Dark Sound: Feminine Voices in Sonic Shadow

(Hardback)

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Dark Sound is a concept bound to music that embodies 'dark' themes such as melancholy, death, desire, violence, loss and longing. This text interrogates the attraction to dark sound and its historical association with femininity. The book begins with the intensely political repertoire of Greek-American composer and singer Diamanda Galas whose work with technology, composition and voice establishes guiding themes through which the author proceeds to discuss a range of contemporary successors such as PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi, Chelsea Wolfe, finally concluding with a contemporary understanding of 'dark sound' through an examination of the work of Norwegian sound artist, Jana Winderen.

Reviews

Finally dark music has a woman's voice to challenge the canon with demoniacal laughter, exuberant sophistication and a deliverance from dry analyses and dualisms. This book gives the reader the writing dark music has longed for and deserves, with innovative alchemy and philosophical wonder. This book changes musicology. * Patricia MacCormack, Professor of Continental Philosophy, Anglia Ruskin University, UK *
Intersectional and disruptive, Dark Sound invites us to open our ears to the world that lies in shadows beyond traditional (male, white, heteronormative) listening ranges. The darkened orchestra out there has the power to obliterate the limits of language, ratio and patriarchy, and this fascinating book offers an exciting audio guide to the cacophony of the unsaid and the unheard. * Isabella van Elferen, Professor of Music and School Director of Research and Enterprise, Kingston University London, UK, and author of Gothic Music: The Sounds of the Uncanny (2012) *
From the sirens who transfixed Odysseus to the Dark Lady who prowls through Shakespeares sonnets, from the ruthless sonic terrorism of Diamanda Gals to state-of-the-art black metal theory, this extraordinary meditation snakes through centuries of shadowy culture to weave together forbidden philosophies of sound, gender, and creativity. It is by turns symphonic, sizzling, and slinky, driven by a tempestuous intellectual energy that gathers obscurities, mysteries, and insurgencies into an unruly hymn or an unforgiving lament for the marginalized and defiant voices of the dark feminine. * Nick Groom, Professor of Literature in English, University of Macau *

Author Bio

D Ferrett teaches Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Popular Music at Falmouth University. She has published work on themes of abjection and interviews with Diamanda Galas and Maggie Nicols. As both a theorist and music-maker, D's focus on the voice brings together an interest in critical writing, gender studies and subversive sound practices.