The mysterious new musical project MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM made its first appearance earlier this year, introducing itself as a band following the concept of “Black Death”, the bubonic plague. The deadliest epidemic in history which is estimated to have caused a death toll of 50 million during the 14th century.
Uniquely, the band consists of four members who generally serve more than one role, such as a member being responsible for both bass and guitar, among other roles as we’ll find out later in the interview.
The members have chosen to remain anonymous, hiding their faces behind plague masks, but for its first debut single, MY RAVEN BLACK, they’ve worked together with guest vocalist Ryo Enomoto. We had the pleasure to learn about her experience working with the mysterious MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM.
-
- Ryo Enomoto
-
- MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM
Hi Ryo, it’s an honor to be able to speak to someone who is working with such a mysterious band like MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM. Could you start off by telling us about your role?
Nice to meet you. I’m Ryo Enomoto, I performed as a guest vocalist for MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM’s song MY RAVEN BLACK.
How did you become a part of this project?
What happened was that a foreign musician saw my YouTube channel and because of that, my management was contacted and I joined the project.
I had great fun tackling a new genre that had me a little worried about whether I could make it work or not.
Could you tell us about the other band members and their roles?
- Aina Le Sombré Romanov plays the synths and does programming.
- Nocturne Y. Wilhelm plays the guitars and basses.
- Miseria De La May Fernando plays the pianos, keys, and does all the orchestra arrangements.
- Franz AKM Drudenhaus plays the drums.
That’s quite different from a traditional band, what was the idea behind this lineup?
I don’t know any details about the band members, sorry…
Ah, no worries! So how would you describe the music of the band?
It’s quite different from the genre I usually listen to, but I think that the enigmatic parts become reality within the song.
And at the same time, I was anxious about whether or not I would be able to sing it in a cool way.
Despite being different from what you’re used to, what do you think about the end result?
I was a bit nervous about the challenge of doing this kind of music genre for the first time, but when I heard the finished work I really felt like it was worth it. I’m glad I did it!
What are your personal thoughts regarding the plague concept?
I personally really like this type of imagery and music scene, so I was very happy about it because I didn’t expect I’d ever be able to participate in something like this.
What is the biggest appeal of collaborating with MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM?
Because it’s a genre I haven’t worked with before, I want to know if it’s something I’m able to pull off.
Did you learn anything new from working with the band?
I learned to what extent I’m able to express this world view relying on just my own capabilities. It was difficult to sing in accordance with the image expected of me, while at the same time also leaving in some of my own individuality.
We also know that vocalist Mike Moldy, and illustrator Eliza Praxmarer took part in “MY RAVEN BLACK”. It seems like MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM has a very international focus?
I was surprised as well. When I was invited I was anxious and I felt like maybe I wasn’t fit for the role. But then I thought if the band liked my voice and singing, then I’m happy.
For the song “MY RAVEN BLACK”, what inspired the lyrics of the song?
When I heard about the concept—because I was told that I would be able to write the lyrics as I liked—I wrote them with a feeling of darkness and needing to run away in mind.
I heard that this song was originally inspired by a poem written by Empress Elizabeth of Austria.
Each time I set out on a journey, a flock of seagulls followed the ship. Among them, there was always one dark-colored almost close to black-colored seagull. The black seagull sometimes accompanied me all the way while I was moving from a continent to another continent. I think the bird was my destiny…
We noticed the red moon in the music video, what is the meaning behind it? How does it connect to the band?
I was explained that the red moon is from the Bible Matthew 24:
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
“Red moon” is by the way a saying of a sign of the beginning of the end.
You sing not only Japanese but also a mysterious language. Can you tell us more about this language and why you wanted to include it in the lyrics?
I only wrote the Japanese parts, so I can’t really answer that question.
Since you’re a guest vocalist, does that mean the band will continue to invite new guest vocalists in the future? Can we expect to hear more from you?
I can’t talk about any details yet but there may be more in the future!
So let’s say you do have the chance to work with the band again, what other themes would you like to explore?
Without breaking the mysterious and dark image of the current song, next time I would like to do a song with a calm atmosphere, similar to a ballad.
Are you interested in collaborating with more artists from overseas in the future?
I would like to! I want to work hard so I can work with all kinds of genres.
Please leave a message to all the readers out there!
Thank you for reading this interview! Through this project, everyone can meet a new side of me and I’m very happy to be able to show this version of myself to everyone!
I’m enjoying my work while working hard so that everyone can enjoy it as well, so I’d be really glad to receive your support!
We would like to thank Ryo for taking the time to let us talk to her. We look forward to see what both MISTRESS OF THE DARKROOM and Ryo Enomoto will do next.
The debut song MY RAVEN BLACK is available for streaming and purchase through major digital stores.
- MY RAVEN BLACK (feat. Ryo Enomoto & Mike Moldy)