Press Overview

Summary

Louisa John-Krol is a pioneer of ethereal music, with internationally acclaimed albums inspired by mythology, literature and faerielore. From fairy storytelling to singing and writing, she’s dedicated her life to the Faery.

Elementals and psychopomps – centaurs, fauns, salamanders, sylphs, genies, dryads – inhabit her creations, inspiring writers and illustrators worldwide. Raised in Australian bushland, her love for trees sparked respect for Druidry and the Dreaming.

Since her first original studio recording and publication of poetry, both in childhood, she’s crossed borders of diverse genres. At the turn of the century Louisa’s music entered indie labels in Europe, chiefly French fée company Prikosnovénie, which closed during the pandemic.

A fey bard, progressive activist, published author and editor, Louisa is devoted to her indoor fairy lions.

Music Genre, Style: ethereal dreampop, faery-goth, medieval, baroque, Romantic, ambient folk, Celtic fantasy with intercultural influences, Lieder, post-punk (or pixie punk) and classical cinematic soundscaping.

Literary Genres and Modes: fairy tale, fable, magic-realism/ surrealism, poetry and portal fantasy chronicles.

Imagery: Pre-Raphaelite, mythological, surrealist, phantasmagoric, archaic, romanesque, antique, Arcadian; visual arts of interest include gothic film noir and early illuminated manuscripts. Favourite painting: Botticelli’s Primavera.

Frequent themes: faerylore, parallel lives/ multiverse, muses, other deities or genies, immortal poetry, ghosts, dreams, shamanism, Animism, pantheism.

Leading Instrument: voice.

(Also plays - or tinkers with - mandolin, guitar, sansula, ocarina, keyboards, firesticks & chimes. Guest musicians have accompanied Lou on harp, charango, piano, clarinet, viola, dulcimer, glissando, hurdy-gurdy, flute and other instruments.)

Main Label: formerly Prikosnovenie in France and before that, Hyperium in Germany. Other indie labels that have released her music collaboratively or in a special anniversary edition, from Europe to America, are listed per album.

Main Producers for three decades: Brett Taylor (Pilgrim Arts) & Harry Williamson (Spring Studio).

Other Australian Producers: Jack Setton (Mad Cat Sound), Trevor Petrie (Golden City Sound), Richard Allison (Brunswick Recording & Arranging) and Nicholas Albanis (Crustacean Creations) of trance medieval duo Dandelion Wine.

Concert Report: Louisa live at Faerieworlds festival, USA 2009. Review by Leaf at Technogypsie: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=672

Selected Reviews in Brief

  • “spiritual pearls and sounds from fantasy land”

    — Khimaira magazine, Belgium

  • “a beautiful juice impressive and amazing… apocalyptic”

    — Feedback magazine, Portugal

  • “A veritable joy for the unconditional dreamers that we are”

    — Elegy magazine, France

  • “the voice of the Australian fairy takes a width and a depth close to the divine”

    — Infratunes, France

  • “enchanted reveries bewitch the listener… timeless faery music… vastly rewarding”

    — Highwire Daze magazine, America

  • “ethereal elegant Pop music heavily influenced by… folklore and literature”

    — Pentacle magazine, England

  • “genre-bending musical style… a compelling artist”

    — Fiend magazine, Australia

  • “Australian queen of new-age and esotericism”

    — Side-Line magazine, Belgium

  • “few female artists have impressed me so much since Nico or Kate Bush”

    — Oriflamme, England

  • “eerie… dreamy… ethereal folk”

    — Rhythms magazine, Australia

  • “a beautiful arc of music… a gem for fans of Heavenly Voices…”

    — Tranceform, Germany

  • “giddily beautiful…mandolin mad… untamed and lovely”

    — Ethereality & Ecto, Americ

  • “as beautiful and varied as the country she evokes”

    — Cynfeirdd – Friendship Culture, France

  • “All borders broken and crossed. You’ll be under the spell of this music enchantress quickly”

    — The Penny Dreadful webzine, Germany

  • “ethereal…unique…magnificent”

    — Vampiria magazine, Italy

  • “a jewel in romantic pop-ethereal fairy music”

    — L’Ame Electrique magazine, Greece

  • “worthy of some Medieval epic”

    — Heathen Harvest, America

  • “Lash yourselves to the mast”

    — FluxEuropa, England

  • “Music for elves, dreamers, thinkers… truly amazing”

    — Gothtronic, The Netherlands

Awards / Attainments:

  • 2021: Australian Fairy Tale Society Award 2021

  • 2021: Publication of an intercultural anthology South of the Sun: Australian fairy tales for the 21st century featuring LJK’s co-editing and her original Persian-Celtic fairy tale, in consultation with three Iranian-Australian scholars

  • 2017: ‘Envoys to the Empress’, a fairy tale in the peer-reviewed academic journal TEXT, Special Issues Series, #43 Oct, Into the bush: Australasian Fairy tales. For free access, go to ResearchGate or contact LJK directly.

  • 2017: 'Fated Intervention: Gracing, musing and the wishing well', a scholarly article published in the peer-reviewed journal TEXT, Issue 43, ibid. Link for free access here

  • Dec 2015-Jan 2016: ‘The Yellow Mansion’, a surrealist story in the fairytale edition of Victorian Writer, which I had pitched to Writers Victoria

  • 2011: Award Winning Australian Writing published LJK’s poem* (Melbourne Books) Archive link here

  • 2010-2016: worked part-time at Monash University with water ecologists; since 2016, self-employed

  • 2010: *CJ Dennis Literary Award for Poetry for poem ‘Twenty Ways to Greet a Tiger’

  • 2009: Music Award at Trolls et Legendes festival, Belgium

  • 2009: Performed on main stage at world’s largest fairy festival, 2009: Faerieworlds, in Oregon, USA, solo & with Woodland, and later (during pandemic) their online festivals Live From Home for Faerieworlds and Faeriecon

  • Late 90s to 2017: seven solo CDs, mostly on fairy label Prikosnovenie in France, and as many collaboration albums as well as compilations on other labels

  • Featured in Carnets Noirs – musiques, attitudes, cultures – Acte I – La Scene Internationale, a hardcover book published in France (Editions Espirit Livres)

  • Inspired the story ‘Louisa’ published in the book Mon Dernier The by Alyz Tale in Paris

  • 1992-2009: Taught teens including refugees and asylum seekers

  • Late 80s, 90s, early 21st century: Employed as storyteller in world’s first fairy shop Wonderwings, and then botanic gardens, town halls and National Trust homesteads, at such events as Moomba, Royal Melbourne Show, and anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland celebrations at Glen Eira Storytelling Festival

  • 1986, 1991: Bachelor of Arts & Diploma of Education, University of Melbourne.