Extract of Interview in Highwire Daze, #112, May/June 2008, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Interviewer: Ken Morton for Highwire Daze Magazine: highwiredaze.com

If there was another time you could… present your music in, what would that be and why?

One might idealize the Age of Chivalry (as some Romantics or Pre-Raphaelites do), or rue the passing of a pre-industrial pastoral epoch (as Folk purists do). But there were inquisitions, witch-burnings, bubonic plagues and fewer opportunities for women. As to the future, climate change terrifies me. So now is my time.

Is it any Accident that all of your CD’s titles thus far have begun with the letter ‘A’?

It’s a little metaphorical joke… we haven’t moved past the first letter of the alphabet.

What made you decide to re-release Alexandria and what do you think of the music… now?

Ted and Kat (Forest of the Fae) approached me to re-release Alexandria, which had sold out of Australian and German editions. I like the irony of being presented with another ex-Hyperium act, The Moors; I’m impressed by Ted’s project Autumn Tears.

Where did the two bonus tracks on Alexandria come from and is there any story or concept behind these two recordings?

‘Gwyllion’ was inspired by an illustration of a Welsh mountain spirit in Faeries by Alan Lee and Brian Froud. ‘Death’s Illusions’ was with German composers Gleisberg, Grassow, Agthe, Schlomer and hubby Mark (Mirek).

In an interview, you listed Joni Mitchell as one of your earliest influences. If you were to record a Joni Mitchell cover, what song of hers would you chose and why?

‘I had a King’ (because it reminds me of Narnia); or ‘Morning Morgantown’, ‘Woodstock’ or ‘Ladies of the Canyon’ (for their haunting, childlike whimsy).

Have you ever played here in the States or do you plan to do so in the future?

Robert Gould (Imaginosis), who publishes illustrations of Froud, invited me to a faerie festival in the US. It’s a great honour… There are wonderful American friends / listeners to meet.

Are you a fan of any styles of metal or modern day music? If so, what bands do you like?

The Swans, Cerberus Shoal, David Tibet, Legendary Pink Dots, Hungry Lucy, Bardo Pond, And Also The Trees, Mirabilis, FSOL, Rampoon, Bill Lazwell, My Bloody Valentine, Sex Pistols …