Debut book-cd by Spanish siren Priscilla Hernandez, who draws, paints, writes and sings. Ancient Shadows consists of two parts – The Ghost and The Fairy – corresponding with dark & light aspects of the supernatural, each accompanied by a booklet of lyrics and illustrations. Crossing ethereal gothic with new-age, from the first ghostly sighs Priscilla communes with ghostly companions. Priscilla is a performer blessed with resemblance to the enchantress portrayed in #16 The Prince and the Fairy: “a maiden golden as the summer, it was not a trick of the light filtering through the dome of the wood. Too late he realized he was under a spell”. No ephemeral flotsam, but an ardent, determined woman who has stayed true to her consistent, compelling vision. Instruments include flute, cello, guitar (electric & acoustic), keyboard & percussion, played by a troupe of musicians. Comparisons: Keltia, Persephone, This Ascension, Mirabilis, The Telling, Ophelia’s Dream, Angels of Venice, Pink Ruby, Tori Amos, Artesia, Elane, Fleur, Faun, Seventh Harmonic, Alquimia, The Moors. Visual refs: Edmund Dulac; Arthur Rackham; John Bauer; and contemporary fantasy illustrators Sandrine Gestin, Sabine Adelaide, Brian Froud and Amy Brown among others.
My later appraisal appeared in The Small Tapestry, Australian pagan journal, for P.H.’s subsequent book-cd: Hailing from Spain’s Canary Islands is a bewitching siren, whose silken voice and deft brushstrokes sashay between haunted willows, waifs, wraiths and winsome wayfarers. This minstrel turned down labels to pursue her unique vision, manifesting in her latest album, The Underliving: “Bearing only my / freeborn spirit / and startled gaze / back into the woods” (P.H.)