Regan the High Priestess - 4 Song CDEP
From Aural Innovations #19 (April 2002)
Regan Remy is a Los Angeles based musician and singer who plays a haunting and ultra-spacey brand of Gothic electronica. The promo material states that her background is in classical music but she became interested in electronic, industrial, and Goth music. There aren't any song titles on this 4 song promo release, but the first track sets the tone for Regan's sound. A spacey floating intro evolves into a Gothic, but highly ethereal, song with some Dub rhythms and fair dose of spaced out synth and majestic organ work. There's really quite a lot happening here as Regan layers on multiple keyboard bits, producing an accessible song that has just enough cosmic strangeness to keep things interesting. Regan's vocals are impressive and have a haunting and highly entrancing quality. The next two tracks are more on the dance floor pounding techno-ish side, but still include cool bubbling space synths and the music transitions through a seemingly non-stop parade of tripped out dancey keyboard patterns. The final track is another standout that gets into psychedelic Indian raga territory. It reminds me a lot of Portuguese spacers Saturnia, with it's blend of ethnic percussion, spacey techno, and Dub.
In summary, this is precisely the kind of music that is so often bland and sounding like a million other bands. But Regan gives substance and a welcome complexity to the music, crossing over equally between electronic space rock, Goth, and techno styles, with perhaps some dashes of prog rock as well. By the time you read this Regan's first full-length release, "Sellisternia" should be out.
For more information you can visit Regan's web site at: http://www.the-high-priestess.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o High Priestess Productions; 16755 Index Street; Granada Hills, CA
91344-3607.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz