Faith And The Muse - Annwyn, Beneath The Waves

Few albums capture Faith And The Muse’s extraordinary range as completely as Annwyn, Beneath The Waves. Gothic rock, ethereal atmosphere, medieval folk, and neoclassical grandeur flow together into a record that feels less like a collection of songs than a journey into another world.

Originally released in 1996, Annwyn, Beneath The Waves was the duo’s second album, arriving two years after Elyria. Monica Richards and William Faith perform the album’s voices and instrumentation, with production and programming treatments by Chad Blinman. Recorded between October 1995 and March 1996 in Venice, California, it expanded dramatically on the world they had established with their debut.

The title references Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh mythology, and Celtic and medieval influences permeate the record. Traditional elements coexist with gothic rock and darkwave throughout “The Silver Circle,” “Cantus,” “The Dream of Macsen,” “Arianrhod,” and “Branwen Slayne.” The traditional Welsh “Hob Y Derri Dando” sits naturally alongside the duo’s own compositions, while “The Sea Angler” draws its text from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

That breadth is what makes the album so distinctive. Richards can move from commanding, ritualistic vocals to something delicate and ethereal, while Faith surrounds her with ringing guitars, percussion, atmospheric electronics, and arrangements that frequently feel ceremonial. “Fade and Remain” brings the band’s gothic rock instincts to the foreground, while the title track, “The Hand of Man,” “The Birds of Rhiannon,” and closing instrumental “Apparition” reveal just how far beyond conventional goth the duo were willing to travel.

This 2022 edition from The Circle Music marks the first-ever vinyl release of Annwyn, Beneath The Waves. Newly mastered by George Emmanuel, the original 14-track album is expanded across two 180-gram LPs, with the fourth side featuring four bonus performances recorded at Convergence XIII in Portland in 2007: “The Silver Circle,” “Fade and Remain,” “Cantus,” and “Annwyn, Beneath The Waves.” The pressing was issued in black, blue, and gold editions, each limited to just 200 copies, for a total vinyl run of 600.

Annwyn, Beneath The Waves remains one of Faith And The Muse’s defining works: romantic, ritualistic, fiercely gothic, and steeped in the mythology and musical traditions of another age.