Ethereal Wave

Ethereal Wave, also called Ethereal Darkwave^[1] or Etheric Wave^[2] in Europe, and simply Ethereal in the US, is a term that describes a subgenre of Dark Wave music. Typical of this kind of music is the use of atmospheric guitar soundscapes, including sound effects like echo and delay. A second typical characteristic is the use of breathy male or high register female vocals - often with hard to decipher lyrical content - and a strong influence of ambient, classical and world music. The American music group Siddal described the music as follows: "A product of influences such as the Cocteau Twins, Low, Slowdive, The Cure, and Dead Can Dance, use a blend of ambient music, shoegazer style guitars, synths and sequenced rhythms."^[3] There are overlaps between Ethereal Wave, Shoegazing and Dreampop, with many artists being heavily influenced by 4AD bands, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, and This Mortal Coil, as well as early All About Eve and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The style is strongly associated with the Projekt label, which features some of the most well known names of the US scene. Other labels that featured some of the leading lights of the scene in the 1990s were Tess Records (This Ascension) and Hyperium Records (Chandeen).

Notable Artists

Samples

References

1. ^ Encyclopedia Gothica
2. ^ Music genre classification of the bands Trance To The Sun, This Ascension and Soul Whirling Somewhere · Glasnost Wave Magazine · Issue No. 42 · Pages 32/34 · Germany · April 1994
3. ^ Description from the official homepage of Siddal