Perfectly relatable for a modern audience

New Noise Magazine reviews Teacup Gorilla's music for Jane/Eyre.

The album opens on “Bewick’s History of British Birds (Jane’s Theme)” which, in the context of the play, comes as Jane discovers her favorite book as a child which sets up a bird metaphor throughout the story and gives us the line in the play that provides the show and album’s subtitle “I am no bird and no net ensnares me.” The bright and upbeat theme is perfectly contrasted by Merkl’s deep voice that’s perfectly suited to careful storytelling. As this theme becomes Jane’s overall theme for the show, it represents the optimism in the story for Jane’s future, as the play eschews the novel’s ending for something much more empowering.

“Kind Angels Only (Gateshead Hall)” takes a more melancholy turn, as we’re now wading through Jane’s dreary childhood years living with her aunt and guardian, Mrs. Reed, at Gateshead Hall. There’s a lot of pessimism in this part of the story, that’s only really alleviated when Jane retreats into her own imagination with her book, and the almost military drumming reminds us that the incessant march of time continues on through the darkest of times. 

“Resurgam (Helen’s Theme)” is an ode to Jane’s first true friend, Helen Burns, who the the play makes into more of a lover than a mere friend. Jane meets Helen when the two are students at the harsh religious institution Lowood School, and Helen is Jane’s one friend, the one who reminds her that the opinions of her religious fanatic teachers shouldn’t affect her. Helen dies of a fever, and the instrumental track serves as Jane’s tearful goodbye to the first person in her life to truly show her kindness. The soft, slow guitar solo in this track really brings out the hope in the song for, while Helen passes on to the next life, there’s a reminder that Helen provided hope in Jane’s dreary life.

“And Where in Summer” represents Jane’s journey from Lowood School to her new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she will spend most of the rest of the story. Moving on from the scene of so many dark moments for Jane to a new life full of hope, the song focuses on scenes of nature that, as usual, fill Jane with joy and anticipation of something better. While Thornfield will still be a complicated new home for her, in this moment, she finds joy in her new endeavor, hoping for the best for the future.

“Some Scorched Desire” scores the scene where Jane, pining for Thornfield Hall’s master Mr. Rochester—who recently was saved by Jane from burning to death in his sleep, hence the title—meets a soothsayer who tells her fortune, only to reveal themselves to be Mr. Rochester in disguise. Appropriately, the tune takes on a Romani style that’s both lively and sinister, representing Mr. Rochester’s deceit. This is where Merkl’s voice really comes in handy, because he lends a certain power to this song that enhances its sense of mystery.

“I Am No Bird and No Net Ensnares Me” is the title track to the whole play and depicts Jane’s defiant attitude towards Mr. Rochester’s attempts to control her. Combining the vocal powers of Miriam Suzanne and Dameon Merkl, the song takes on a sinister air that perfectly captures the feminist ire of Jane’s statement. Then the final track on the album, “There In the Darkness She Kindled the Bed,” tells the story of Rochester’s first wife, Bertha, who grew mad by being imprisoned in the attic of Thornfield Hall and is discovered to be the one who attempted to light Rochester on fire.

Burning with Bertha’s righteous anger at being wronged for so long, the song takes this spectral character from the novel who is sometimes seen as merely an impediment to Rochester and Jane’s relationship and instead makes her a lead character who, rightfully, takes her revenge on the man who imprisoned her. It makes for a furious and dark ending to a beautiful album that moves through so many different emotions.

Jane Eyre might be an odd choice of subject matter for a post-punk album but, surprisingly, Teacup Gorilla makes it work. While the album follows the story of the play fairly closely, and was written to be performed alongside the show, it also manages to work as a freestanding piece of work on its own. It not just perfectly brings out the emotions of the story, it perfectly translates them into something relatable for a modern audience. (Julie River)

More Brontë-inspired music as BBC brings back the story of how Kate Bush came to write her Wuthering Heights.

Kate Bush's debut single, Wuthering Heights, was theatrical, undeniably eccentric, and utterly unlike the punk, new wave, prog rock and disco music that dominated the UK charts when it was released 47 years ago this week. And yet the single became an unexpected number one hit in 1978 – the first song written and performed by a female artist to reach the UK top spot. What makes the single even more idiosyncratic is that its title and story are borrowed from Emily Brontë's 1847 novel – but it was actually a television series that spurred Bush to write the song.

"Well, I hadn't read the book, that wasn't what inspired it. It was a television series they had years ago," she told Michael Aspel in a BBC interview in 1978. As a teenager she had come across the end of an episode of a 1967 BBC adaptation of Brontë's tale of doomed love. Its startling imagery had captivated her. "I just managed to catch the very last few minutes where there was a hand coming through the window and blood everywhere and glass. And I just didn't know what was going on and someone explained the story." (Myles Burke)

Mondo Sonoro (Spain) reviews Virginia Feito's novel Victorian Psycho.

Digamos que Winifred podría definirse como el resultado de cruzar el ADN literario de Jane Eyre, Mary Poppins, la anónima narradora de “Otra vuelta de tuerca” y otras tantas institutrices de la literatura gótica y decimonónica con el Patrick Bateman de Bret Easton Ellis, el obvio modelo de la autora, al que rinde homenaje en su mismo título. Como él, se trata de alguien que nos cuenta en primera persona una historia en la que cometen un buen número de actos perversos y atroces… pero no estamos demasiado seguros de que debamos creerlos. De hecho, parece que, en bastantes ocasiones, sufren alucinaciones. (José Martínez Ros) (Translation)

El periódico de Extremadura (Spain) features a library club that gathered on January 20th to celebrate Anne Brontë's birthday.

Una decena de cacereños han celebrado este lunes, 20 de enero, la vida y obra de Anne Brontë en la Biblioteca Pública A. Rodríguez Moñino/M. Brey. Se trata de una de las figuras literarias más relevantes del siglo XIX. Su obra desafió las normas sociales de su época al utilizar una perspectiva única y valiente.

La escritora inglesa fue la menor de las hermanas Brontë y destacó por su capacidad para abordar temas como la independencia femenina o las desigualdades sociales en sus obras, como 'Agnes Grey' y 'La inquilina de Wildfell Hall'. (Miriam Sierra Becerro) (Translation)