Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows

Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows is a darkwave band consisting solely of Anna-Varney Cantodea. Not much is known about Anna-Varney, save for the tortured life he lived which led to the band's existence. He has said

Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows is a darkwave band consisting solely of Anna-Varney Cantodea. Not much is known about Anna-Varney, save for the tortured life he lived which led to the band's existence. He has said in several interviews that he spent nearly three decades in extreme states of depression, despair and loneliness, all of which resulted in his discovery of the "Ensemble Of Shadows", otherwordly presences and/or voices who stirred his musical senses and guided him to share the works in his head with the public. He does not speak much on the subject of the Ensemble, nor does he perform live "in front of humans." Anna-Varney does have a sense of humour however, such as admitting he loves Darth Vader and changing the Fruit of the Loom logo to "Fruit of the Tomb", which encorporates his face into the design.

The music itself is quite emotional and dreary, using a variety of brass, woodwinds (in particular, flutes), string quartets and various guitars. In some instances, synthesizers and drum machines or real percussion is used. Anna-Varney has clearly stated that he creates his music about himself, solely for himself. Various themes include death, suicide, karmatic pain, loneliness and sadness. A very important concept is the idea of becoming or being a woman, or at least removal of the male genitalia in favour of attaining the female variant (in later album artwork, Anna-Varney is usually shown nude with a vagina which has been edited in by computer rather than having his body surgically altered due to spiritual conflicts; in either case, Anna-Varney is now referred to by the pronoun "she" instead of "he".) There are also several musical themes that reappear in his works; the most notable example is the song "Birth - Fiendish Figuration" which has appeared in at least four forms on separate releases. Other songs contain similar melodic lines or lyrics from an earlier release.