Ailise Blake’s Soave

Former member of the bands J.C. Satan and La Secte du Futur, Italian-born, France-based musician Ailise Blake – also known as Ali Macabre –  has signed with the Italian label These Hands Melt for the release of her new album, Soave. The first single and video from the album, ‘Apollo (The Attraction Towards the Sun)’, is available now. As a solo artist whose work has a mystical quality, characterised by what some refer to as “spectral folk” it is a blend of moody, dark and ethereal songwriting. The upcoming album follows her 2020 debut, Songs From The Uncanny Valley.

Ailise Blake explained her  personal meaning behind the album’s title, Soave: “I titled this album Soave not only because of the sound of the word itself, which to my ears sounds like the wind, but because for me, soave is what we perceive silently beneath the action of everyday life, that veil of calm and stillness found when we stop to listen to ourselves; it  represents  the light and the tenderness, yet it is still and untouchable, it is alchemical, it is transcendental, it gives a sense of peace completely subjective to the mind that perceives it.”

She added that the album represents a “hermit’s journey” that she took while recording alone in her studio in a remote mountain village: “I wanted to record Soave in my studio, which is located in a remote village at the top of a mountain, in the middle of a forest, alone, during winter, when my village is practically empty. I’ve spent months in the dark writing, I didn’t talk to people for extended periods of time, and I didn’t listen to any music but my own. I wanted this experience to be as close as possible to what could be defined as a hermit’s journey, but mostly, I wanted it to be honest, and as raw as possible, keeping the production of this album a radical one.”

Blake wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed the album herself and it is intertwined with her study of “Thelemic Mysteries and the Ceremonial Magick” and an “explicit ode” to this philosophy. “This album is part of my initiatic journey and is intertwined with what we westerners call ceremonial magick, specifically the one that is practised at the heart of the Thelemic Order of the Ordo Templi Orientis”, said Blake. “It is an album for everyone and an album for those who transmit the Current 93. What I desire the most with this work  is to be able to convey that sense of stillness of the mind, to enable the listener to take a breath when we cannot do so on our own.”

Soave is scheduled for release on 7^th November, and will be available in several formats: Limited edition ginger haze 12″ LP vinyl (150 copies), CD digipack, dimited cassette tape (100 copies) and digitally. The album’s artwork was created by Blake, with the layout done by Lucia Macip and These Hands Melt. It was mastered by Nikolaus Jira.