Ordo Equitum Solis
| Ordo Equitum Solis | |
|---|---|
OES live
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | OES |
| Origin | France, Italy |
| Genres | Dark wave, Neofolk, Dark ambient, Neoclassical |
| Years active | 1988-2001 (Reunion in 2010) |
| Labels | MMM, Sinope |
| Website | ordoequitumsolis.com |
Ordo Equitum Solis (abbreviated OES) are an alternative music band consisting of French Leithana, pseudonym of Nathalie Herrera (vocals, keyboards, zither, percussions) and Italian Deraclamo, pseudonym of Paolo De Marco (vocals, guitar). The duo formed in 1988, and released albums and toured between 1990 and 2000. In 2001 the band suddenly broke up, but there was a reunion in 2010.
The musical style of OES does not fall into a precise category. While the early albums have pronounced industrial, esoteric darkwave and a touch of medieval influences, with time their musical style matured, embracing multi-faceted sonorities between neofolk, experimentalism and ballad songs. The albums, that include also instrumental tracks, are characterized by a significant switch and mix of genres, making Ordo Equitum Solis' music unusual, various, intimistic and hard to describe. Distinguishing features are Leithana's voice, Deraclamo's folk guitar, lyrics in various languages (English, French, Latin, Italian), highly-emotional melodies, experimental effects, romantic and decadent atmosphere, and remarkable, sometimes provocative arrangements.
Ordo Equitum Solis' releases had often been concept-albums, inspired by symbolic themes or personal experiences. The albums denote also the duality of the band, between Leithana's often inflexible creative genius, and Deraclamo's instinctive inspiration.
Leithana and Deraclamo met in 1985 in a post-punk club in Paris (Le Saint), the city where Leithana lived. Deraclamo at that time roamed around London, Paris and Barcelona. They immediately decided to make music together, considering their love for music and the coincidence of their musical taste, especially regarding the dark and post-punk London scene. In addition, both had the same sense of freedom, that would induce a continuous wandering in the following years, a theme developed in their CD Planetes.
To realize their musical project, in 1987 both moved to Paganotti, a mountain village in Italy, where they made their first album Solstitii Temporis Sensus. Between 1988 and 1989 Ordo Equitum Solis befriended Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus), who played on the first two albums of Ordo Equitum Solis. In 1992 Leithana recorded some piano tracks for Sol Invictus. As keyboard-player Leithana also participated in some of Sol Invictus' concerts, in particular during the legendary tour of Death In June, Current 93 and Sol Invictus together (1991).
On 21 December 1990, the band's first album, Solstitii Temporis Sensus was released on the independent label Musica Maxima Magnetica (already label of Sleep Chamber, Vasilisk and numerous other artists). The album had an immediate and unexpected success both in terms of sales and in terms of audience. The cooperation with the label would continue until 1996 with the albums Animi Aegritudo (1992), the mini-CD OES (1993), the live-album Paraskénia (1994), and finally Hecate (1995).
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