Somnambulistic…you’ve got the dreamer’s disease!
The stunning Veil & Subdue goth opera – just released on the Masque music label – is the brainchild of Jacksonville, Florida-based musician Paul Ramey, along with vocalist and playwright Anna K. Meade.
Weaving together threads of mortal and immortal passions, dreams and nightmares, as well as the physical phenomenon of night terrors, Veil & Subdue is a sweeping, two-hour tour de force. A swirling tapestry of alternative, dark tones, Veil & Subdue is a succulent, dark journey that will quickly lure you in.
Drawing from influences as vast as Neil Gaiman’s now-legendary Sandman comic book series, opera-diva Sarah Brightman’s lush and haunting live stage spectacles, and many other music artists (Peter Murphy, The Cure, Radiohead, Marc Almond, Dredg, HIM, and Queen, to name just a few), Veil & Subdue is the tale of The Black Sultan (Morpheus, the King of Dreams) and his love of a mere mortal woman.
“It’s like almost any love story,” said Ramey. “It’s the innocence of love at first sight, as well as the almost inevitable disillusionment and rejection. Except that in this case it’s on an epic scale. What if a god fell in love with a mortal? A part of the charm of polytheistic religions, such as the Greek gods, was that each of the gods captured faulty human emotions. They weren’t perfect. They were almost amplified versions of us at our worst! Veil & Subdue is one of these stories – a guy who thinks he’s the shit, who sees a girl, wants a girl, and won’t take no for an answer. Who hasn’t dated someone like this?”
The twist on Veil & Subdue is that it is also very much an interpretation of the night terror phenomenon.
“This story is speculative,” said Ramey. “Night terrors are very mysterious, and very dark. The physiology of it is poorly understood. So, we thought, what if it wasn’t a physical trigger at all that caused people to wake up screaming in the middle of the night? What if it was a god, visiting a mortal woman in her dreams, trying to make her love him? In most myths, to look upon the face of a god is madness, or death. Hence, Zues visiting young women in the guise of an eagle, or a bull. what if the sufferer of night terrors was being, basically, harassed by a god? So Veil & Subdue is the complete story – the love, the disappointment, the stalking…everything! And, of course, a dark ending. Just like life, nobody ends up getting exactly what they want.”
Veil & Subdue includes two compact discs, a 20-page complete libretto, and stylish outer packaging.
The Veil & Subdue project looks forward to the possibility of a future live stage experience. Stay tuned…!
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