RIFT Music Magazine, Issue 17

Scarlet Slipping - Fire In The Mist

by Nelson Heise

If I didn't review records, I'm sure I'd never have heard of this disc, since it really doesn't fall into any of the different genres of pop/rock music I listen to. In saying that, I expose some of my ignorance to the huge independent world of music, or maybe the independent music world is just too big for anybody to fully absorb. Either way, I'm glad Scarlet Slipping's "Fire in the Mist" came my way. First of all, it enlightens me to a synth-driven, Goth sound I'm not totally clued in to. Although reading Scarlet Slipping's bio on the Web, Dawn Wagner (who is all of Scarlet Slipping) doesn't particularly care for the Goth comparisons. Second, it introduced me to Wagner's angelic voice, which is hypnotizing throughout the whole disc.

Wagner truly embodies DIY. Not only does she compose the tracks, she performs, records and mixes them, too. Outside of mastering the disc, Wagner does it all and when you sit down and listen to the disc, you'll be impressed by the complexities involved in making the record and the talent Wagner possesses. The disc opens up with the lyrics "We are naked, we are scarred" before the pounding drum machine and synthesizer drive the song into full gear of the track "We Are." I also dug the tracks "Scissor Candy" and "Snowflakes." I feel there is hint of Mazzy Star and PJ Harvey lingering in her voice and her music. Scarlet Slipping is definitely worth a listen. NH

The very kind words of Jason Wallach of The Unquiet Void

"Fire in the Mist is the last and desperate sigh of agony before relinquishing all hope to the fact that the fairy tale is over and that reality is a nasty creature bent on consumption of the human soul."

"on this album you sing from your heart displaying a great deal of vulnerability with a 'look but don't touch' approach. I can hear that even though you bear your soul that you are most definitely guarded and why shouldn't you be? The rawness and realness of it is only made more plain and more powerful by the performing style you have adopted... I truly love it."

From the Independent Clauses "fire in the mist" review

"It is amazing that everything you hear on Fire in the Mist was created by one extremely talented woman. The music, the lyrics, and the production were all done by Scarlet Slipping herself, and that shows not only how talented she is, but how passionate about her music she is."

"The music is so intricate and ethereal - it's hard to describe it any other way."

"It is easy to sit back and just get lost in the sound, carried away by her words and taken away to another state of consciousness. Her music is moving and, in spite of the ethereal quality, has a certain level of intensity. It is sensitive, but powerful.

Scarlet Slipping is, simply put, a great listen. It is something unique and non-commercial but wonderful."

From the Independent Clauses "fire in the mist" review

Quotes from the 2006 synthpop "fire in the mist" review

"Her style of music would probably be best categorized as Gothic, but it has a orchestral quality to it that I haven't heard in many other Gothic artists."

"Dawn's vocals have a delicate, almost fragile quality to them, almost like if she pushed her voice much it would shatter. Her vocals remind me somewhat of Fiona Apple or early Jewel. The music complements her voice in a oddly compelling way, with a eerily ominous quality in just about every track."

"Overall, this is a solid debut album"

The very kind words of Vlad Shusterman

"Autumn Air and Your Icy Waters are among the most beautiful songs I heard in years, especially the former...like all the best moments of Swans, Siouxie, and Black Tape For A Blue Girl rolled into one, but still with a very distinctive flair of your own."

Quotes from past reviews since 1997......

'Scarlet Slipping brings to mind early Siouxsie Sioux and modern day Cranes.'

-Ivy Records press release

"Quite synthetic with a lot of light and schizophrenic mood swings."

- Ashkelon Sain of Trance to the Sun, Outburn Magazine (interview)

''Dawn has a beautifully moving voice"

- Octavia, Outburn Magazine (review)

" -Her music is filled with lush, synthetic orchestral textures, haunting, otherworldly noises and insistent, sometimes even thunderous drums. Every sound, every note and every lyric created by this one woman."

- DJ_Oxygen, Mpls darkwave dj.

"fire in the mist" receives 5 stars from chaindlk.com

Scarlet Slipping is Dawn Wagner, who was the second female who collaborated with Ashkelon Sain in the gothic/darkwave duo band Trance To The Sun. Her debut release is satisfactory with beauty, feeling, beautiful vocals, breath-taking, hypnotic, and enchanting. The album is darkwave and ethereal. Music so complex with soft synth layers and celtic tribal drum rhythms. Dawn will take you on a cold icy journey that's magical, mystical, enlightening with narrating singing with emotion. A conquest she should admire herself for delivering something different that's fathomless and outstanding. The production work is even superb and polished with perfection. All the songs are written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Ms. Wagner herself. She has the skills of DIY. All nine tracks on cd are incredible to enjoy. Take it from a reviewer who relished Ms. Dawn Wagner's first creative work. Bravo!

Visit chaindlk.com to read their interview with Scarlet Slipping by clicking HERE

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"Hound" review by Jason Wallach of The Unquiet Void

In an interview with screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (Jacob's Ladder, Ghost) he said that, and I'm paraphrasing, "In the dying process the pull towards sensuality is very strong". I believe that statement and obviously so does Scarlet Slipping pilot Dawn Wagner.

Hound is a tapestry woven with blood, bone, flesh, and soul. There's a great deal of duality being examined here, it's almost as if each song contains a duet with Dawn and her Doppelganger. One voice contains all of the hurt, shame, sympathy, hopefulness, and understanding of a human being whilst the other is familiar in an unfamiliar way - forceful, cunning, cruel, cynical, sexual, and nasty...even predatory.

No matter how you slice it this album is a confrontational powder keg of raw, real emotion that almost explodes many times throughout the course of the album leaving you rattled and breathless. Very intense work here, much like Alice in Wonderland gone horribly wrong and we do get to see how far down the rabbit hole extends.

The songs are all well articulated and crafted with insect-like precision. Exact. Merciless.

The title track of the album is one of the most frightening songs I have ever heard. When you hear it you might not think so... dig deeper, that's what this album dares you to do. There's a feeling of darkness and filthiness (not in the good way either) that floods me when I hear it and reminds me of a time in my life I'd rather not revisit but that I couldn't forget if I wanted to. It is desperation incarnate, scraping the solid flesh with broken and jagged fingernails, wet and pulpy saturated from blood and tears.

I could go on and on about how wonderful these tracks are but wouldn't it be so much more interesting if you picked up a copy and formulated your own thoughts and opinions?

This album has tons of depth and layers for something as sparse as it is. The execution of the thing is what gets you. I don't know the words to these songs and even though I'm curious to read them I don't know if I should.

Hound is a penetrative and intrusive piece. Once I had taken LSD and during my "traveling" I encountered a great black inky feminine parasite hovering above me. With one tendril extended and piercing me I received the greatest sustained sexual pleasure I have ever experienced. Though with the other tendril extended and piercing me I was being fed off of. The crux of that situation is the fuel that churns the burning ambers that are HOUND.

From the Gothtronic "Hound" review

"dozy and nebulous as well as elegantly dramatic"

"The dark themes and detached, cold and mechanical accents give Hound a spooky edge"

Read the full review by clicking HERE

Visit Grave Concerns E-Zine to read their interview with Scarlet Slipping by clicking HERE