Pagan music is a wide field. There’s music for Pagan ritual and devotion, there’s music with Pagan themes, there’s music by artists who are Pagan, and there’s music Pagans like. Sharon Knight fits into all those categories with both her solo / duo Neofolk Romantique work and her harder work with her band Pandemonaeon. I have most of her CDs and while I like some more than others (naturally) they’re all good.
Don’t know Sharon? Her music is inspired by the visionary world of Celtic mysticism. Her current album Neofolk Romantique includes a WB Yeats poem, “Bells of Alluria” and a version of “McCrimmon’s Lament.”
Read this interview I did with her in 2013. She talks about her experience with Feri witchcraft, spiritual practices, songwriting, and pirates. Never forget the pirates!
Sharon and her partner Winter are running an Indiegogo campaign to finance their new album Portals.
Imagine, if you will: an otherworldly carnival, traveling in and out of mystery, magic, the unexplained. You feel the hair raise on the back of your neck as a motley band of skillful and possibly dangerous musicians brandish their bows, their voices, their tambourines, and open portals to the realms of the fantastical! You thrill to the charms of seductive sirens, pixie pirates, steampunk sailors, metal warriors, witches and wanderlings, as a mighty cast of characters wield their mightiest mojo in a Theatre of Enchantment crafted to delight and awe!
Portals will feature numerous guest musicians who are established Pagan artists in their own right, including S.J. Tucker, Wendy Rule, Heather Dale, and Sonja Drakulich of Faun and Stellamara.
Perks for backers include digital and CD downloads of the album (you’re essentially pre-ordering it), a special key which Sharon will magically charge by moon, sea, and song, handwritten lyrics of the song of your choice, a custom song, a chance to be in a music video for one of the Portals songs, and more. You can check out all the packages and see the details on the Portals Indiegogo page.
I asked Sharon about her reasons for bringing in so many guest musicians.
I was inspired by Morpheus Ravenna and her Book of the Great Queen. Her campaign brought Winter and I into her project by recording the poems and songs for the Morrigan at our studio. Her project also brought money to Amelia Hogan as the book binder and Valerie Herron as visual artist. We thought it would be great to continue the tradition and bring abundance to our circle of artist friends. Paying it forward as it were.
By including many musicians and visual artists on our next album, we are able to create a much more special body of work for our patrons as well as ensuring that well-loved artists in our community continue to thrive and create their mythic beauty for us.
Here’s my favorite song from Sharon’s last album Neofolk Romantique, “Fire in the Head.”
I heard “Fire in the Head” at a time when I was facing some serious challenges – some ordinary and some spiritual. I needed to make a commitment to something that was more than a little scary, but also very necessary. “Fire in the Head” spoke to both the promise and the risk, the beauty and the terror. It helped me do what I needed to do with my eyes wide open.
That’s the magic of good Pagan music.
That’s why I support good Pagan musicians.
Sharon and Winter are good people making good music. I’m backing Portals. If you like their music I hope you will too.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In