Queen of the Damned

Queen of the Damned is the debut album by Welsh singer and songwriter, Persephone. Released via Bumblebee Records on August 27, 2012. It was released in 2 formats, a regular edition which includes 12 tracks and a 15 track Deluxe edition which includes 15 tracks, 15 art cards and a bonus DVD of Persephone's first ever live performance at Manchester Fringe Festival.

Content

 * The album opens with The Black Rose a dark, almost industrial sounding track with a heavy beat and little melody. The track is part spoken, part sung, with Persephone's vocals on the track said to have a mature quality to them. "Persephone's vocals are mature beyond her years. It is hard to believe she is just twenty years old. She sounds like a female David Byrne on this track, a quality not easy to obtain. The lyrics discuss a woman who is considered dark and fearsome, yet at the same time, attractive and yearned for. "It's the dark within us all", Persephone explained about the track. We all have it, we just have to embrace it, because if we don't accept it as part of us, it may get bitter and try to take over." The track was chosen as the album's first single and reached #2 in the charts.
 * From one extreme to another, the second track on the album I Can't Stand It is a guitar driven pop record. Persephone hailed it as one of the weaker tracks on the album, but still, she managed to pull from its lyrics the title of the album: Queen of the Damned. The lyrics tell the tale of a jealous ex lover, however beneath the surface, Persephone states otherwise. "I like to think they were never together at all. She just thought they were. Maybe they were friends, maybe they never even spoke, but the narrator of this song is mad, I guess it's open to suggestion if it's anger or insanity"
 * Able, another pop track takes a more electronic route, with more spoken vocals, shouted over a megaphone. The verses are almost comical, full of witty rhymes shouted over looped cartoonish sound effects. However each time the chorus kicks in, it's replaced by a heavy, guitar-pop melody. The message of the song? Be yourself.
 * Track four of the album is Numb a song which appeared on the EP While You Were Sleeping, which served as an introduction to Persephone's music. The track, which is just an acoustic guitar, piano and vocal is one of the most personal on the album, and the first so far which is autobiographical. "People get Persephone mixed up with Stephanie. Persephone is a character, the songs are her songs, not mine, however some are mine, like Numb. That's all me. I like trouble. I'm only happy when it rains. I'd rather feel pain than nothing, and that is all I ask for." Numb was later released as a digital download, which consisted of an audio and music video.
 * The Brave and The Bold is a spoken interlude, spoken as a poem.
 * Easier To Lose is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, with electric guitars and attitude filled vocals. Persephone described the lyrics. "It kinda has two meanings, you can either be defeated or empowered. The line 'men like you are easy to find, easier to lose' can make you sound like you can't keep a man, or you just don't want to. I kinda like the latter better. I like to feel empowered. But I also like the fact there are options"
 * Dear You (Unsent) takes the music and concept of the Alanis Morissette track "Unsent", but changes the lyrics entirely. The song reaches out to friends of Persephone's, telling them why exactly she feels their friendships are drifting further away. This was described as the most personal track on the record, because, although the names have been changed, the people "will know who they are". Persephone even plays a harmonica outro, to keep it true to the original.
 * The next track is a cover of Mia Martini's "Almeno tu nell'Universo, loosely translated in to English and entitled Never Change. It has a sparse, twinkly musical background that builds up to a crescendo at the final chorus. "This was a challenge to translate because a lot of the lyrics made no sense once translated. At one point I was lazy and just left the chorus as it was, but then I thought out of the box, and it finally came to me"
 * With a barely plucked guitar and whispery vocals, While You Were Sleeping was an odd choice for one of the first tracks to showcase an artist, but it's delicate and beautiful sound proved popular amongst fans and critics alike. The track became the title track of Persephone's debut EP, and subsequently, along with Numb, made the album. It tells the story of someone watching her unrequited lover sleep, and despite the delicateness of the music and vocals, the lyrics are actually quite sinister. "You can be scary yet beautiful, like nature. I think everything natural can scare people, yet because it's natural, it has some kind of beauty to it. That's why I wanted little instrumentation". A lot of the track is actually a capella, with breathing, humming and sighing making up the music along with the occasional pluck of the guitar.
 * And Then Came The Rain starts off as a similar track to it's predecessors, acoustic. However as the song develops it crescendos with electric guitars and drums, before finally dying down into the sound of rain. It tells the story of someone finally escaping an abusive relationship.
 * Petrichor is a second interlude, made from a clipped part of the previous track. "When I found out what it meant, I had to use the word. But it didn't fit the whole song, so I made it in to an interlude. It was perfect." It is the smell of the earth after the rain.
 * The final track on the regular version of the album is Fragile Hearts, another personal track, which is a happy sounding and guitar driven "ditty" as Persephone describes it herself. "It's happy and light hearted. I needed that, after some of the stuff that came out on the album. It's just a cute way to close it.
 * The Grass Is Greener is the first bonus track, another acoustic guitar track is another personal one. "I met a guy, we had nothing in common. No point dating him. I met a singer I was a fan of, they were a cunt to me. Posters ripped down, CDs thrown away. I was a brat. I would have been a cunt to me too. I think writing this song is better therapy, they'll probably never even remember me so it's fine"
 * The second bonus track Feast For The Damned takes the cartoonish sound of "Able", the songs were actually recorded on the same day, using the same sound effects. "It was a toss up for what made the album. This had a better message (eating disorders, overeating and fast food culture) whereas Able had more clever lyrics. I chose Able in the end. I wanted to seem clever"
 * The final track is a cover of David Bowie's As The World Falls Down. "I kinda felt a link between Persephone and Sarah. They were both trapped somewhere they didn't want to be. It's like a cross between legends with this song".

Tracklisting
PERSEPHONE: LIVE Deluxe Bonus DVD (Persephone's first live performance. Filmed at Manchester Fringe Festival)
 * 1) Carry On
 * 2) The Black Rose
 * 3) Numb
 * 4) Easier To Lose
 * 5) Able
 * 6) While You Were Sleeping
 * 7) Fragile Hearts
 * 8) Forgive Me

Chart Performance
Queen of the Damned debuted at #1 and has so far sold 1,041,193 copies and been certified diamond.