Shannon Funchess is Here to Slay
Shannon Funchess radiates a certain low, rumbling power unlike anyone or anything else around her. And her voice… O Holy Fuck, that VOICE. It belongs in a cathedral, or an abattoir.
The Brooklyn-based musician’s previous work as a frontwoman, and with NYC indie darlings like TV on the Radio and !!! and Telepathe is all very cool, but it’s only more recently, with the platform of Light Asylum — her duo with electronics maestro Bruno Coviello– that Funchess’ vision and strength seem to have reached a fulminating state.
This is the raw, real stuff right here, hearkening back to ultra-early Ministry, dance hall Cabaret Voltaire, or any of 4AD’s most toothsome output from back in the day. Think Ian Curtis at his most tuneful, Grace Jones at her most carnivorous, or Clan of Xymox with roid rage… then think far, far beyond that, because, with Coviello matching her, it seems like Funchess now has the space she needs to commit to ritual that pushes even further into the dark. Light Asylum songs, at their best and most grandiose, seriously feel like they’re on the verge of some sort of Crossing-the-Abyss-at-the-Discotheque type of working. (Is that statement too bombastic? Maybe. Maybe not. Go to one of their live shows and decide for yourself.)
“To me Light Asylum is a metaphor for the lack of genuine self-expression in the world, where people suppress their sexuality, their creativity, their entire lives. This music is for them and for people to realize that they’re not alone. The music is dark, but it’s at a place where you can see there is light at the end of the tunnel. The darkness isn’t all around us; it’s inside us.” [via]
Creepy baby is creepy.
January 5th, 2011 at 4:01 am
thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!
January 5th, 2011 at 8:20 am
Beautiful voice. Sorta like a female Andrew Eldritch?
January 5th, 2011 at 10:39 am
Wow!
January 5th, 2011 at 10:39 am
I first heard of Shannon Funchess and Light Asylum several months ago. The “Dark Allies” song is SERIOUSLY good and her voice is something you do not forget in a hurry. It rumbles!
January 5th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
WOW…what an absolutely gorgeous, glorious voice….I must get more of her music! Thank you!!!!
January 6th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
AAhhh! I have a new obsession….thanks Mer!
January 6th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Isn’t this stuff incredible? It makes me a little giddy, I love it so much.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
God, I love that first song, I;m still a bit ambivalent about the second though, it doesn’t quite get to me, nor make me want to repeatedly come back to this site just to listen to it. Which the first one does.
‘Cause it is Awesome.
January 11th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
what a powerful voice!
May 1st, 2012 at 12:03 am
This is beautiful – thank you so much for sharing this with us!