- Ordo equitum solis
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Ordo Equitum Solis 
OES liveBackground information Also known as OES Origin France, Italy Genres Gothic rock, Dark wave, Ethereal wave, Neofolk, Dark ambient, Neoclassical Years active 1988-2001
(Reunion in 2010)Labels MMM, Sinope Website ordoequitumsolis.com Ordo Equitum Solis (abbr. OES) are an alternative music band consisting of Leithana, pseudonym of Nathalie Herrera, French (vocals, keyboards, zither, percussions) and Deraclamo, pseudonym of Paolo De Marco, Italian (vocals, guitar). The duo formed in 1988, released albums between 1990 and 2000 and made many tours. In 2001 the band suddenly broke up. Recent announcements report a reunion of OES. 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 OES’ music unusual, various, intimistic and hard to describe. Distinguishing features are Leithana’s nice 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, elegant 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.
Contents
History
Formation
OES’ members actually met in 1985 in a post-punk club in Paris (Le Saint), city where Leithana lived. Deraclamo instead roamed around London, Paris and Barcelona. The project of making music together came out from the very beginning, 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 a mountain village in Italy called Paganotti, where the creation of what would have been their first album “Solstitti Temporis Sensus” took place. The magical influence of that territory recalling the union with the elements, and the intense contact with nature would impregnate the album with a sort timeless magic. Leithana, who played several instruments (guitar, piano and bass guitar), pursued keyboards, and Deraclamo the guitar. Between 1988 and 1989 a great friendship with Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus) took place, which turned to be an important cooperation for the band. That cooperation had been reciprocal until 1992, with Leithana recording some piano tracks for Sol Invictus and Tony Wakeford appearing on the first two albums of OES. Leithana participated also as keyboard-player to some of Sol Invictus’ concerts, in particular during the legendary tour (1991) that featured together Death In June, Current 93 and Sol Invictus.
The period 1990-1997
On December the 21st, 1990, the band’s first album Solstitii Temporis Sensus was released by the independent label Musica Maxima Magnetica (already producer of Sleep Chamber, Vasilisk and numerous other artists). The album had immediately an unexpected great 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). The period is characterized by a great artistic growth of the duo, as well as an increasing popularity especially among gothic and neofolk listeners. Countless articles and interviews appeared on magazines and fanzines. The band made also numerous concerts in Europe, as well as a tour in USA and Russia in 1993. The full artistic maturity of the period completes with the album Hecate, which was very different from the music scene’s standard of the moment, and certainly innovative and astonishing. Year 1995 marks also the beginning of a very difficult period for Ordo Equitum Solis, due to increasing disagreements with label Musica Maxima Magnetica, consequent to the distributor Audioglobe’s ever more meddling in the band’s affairs. The recording sessions of what would have been their following album “Planetes”, that started in 1996, couldn’t actually be completed until 1998. That year in fact the band finally managed to get back all rights regarding Ordo Equitum Solis’ past and future works, and therefore to be fully operational again, after a forced three-years stop.
The period 1998-2001
In January 1999 OES released the album “Planetes” with its own label Sinope through the UK based World Serpent Distribution. In addition to Planetes, the revival of the band results in the release of the mini-album “Signs”, the 2-cd compilation “Octo”, the album “Metamorphosis-Personam Impono” and finally the 7” vinyl picture-disc “A Divine Image”. During that period the artistic expression and experimentations of the band kept evolving, with an always more refined style detached from dull clichés. Planetes marks an artistic turning point. A review states: “Planetes, with its delicate electro-acoustic ballads and its subtle “esoteric” keyboard layers, places itself more than worthily in a creative path still in solitary and noteworthy ascent” (Vittore Baroni, Rumore magazine n° 85 – 1999). The cds of the period were a fairly good success, echoed on international magazines and fanzines. Nevertheless, the non efficient distribution of World Serpent disappointed the expectations of the band. Moreover, music business was upset with the advent of MP3 and P2P downloads. The generalized drop in sales faced the band with excessive economic difficulties to continue making music professionally as they used to do and maintain the quality achieved up to that moment. Last but not least, the concerts, which were moments lived with great intensity by OES, were getting harder to get or unsatisfying. Ordo Equitum Solis decided finally to break up, immediately after their show at the Wave Gothic Treffen in Leipzig (Germany) on June the 3rd, 2001. Notwithstanding the band’s break up, Leithana and Deraclamo would still continue working on unreleased tracks composed in 1989-90, with the intention of releasing a “posthumous” album. Besides this, Leithana started working on an eventual solo album, that she decided to never publish even though some tracks were already finished. In 2002, all musical projects of the band were put in standby.
The period 2002-2010
With OES break up, also the relationship between Leithana and Deraclamo came to an end. Both would remain nevertheless great friends. During the period 2001-2010 the band quit the scene. Each would pursue other activities, with the intention of setting OES things right one day. Differently than expected by the band, the notoriety of the band never died out.
2011, the new beginning
In November 2010, an announcement on the band’s official website reported the reunion of OES, as well as the release of a brand new album.
Influences and music
Ordo Equitum Solis had been heavily influenced by the gothic and post-punk London music scene of the eighties, and particularly by bands like Joy Division, SPK, Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, Clair Obscur, Virgin Prunes, Coil, Sol Invictus and Death In June. The name of the band, which literally means “The Order of the Knights of the Sun” in Latin, was created by Deraclamo, and was meant to underline a certain vision of the world, willingly anachronistic yet strong and current in the nineties. The use of the Latin language as well as the look of the band represent some of the innovations introduced by OES, which would be extensively reused in the gothic and alternative music scene. Ordo Equitum Solis had also often availed themselves with not always expressed symbolic and magical themes, while mentions to Gnosticism, love for nature and the conceptual union with the elements is more explicit.
Discography
Albums
- Solstitti Temporis Sensus (1990)
- Animi Aegritudo (1991)
- Paraskénia (1994)
- Hecate (1995)
- Planetes (1999)
- Metamorphosis - Personam Impono (2000)
Mini-Cds
- OES (1993)
- Signs (1999)
Singles
- A Divine Image (2000)
Compilations
- Octo (1999)
External links
Categories:- Musical groups established in 1988
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