Ferric

Here's what everyone else said:

"Despite the lack of production (understandable under these conditions), Ferric demonstrates a great writing talent along with an accurate vision for moods, a talent which might put Dagmar 41 up there with the likes of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and mostly Peter Hammill. The song "Picture Me And The Waterman" is a fantastic track..." - Francois Couture, Delire Musical, CFLX Radio, Quebec. "...all in all, it's a 'well-done'. And of course the lyrics are sensitive and intelligent... what else would one expect!" - Peter Hammill.

"Ferric is a wonderful DIY CD, undoubtedly the best I heard in 1998. It has a lovely clean, open sound textures and superb moods. The first time I played it I'd just come home from a stressful day after being up till after 2:30am the previous morning, and it filled me with joy, relief and happiness. It's funny, but I've been thinking for quite a time now that the music scene needs a renaissance, there's a need for warm heartfelt music that yet takes you on a journey with the aim of delicately pleasing and entertaining one. An antidote to the cold, aggressive sound that too much contemporary music seems to assume.

I find the way she puts her thoughts and feelings into it so vividly a pleasure to behold. Sophisticated yet still very tuneful and listenable to!

Like all great CDs, it has the habit of quantum tunnelling its way into my CD players on a very regular basis. It's probably unfair to single out specific tracks, but among my favourite tracks are "Picture Me & The Waterman", which is sung with a particular brightness even though it's outwardly about the breakup of a relationship; "Nænia", whose opening lyric 'Limestone and dancers are with you all the way' mesmerises me even though again it's a sad theme; "Great Wooden Horse" which neatly combines a number of horsy images, including of course the Trojan one; and "No Orpheus" which also has Stuart Gordon's violin swirling gracefully over sensitive piano and, as on all the tracks, the tender engaging vocals." - Adrian The Rock.

And here's what Dagmar 41 says, or what she can remember anyway...

Picture Me & The Waterman: Would you believe this sprawling monster of a song was written in one night? No, I wouldn't either, but that was the way that was... the sub-Satanic muttering at the beginning, by the way, was my way of getting my own back on my petty enemy at the local radio station. It's simply him reading the local news - backwards.

Attitude: this one, title and all, came to me in a dream. Hence, all questions about what the lyrics are supposed to mean are utterly pointless as I have no idea myself.

Nænia: Latin for "mourning song". This one kept conjuring up images of my grandmother dying, which fortunately hasn't happened yet. The limestone & dancers are Etruscan.

Headless in Siena: Yes, even I take ordinary Tuscan holidays, though in my case a mere bout of extraordinary Tuscan weather is enough for me to start writing songs about it...

Ferric: Chemically, this translates as Cu + 2Fe3+ --> Cu2+ + 2Fe2+, or etching. And I needed a male listener to point it out to me that it was actually about menstruation too...

Great Wooden Horse: All I remember about this one is that I fought the urge to write it for quite a long time because I did not at all feel like writing a children's song. It came out nevertheless, twisted and waltzed...

Think Arc: Hey, a cover version! This one was originally a hardcore rocky bit from Rob Gózon, then of Aerosol Grey Machine - but even he seems to like this lilting ballad version better by now!

Irony: Just what it says on the tin: "sort of like iron"

New Lad Movement Song: er, the outcome of one of many spells of me being cross with the above Rob. Seeing as we were never lovers, we've notched up quite an impressive score of dramas on the way!

No Orpheus: Inspired by Belgian surrealist painter Paul Delvaux and his tendency t get lost in stations (one assumes from his pictures anyway). The swooping arrangement is courtesy of Stuart Gordon and his then-new studio equipment!

The Guitar Sounds Marginally Better Than The Table: well, it did when I put my little musical clock on it for resonance purposes. The resulting sound ended up in a different song, though, and now makes up the intro of "To Not Wake Up".

Ynori: no, it's not Japanese.

To Not Wake Up: favourite wish of all those who love to sleep, perchance to dream, or to go hibernate. Probably the only recorded use of that word in a song actually.

Sadly, Ferric has been out of print for a while, but there's at least bits of it here...

For your entertainment - mp3's!

Ferric - the title track in all it's highly oxidised glory...