“Queen Of The Damned” - Nico :: "Desertshore" - Reprise Records
On what would have been the late queen of the damned’s 85th birthday, Christa Päffgen, known by many from around the world as Nico, German-born musician, actress, model and pioneer of the intoxicatingly Gothic side of music and forbidden fashion, Nico blazed through a career of cosmic sensory with ballistic bravery and silhouetted sincerity like no one before her. While some could argue that her time in music was cut short due to her untimely death just shy of 50, it's within that same breath that we can also mutter into the voice-less void that ‘everything happens for a reason’. Her iconically influential participation in the mighty Velvet Underground is undeniably why most of the world started a band once the outfit of osculating oblivion released their monumental debut in the spring of 1967. Both her iconic and influential participation in the mighty Velvet Underground is undeniably why most of the world started a band once the outfit of osculating oblivion released their monumental debut and from there the rest is harmonious history.
After obliterating the more polished perimeters of the remaining decade in one fair swoop from a sonically charged scythe, its slicing sentiment causing seasonal changes among its listeners, the young musician willfully broke away from the band to profoundly pursue a career as a solo musician, that to this day, still remains one of the most tragically intriguing explorations into the atmospheric abyss of the heart and soul like nothing you’ve ever heard, or felt before. While inspiring multiple different generations and audacious audiences from all corners of the world, Nico leaves behind a brilliantly devastating body of work that symbolically swoons its listeners into the deep dark crevasses of the human psyche of ghostly proportions. After the Dionysian dust settling of 1968’s “Marble Index”, Nico began filleting the feverish elements of what would soon become her almighty, Avant-garde masterpiece, “Desertshore”. Bringing former bandmate and close colleague, John Cale, on board to provide his monumentally macabre profession in production as well as vocals and instrumentation throughout its pulverizing production, the duo established a calcified collection of songs in 1970 that effortlessly echo cinematic magic through the deep dark wardrobes of space and time.
Split between locations at Sound Techniques in London and Studios Davout in Paris, Nico carried over some of the more familiar ascetics and tonal textures of “Marble Index” by continuing to expand and esoterically enunciate her cosmic connection to the harmonium. An instrument that not only served her well, but more so, acted as a visceral vessel for her enlightening exercises in spirituality, trauma and revolving romanticism, the musician had truly grown into her own by this time, as well as establishing the shape-shifting solace of her significant sorcery in sound. While balancing her time between music and acting, Nico began working with French director Philippe Garrel on his 1969 film “Le Lit de la Vierge”, as well as “The Inner Scar” with her late son during the “Desertshore” era. Sporting beautiful orange hair with bowled bangs, Nico systematically suggests change from perhaps her more pop-influenced period by devilishly appearing as a paganistic princess in the thematic throes of addiction as well as the atmospheric essences of total greatness. As much as it is subliminal, the album is also laden with sorcery, symbolism and supersonic spirituality, while simultaneously conquering sacrificial excellence. “Desertshore” effortlessly spills into customs via the expressway of the cold cosmos by crash-landing both a mother and son in a replicated oasis of peace, love and billowing comfort for the ultimate, deep sleep.
