I admit it, I'm biased. When I think of witches, all I see are the three old hags from Roman Polanski's Macbeth running shamelessly through the woods. And then comes Wendy Rule, Australia's favorite singing witch. It's not just that she looks hot posing on the cover of Witchcraft magazine, wearing Stevie Nicks laced black dresses and knee-high black FMBs; when it comes to finding the right soundtrack for that winter solstice moon dance in your backyard, Rule delivers the goods.
Following the
release of her fifth studio album, The Wolf Sky, Rule is coming to Minneapolis
for a one-night stand at The Cedar. The pagan-themed lineup
will include Mid-Eastern and Celtic folk music by Felonious
Bosch, and Kari Tauring will play songs from her new project, Songs of the Völva, a mix of Latvian and Norwegian sounds.
But Rule is undoubtedly
the star of the night. Going on 10 years since the release of
her debut album Zero, Rule, a certified witch for the past 16 years,
has developed a loyal following in her home of Melbourne, Australia.
But it wasn't until 2001 that her bewitching brand of... (shall we call
it, pagan emo?) started gaining converts in the UK, Europe, and the US.
Rule's earth-mother-in-distress lyrics sometimes feel over the top, but her minimalist drumbeats and melancholy cello lines usually manage to sell the song. And undoubtedly, as a woman, I identify with her lyrics — in "La femme de la mer" she sings: "daughter of the beautiful ocean/water so seductively cruel/you have come like a siren/a spiral/a storm/and I dived like a fool." Yup, that sums up one of my relationships. All that is left to see is if our spell-bounding Wendy Rule is as aspecting in her show, as she is through her music.