November 11 2008
Voltaire – To the Bottom of the Sea
I can still remember the first time I heard The Devil’s Bris—as someone who came to the Goth subculture by way of reading the fiction of Ann Radcliffe rather than that of Anne Rice, Voltaire’s music struck me as essentially “Gothic” in a way that the EBM-based dance floor fodder that continues to dominate the club scene could never be. I was impressed by three aspects of Voltaire’s music in particular: it is unique (no one else really sounds like Voltaire; his music is immediately identifiable), it is old world in style (influenced by gypsy rhythms, instead of reiterating the self-reflexive tropes of “Gothic music”), and its darkness is tempered by humor (let’s face it, there is something inherently funny about a bunch of people dressed like dead folks dancing around like they can’t hear the beat).
To the Bottom of the Sea is largely a return to the style of music Voltaire created with The Devil’s Bris, and yet it even exceeds that album in delving into old world gypsy influences. Along with the expected acoustic guitar and strings, on his first self-released album Voltaire has added accordion, piano, tin whistle, darabuka, mandolin, and a roughshod chorus of friends. The songs are united by a somewhat vague concept that runs throughout most of the album; there’s something going on in the fictional country of Vorutania involving a peasant uprising, pirates, and sea monsters. Fans of concept albums will be best pleased, but each song does stand on its own merits. My favorite songs on the album are “The Industrial Revolution (And How It Ruined My Life),” a paen to the time before Starbucks and rampant consumption, the fatalistic “Happy Birthday (My Olde Friend),” and Voltaire’s duet with Julia Marcell on “This Sea.” Of course, Voltaire’s brand of wry humor is also present. Tracks such as “Coin Operated Goi,” a riff off The Dresden Dolls’s “Coin-Operated Boy,” and “Death Death (Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil, Evil, Evil Song)” are sure to get a chuckle. In the end, Voltaire is still more classically Gothic than his contemporaries: To the Bottom of the Sea invokes images of peasants armed with torches and wooden stakes, ships capsizing on the cruel sea, the devil, robber barons, and hungry sea serpents. Ann Radcliffe would be proud.
