Finally, Tarja fans are able to get a first glimpse on her upcoming winter album “from Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a dark Christmas)”.
The Finnish soprano surprises with an excitingly dark version of the classic Christmas hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” which, with its intensive mood, grand orchestra sound and electronic programming, sets the tone for a very special Christmas.
The official video is set in a gloomy, dreamy surrounding and gives a deeper insight into the album’s visual world – introducing Tarja’s dark and light character.
It can be watched here:
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is available as download and stream with immediate effect.
Limited to 1.000 copies worldwide, a very special 7inch vinyl single of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is now available exclusively via Tarja’s “Official Store for a dark Christmas”.
Tracklist
Side A
1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Side B
2. Ô viens, Ô viens, Emmanuel
“from Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a dark Christmas)” is going to be released on November 17th, 2017 on earMUSIC as 1CD digipak, 1LP Gatefold (180g, black) and Digital. The “Official Store for a dark Christmas” offers a wide variety of exclusive, limited fan items and bundles.
This year, Tarja is bringing the festive season early with the release of her brand new Christmas album “from Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a dark Christmas)” on November 17, via earMusic. This Christmas you can expect the unexpected.
The album includes 11 Christmas classics and brings them to a never before seen level, uniquely blending Tarja’s classically trained voice with darker gothic influences. Utilizing the sound of a grand orchestra, the most successful Finnish solo artist puts a sinister spin on traditional songs like “O Tannenbaum”, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad”, reminding the listener of a dark movie score. Besides covering classic carols, “from Spirits and Ghosts” also features a 12th track, the brand new original “Together”. This song is aligned with the dark sound of the album and embodies the theme of ghosts and mysticism throughout, in a brilliant, Tarja-styled manner.
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Says Tarja: “Producing a dark Christmas album in the middle of the summer is a very interesting process, especially if you are doing it by the turquoise Caribbean Sea. Significantly different from the snowy Christmas that I am used to in my home country Finland. Another proof that the darkness comes from deep within. On this album, I explored the other side of Christmas. The Christmas of the lonely people and the missing ones. The Christmas for those that do not find joy in the blinking lights and the jingle bells.”
“From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a dark Christmas)” is going to be released on November 17th, 2017 on earMUSIC as 1CD digipak, 1LP Gatefold (180g, black) and Digital. The “Official Store for a dark Christmas” offers a wide variety of exclusive, limited fan items and bundles.
The album is produced by Tarja, the American Emmy Award winning film score composer Jim Dooley and British producer Tim Palmer, known for his work with Pearl Jam, U2, David Bowie, Lang Lang and The Cure among others, who also mixed the album at 62’ Studio in Texas. The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in NY City.
This Christmas, gather your loved ones, dim the lights, put on some candles and play Tarja’s “from Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a dark Christmas)” loud!
1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
2. Together
3. We Three Kings
4. Deck The Halls
5. Pie Jesu
6. Amazing Grace
7. O Tannenbaum
8. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
9. God Rest Ye
10. Feliz Navidad
11. What Child Is This
12. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
TARJA has surprised the fans that weren’t able to attend one of her many festival performances this summer by releasing a digital single bundle for her song “An Empty Dream”.
Says Tarja: “The song ‘An Empty Dream’ was presented to me by the film director Mariano Cattaneo in Argentina. I gave it a listen, liked it and wished that I could work on it myself, in order to make it sound more like me. I rewrote the English lyrics after watching the movie and worked on the melodies. I also wrote the complete music for the middle 8 part. The movie version of this song is the vision of the composer and the movie director and the one you can find on my album is my vision of it. Just a bit different 🙂
We filmed a music video for the song in Buenos Aires at the same location where the movie itself was filmed. An old abandoned factory. Seriously a spooky looking and feeling space. I had the pleasure to work with the main actress of the movie, Ariadna Asturzzi, in the shootings and had a lot of fun with her and the rest of the film crew.
When I was thinking which song to add to this special single release from my latest album ‘The Shadow Self’, the song ‘Undertaker’ immediately came to my mind because it is a very score kind of song and I wrote it together with film composer Atli Örvarsson.
I had a big pleasure to visit Genelec’s Artist Room in Helsinki, Finland not so long ago. It was lovely to sing and record live and acoustically two very different kinds of songs, of which you can find the studio versions on my ‘The Brightest Void’ album. When I am singing these songs accompanied by acoustic instruments only, they become new to me and I really enjoy interpreting them all over again. It is interesting to see every time what is the outcome! I hope you enjoy these versions as much as I do.”
Having released not one but two studio albums in 2016, Tarja’s brand new digital single bundle revolves around “An Empty Dream” from her prequel “The Brightest Void”. The song that has been re-written and re-worked for the release of her studio album has its origin in the soundtrack of the Argentinean movie “Corazón Muerto”. The two versions, both different in their atmosphere, are included in the digital single bundle and, without a doubt, get under your skin with their gentle, romantic but yet horror movie feel.
Tarja’s crystal clear voice is only accompanied by a piano on the two beautiful, previously unreleased renditions of “House Of Wax”, a cover of Sir Paul McCartney’s overlooked gem, and her own “The Living End”. The stripped down versions have been recorded at the Genelec Artist Room in Helsinki, Finland this April.
The single bundle also includes one of Tarja’s favourite songs from the sequel album “The Shadow Self”, the delicious slice of symphonic metal “Undertaker”, as well as the official video to “An Empty Dream”.
The official music video for “An Empty Dream” can be watched on earMUSIC’s official YouTube channel:
With the release of the worldwide chart successes “The Brightest Void” and “The Shadow Self”, the versatile singer has followed up on the success of the multi-platinum and gold awarded previous records “My Winter Storm” (2007), “What Lies Beneath” (2010) and “Colours In The Dark” (2013) which charted all over the globe including 4 Top 10 entries.
Tracklist
1. An Empty Dream
2. An Empty Dream (Movie Version)
3. Undertaker
4. House Of Wax (Live At Genelec Artist Room)
5. The Living End (Live At Genelec Artist Room)
6. An Empty Dream (Video)
DER ELEFANT, the new German-American instrumental trio featuring TARJA band members Alex Scholpp (FARMER BOYS, TIEFLADER) on guitar, Kevin Chown (BOMBASTIC MEATBATS, COSMOSQUAD, SEBASTIAN BACH) on bass, and Timm Schreiner on drums, have released their debut video ‘Elefante’, one of 3 songs off their forthcoming eponymous EP. The track can be viewed below:
Born from the roots of the aggressive metal, powerful dynamic grooves or tastefully placed soul refined solo guitars, DER ELEFANT a unique and fresh instrumental band with a dangerous edge on a mission to make a statement with music without words, offering to the listener and viewer a visually-stimulating soundtrack to a dark conversation. “Me, Alex and Timm spend a lot of time together on the road so we talk about things that matter, or at least should”, states Chown. “And we love to RAWK!!! This is the marriage of conversation with just doing what we do. I guess, you could say we are speaking with the images you are seeing upon the music you are hearing. That’s why I love instrumental music. The lyrics are unique to each listener. As musicians, we let YOU decide. However, in the era where we make a video and show you what WE think it all means, it kind of lets you know a little more in-your-face. The name DER ELEFANT comes from a simple truth: Humanity is too fragile to not be discussing things that should be discussed. Big and small, we have a weakness to confronting truth till another time. The elephants in all our rooms. Or cultures. Or whatever reality you want. The elephants are everywhere.”
Due out December 12, ‘Elefante’ was produced by Alex Scholpp, with engineering by Roland Böffgen and David Bowman, and mixed and mastered by Siggi Bemm (THE GATHERING, TIAMAT, GRIP INC.) at Woodhouse Studio in Hagen, Germany. Scholpp, Chown and Schreiner will be hitting the road again with TARJA next week when the band will film their November 29 Milan , Italy show for her ‘Act 2’ DVD.
Coinciding with the start of Tarja’s European tour in Hanover, Germany, this Friday, the queen of heavy rock surprises fans with the digital release of her new single “Demons In You”. On November 11th, the single will also be released as an exclusive, limited 1CD digipak collector’s item on earMUSIC.
“Demons In You” features Arch Enemy’s powerful lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz and captures the darker, heavier atmosphere of Tarja’s recent studio album “The Shadow Self” perfectly. The duo’s performance of the song in front of 75.000 enthusiastic metal fans at this year’s Wacken Open Air was one of the festival’s spectacular highlights and most widely noted.
The two contrasting voices – on the one hand Tarja’s almost angelic clean soprano, on the other Alissa’s deep, dark growling – goad and challenge each other, giving the third single from Tarja a surprising edge. Combined with a catchy guitar riff, the bombastic drumming of Chad Smith and the crisp clear mix by Tim Palmer (Pearl Jam, U2), “Demons In You” is definitely a collaboration between two of the strongest females in heavy rock and metal.
The physical and digital single also includes two previously unreleased versions of the song: one with only Tarja on vocals, one with Alissa taking the lead.
Tracklist
1. Demons In You with Alissa White-Gluz
2. Demons In You Tarja Solo Version
3. Demons In You Alissa Lead Vox Version
It’s only less than a week until the official release of TARJA’s new heavy rock album “The Shadow Self”, on earMusic, but it is already now available exclusively for streaming onApple Music.
On August 5th, the official release date, TARJA’s fourth studio album will become available on other music streaming and download services as well as being physically released as 1CD Standard Edition, Special Edition Digipak CD+DVD, Limited Box Set (CD+DVD “The Shadow Self”, 7”vinyl+CD “Innocence”, 7”vinyl+CD “No Bitter End”, picture frame, 3 postcards, poster, t-shirt in size L) and 2LP+Download.
Media are praising “The Shadow Self” as “Tarja’s masterpiece” (Hardline GER), declare that her new studio album is “filled with rich diversity on the highest level” (Metal Hammer GER) and that she “once again brings elegance to the heaviest of metal” (Custom Machines Spain) and “unites the best of powerful riffs, enchanting melodies and Tarja’s unique voice” (Sonic Seducer GER). Metal Hammer UK gets to the heart of it by declaring that “’The Shadow Self’ sees Tarja weaving together the strands of her talent.”
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