Faith and the Muse is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band composed of

Monica Richards Monica Vivienne Richards (born May 24, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, artist and author. A graduate of the American University with honors in literature and a minor in anthropology, she is considered to be an icon of the goth subcultu ...

and

William Faith William Faith (born August 28, 1967) is an American goth/punk musician. He is a former member of the gothic bands Rozz Williams' Christian Death, Shadow Project, Mephisto Walz and briefly as support for Sex Gang Children during a one-off ...

. Their music encompasses many genres, from

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

, drawing on many sources and influences, notably

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...

. Richards is the primary singer, although Faith sings one or two tracks on each album. Their influences include dark alternative,

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, and other folk influences. Welsh and Irish mythology have often served as inspiration to many of the band's songs.

Biography

Monica Richards, a native of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, is a

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

ian/

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. She met William Faith in 1992 when her band,

Strange Boutique Strange Boutique was a band from Washington, D.C. They were active between the years of 1987 and 1994 and released 4 full-length albums and 2 live albums on the Bedazzled Records label. They are also featured on several compilation albums. Mo ...

, opened for

Shadow Project Shadow Project was an alternative rock/goth metal band formed in 1987 featuring former members of Los Angeles deathrock groups Christian Death and Super Heroines. After recording two LP records the group experienced a three-year hiatus, reconven ...

Norfolk, VA Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Bea ...

. Before starting Faith and the Muse, both had had experience in the

and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

culture of the 1980s. Richards had sung for the band

, while Faith had performed with gothic/death rock icons

Christian Death Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized reli ...

, Mephisto Walz, and

Sex Gang Children Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been pack ...

. Faith and the Muse was started in 1993 with Richards and Faith exchanging tapes while Richards was still living on the east coast. Shortly thereafter she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where the duo was based.Faith and the Muse
bio at

Metropolis Records Metropolis Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993 by the late Dave Heckman. The label's all-electronic format closely tracked with European contemporaries, such as Off Beat, and, since 1995, has been instrumenta ...

. Accessed on line December 4, 2007. They recorded their debut album ''Elyria'' in March 1994, following it in 1995 with the concept album ''Annwyn, Beneath the Waves'', based around Welsh mythology. The band followed this up with an extensive touring schedule, playing with both guest musicians as a full line-up and as an acoustic duo - the latter tour documented on the ''Vera Causa'' album in 2001. Their third album, ''Evidence of Heaven'' (1999), marked the end of the first creative phase of Faith and the Muse. They then modernised both their image and their overall sound, the result appearing on their 2003 album ''The Burning Season'' - their first on

. Their most recent efforts were 2009's '':ankoku butoh:'', a compact disc/dvd/book release, steeped in Japanese myth, sound and atmosphere. This was followed by the '': shoumei :'' dvd in 2010, capturing the band performing during the '':ankoku butoh:'' tour in Houston, TX. They have toured extensively in North America, South America and Europe, and have performed at major music festivals such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'Era Luna in Germany, several

Whitby Gothic Weekend Whitby Goth Weekend, abbreviated to WGW or nicknamed Whitby, is a twice-yearly music festival for the gothic subculture, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire. Summary Whitby Goth Weekend is an alternative music fest ...

s in the UK and at

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

festival 4 and 13 in the U.S. Their live performances feature a full band with a rotating line-up of live musicians. Outside of the band, Faith and Richards are

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

designers, whose most public project was Ars Terra - the

retrofit Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...

their home into a practical example of a sustainable suburban homestead. Richards has also recently been active contributing vocals to

The Eden House The Eden House is a collaborative musical project, initiated by Stephen Carey (formerly of This Burning Effigy and Adoration) and involving a collection of guest musicians and vocalists; later joined by Tony Pettitt (formerly of Fields of the ...

- a collaborative musical project initiated by Tony Pettitt (

Fields of the Nephilim Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in 1984. The band's name refers to a Biblical race of angel-human hybrids known as the Nephilim. Career Early years (1984–1991) Fields of the Nep ...

and formerly of

Rubicon The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini. It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Ca ...

) and Steve Carey (formerly of This Burning Effigy) and involving a varied collection of guest musicians and vocalists.

Discography

*''

Elyria Elyria may refer to: *Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River (Ohio), Black ...

'' (TESS Records) (1994) *'' Annwyn, Beneath the Waves'' (TESS Records) (1996) *''Live in Mainz (16.10.1997)'' (1997) *'' Evidence of Heaven'' (Neue Ästhetik Multimedia) (1999) *''

Vera Causa References Additional references * * {{Latin phrases V ca:Locució llatina#V da:Latinske ord og vendinger#V fr:Liste de locutions latines#V id:Daftar frasa Latin#V it:Locuzioni latine#V nl:Lijst van Latijnse spreekwoorden en ui ...

'' (

) (2001) *'' The Burning Season'' (

) (2003) *'' Ankoku butoh'' (

Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

) (2009)

References

External links

The Official Website for Faith and The Muse
* *

Faith and the Muse Faith and the Muse is an American rock band composed of Monica Richards and William Faith. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk music to dark wave, drawing on many sources and influences, notably Dead Can Dance. Richards is the prima ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Faith and the Muse
bio at

Monica Richards' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faith And The Muse American gothic rock groups American dark wave musical groups Metropolis Records artists Ethereal wave musical groups