Option music magazine,Lisa Gidley: "Siddal. Mystery of the Sea", Option music magazine, Volume 77−81, 1997. "Siddal's music is exquisitely beautiful and frustratingly static, like a film depicting a frozen lake where nothing moves but a few rays of sunlight and a windblown leaf or two. With similarities to '80s-style ethereal Goth (This Mortal Coil, early Cocteau Twins)..." started using the term "ethereal goth" more frequently, whereas European music magazines, primarily German zines such as Glasnost, Aeterna, Entry, Black, and Astan, had named the genre "ethereal wave" in the same vein as new wave, dark wave, and cold wave.Stefan Mensing: "This Burning Effigy", Astan music magazine, issue #9, p. 36, March/April 1999.
Historically, the term was mostly applied to the roster of 4AD label − not only referring to music, but also regarding aesthetics of the graphical visualization.Rick Poynor: Design without Boundaries. Visual Communication in Transition, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1998, , p. 127. "The cover designs from 1983 to 1986 were a kind of late-flowering romanticism, as peculiarly English and ethereal as the music of the Cocteau Twins..."Josh Frank, Caryn Ganz: Fool the World. The Oral History... Chapter Six (Marc Geiger), St. Martin's Griffin, 2006, , p. 79. "The label had an ethereal trademark − because the artist Vaughan Oliver was so distinct graphically that it lent itself to sort of the ethereal, beautiful sound of ... the Cocteau Twins."Ben Sisario: The Pixies' Doolittle [series 33⅓, # 31], p. 17, Bloomsbury Academic 2006, . "Known for its slick, gauzy package design and quasi-Gothic bands invariably described as "Ethereal" (q.v. Cocteau Twins), the label did have an unpredictable streak."
The "ethereal" designation has been taken over by authors such as Mick MercerMercer, Mick. Music to die for. London: Cherry Red Books, 2009, , p. 5 and Dave ThompsonDave Thompson: The Dark Reign of Gothic Rock, Helter Skelter, 2002, , p. 10 to delineate the same musical phenomenon in their books, while Simon Reynolds began using the term "goth-lite" (or "post-goth", a term he coined in 1987Simon Reynolds: The Wailing Ultimate, Melody Maker, Summer 1987) to describe the music of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and related 4AD artists.Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978−1984, Penguin Books 2006, Simon Reynolds: 4AD. The Dozen, Director's cut, eMusic, 2006. "4AD will be forever identified with its signature Goth-lite group the Cocteau Twins, but other key signings of this period include Dead Can Dance..."Simon Reynolds: Blissout − Very far from Grace
"Goth-lite" first appeared in 1995 in magazines such as CMJ New Music Monthly (Douglas Wolk)Douglas Wolk: "Siouxsie & The Banshees", CMJ New Music Monthly, January 1995, p. 42. and SPIN (Jody Press)Jody Press: "Spins. Siouxsie & The Banshees", SPIN magazine, March 1995, p. 99 as a retroactive description of Siouxsie and the Banshees' Tinderbox album, which heavily relies on the use of guitar pedals and studio effects in songs such as "92 Degrees" and "Land's End".Charles Allen Mueller: The Music of the Goth Subculture. Postmodernism and Aesthetics, ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing, 2011, , pp. 74−79.
Style characteristics
The defining characteristic of the style is the use of effects-laden guitar soundscapes, primarily based on minor key tonality (which unfolds a serious, dark and wistful atmosphere),Liisa Ladouceur: "Ethereal", Encyclopedia Gothica, ECW Press 2011, . "Applied to 1980s English post-punk groups on the 4AD label such as the Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance... Ethereal generally meant to encompass bands with dreamy atmospheres, most often featuring angelic, soprano vocals and shimmery, reverb-soaked guitars, as distinct from more aggressive rock." frequently post-punk-oriented bass lines, restrained tempo (ranging from down- to midtempo) and high register female vocals (sometimes operatic and with hard-to-decipher lyrical content), often closely intertwined with romantic aesthetics and pre-Raphaelite imagery.Andy O'Reilly: Interview with the Cocteau Twins , Lime Lizard magazine, October 1993Uncut music magazine: Ether Madness , A collection of Cocteau Twins reviewsDiscogs: Cover of This Ascension's Light and Shade album, Ophelia motif, released in 1991, and cover of Faith & Disease's "Jardeu Blue" 7-inch single, released in 1993; photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron – both associated with/influenced by pre-Raphaelite art.
Another significant feature is the extensive use of drum machines, typical of many 4AD productions and initially established by Cocteau Twins' Garlands albumChris Jones: Cocteau Twins review on BBC.co.uk. "The fact remains that despite a whole host of post-punk wannabes adopting the flange 'n' drum machine tactics of the Twins, no-one has ever come remotely close to emulating their sound." and the first full-length work of Dead Can Dance.Ned Raggett: "Review of Dead Can Dance's debut", on AllMusic.com. Acoustic guitars, often combined with electric guitars and bass guitars, are sometimes used to create a more folk-oriented feel (e.g. Love Spirals Downwards).
Aside from the genre's post-punk and gothic rock roots, some ethereal bands, namely Lycia and Soul Whirling Somewhere, were equally influenced by ambient and soundtrack-oriented music and/or by more traditional progressive rock textures.Bret Helm: "Interview with Mike van Portfleet (Lycia)", Friday on the Turntable, June 20, 2013.
History 1980s: roots and initiators