Artist: NEBELHEXE
Album: ESSENSUAL (CD)

Year: 2006
Media type: CD

Like the extravagant title, “Essensual” is a unique album with new and fresh sounds. With an almost pop-like production, this album will surely attract a broader audience. With this album she tries to express hidden feelings, various thoughts within the psyche, the bad experiences that shape us, thoughts about our real being, thus the title "Essensual". The essence of sensuality.

Nebelhexe is the charismatic artist Andrea Haugen, who has mesmerized the alternative music scene since 94. Her early love for British gothic, new wave and underground music brought her to London in '90 where she soon became part of the subculture scenes. Always searching, and always having had a fascination for the supernatural, life’s mysteries and animals, she connected with various magic/pagan/witch circles. Seeking to explore and upgrade the understanding for the shadow side of the self, Andrea was soon involved with notorious magical and artistic performances.

Under the name of Nebelhexe, she released an album in '94 with the haunting dark-ambient project Aghast. Her comments about the inhibiting patriarchal religions and her perception of human nature and occult subjects in interviews became quite admired in the alternative music scene. Having moved to Norway, she became very engaged in the revival of the northern pagan traditions. This became the inspiration for her musical entity Hagalaz Runedance. With her albums The Winds That Sang Of Midgards fate (98), Urd - That Which Was (99), Volven (2000) and Friggas Web (2002) she vividly explores the magic and spirituality of her Pagan ancestors, bringing to life the forgotten myths and magical wisdom, focusing particularly on the goddess worship of the North.

Creating with honesty, melancholy and sincere emotions she always manages successfully to bring her visions and feelings across. She always believed that magic and artistic expression go hand in hand. Andrea’s writings indeed inspired many individuals. Many of her social critical articles and letters to the media have been printed in magazines and also in the biggest Norwegian tabloid papers and magazines.

In 2000, Andreas book The Ancient Fires Of Midgard was published, discussing topics such as Northern mythology and the Pagan way of life, Nature's mysteries, ancient traditions, the magic of the wise women, natural childbirth, and the animal spirit. Albeit focused on the Northern traditions, she encourages the revival of the Pagan wisdom in general, and hopes to inspire open-minded individuals to search for their inner self.

And much has been written about her. Andrea's name and creations can be found in many alternative music magazines and books, spiritual publications, women magazines and newspapers, be it about her music and other artistic expressions, or paganism and witchcraft in general. Often she has been referred to as being one of the most intriguing personalities of the subculture. And since she is not that easy to categorize, she frequently has been misinterpreted...

Andrea moved on again in her musical and lyrical expressions and focused more generally on personal feelings, dreams, obscure experiences and the magic that is surrounding her. She also began working within other artistic areas; creating visual art and video concepts for example. She revived her previous artist name Nebelhexe, which means fog-witch (In Germanic folklore the hazes of fog that rise from the ground are believed to be the white women or fog witches.) Laguz - Within the Lake was the title of her first Nebelhexe release. Still bearing many of her Hagalaz Runedance trademarks, a good deal of 80s gothic, electronic and rock influences create a darker and dreamy atmosphere.

TRACKLIST:

01. Underworld
02. Invisible Entity
03. Their Dead Poetry
04. Sun God
05. Erzulie's Charm
06. Purple Nightshades
07. Living Trash
08. The Figurehead (THE CURE)
09. The Wish
10. Dreams of Little Girls

Recorded at Akkerhaugen Lydstudio (Hagalaz’ Runedance, Red Harvest, Emperor, etc)
Mastered at Strype Audio (Ulver, When, Biosphere, etc)