Damaris (Digital)
Release date: 14-Dec-09
Format: Digital
Record label: Bloody Chamber Music
Cat no: BCM005D
Type: EP
Track list:
1. Damaris [5:28]
2. Peacock Skies [2:30]
3. Queen Isabella (She-Wolf of France) [3:02]
4. Damaris (St. George’s Church Acoustic Mix) [5:36]
The song is semi-autobiographical and centred on the loss of love, but was also inspired by a tale discovered by Patrick when he went to seek out his English roots after a period of heartbreak and the ending of a relationship that was documented in the song The Magic Position.
Tracing the roots of his father under the family name Apps back to a family of ferret-catchers and blacksmiths in Brede, East Sussex, Patrick stumbled across a small wooden cross engraved with the name ‘Damaris’ among the gravestones of his ancestors…
From that moment, Patrick began to research who Damaris might be, and it came about that the wooden cross told a larger tale than anyone could have imagined. It is still unsure whether Damaris was a gypsy or a heathen, but she belonged outside of the Catholic church, who in 1880, held a very strict reign over romance and passion in such a small village. Damaris was most certainly not from the Catholic church, so when she fell in love with Lewis, the son of the Parish priest, she was denied of ever being united in marriage with him.
Patrick writes the song from the perspective of Lewis after discovering that Damaris has ‘died of a broken heart’, which, in the 19th Century was a polite term for either suicide, or a romantic notion that someone can be so heartbroken that they give up on life. The song is a musical iconisation of a true life Romeo and Juliet from Sussex. Two star-crossed lovers who were destined to be together, but were denied, due to the repression and sign of the times.
The church organ on the song, played by Patrick and the drums by Marcello Vig were both recorded in 2008 on location in St. George’s Church, the very church ground where the romance took place a hundred years before between Damaris and Lewis.
Peacock Skies was programmed by Patrick during the Magic Position tour of 2007 in the Californian Desert somewhere between Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Damaris (St. George’s Church Acoustic Mix) is a special acoustic mix of Damaris, which highlights the amazing St. George’s Church Organ and Patrick Wolf/Fiona Brice string arrangements in their full glory.
Queen Isabella (The She-Wolf of France) is a truly gothic baroque harpsichord-driven fury of a song, written from the perspective of the legendary ‘She-Wolf of France’. Isabella of France who was sworn into a marriage in her youth with King Edward the Second of England, who was reputed to be bisexual… The English people in the 16th Century branded her ‘She Wolf’. Legend has it that her ghost still haunts the gardens of St. Paul’s Cathedral, nearby to where Patrick lives.
Vocals, church organ and electronics by Patrick Wolf. 12 piece strings conducted by Fiona Brice: Violin 1 – Debs White, Victoria Sutherland, Gillon Cameron. Violin 2 – Stephen Hussey, Louisa Aldridge, Sarah Button. Viola – Emma Owens, Fiona Leggat, Lucy Morgan. Cello – Vicky Matthews, Helen Rathbone, Ivan Hussey. Irish whistle by Rose Marie. Drums by Marcello Vig. Fiddle by Eliza Carthy. Produced by Patrick Wolf with additional production by Jonathan Shakhovskoy.