Sabine Edelsbacher

Musical Discoveries: Can you fill us in on what you've been up to since we spoke last in 2003?

When I had my last interview with you in 2003 this must have been for our third album Aphelion. We had been very busy with concerts and recording albums. With Solitaire we now released our seventh album so there is a lot of experience and development in between.

I can feel how my vocal range grows with every album and after every tour, of course together with a lot of work in between. This gives me a very good feeling and lets me be open and curious what life brings next.

In addition to Edenbridge, have you been involved with other projects?

Since 2003 I did recordings for Gary Hughes' Once and Future King project (duet with Bob Catley), Power Quest and Angra. The last song I recorded for the Italian project RavenBlack. This song is called "Lullaby for a Wolf" and it sounds very soulful. The album is not released yet.

How has Edenbridge has evolved in this most recent album?

Solitaire bundles all the symphonic and heavy elements of MyEarthDream and brings in a lot of new aspects into our sound. It is our most atmospheric and melancholic album so far. We continued working with 7-string guitars and the symphonic parts have much more richness in detail. The new album only consists of 7-string guitars tuned down a half step to Bb.

Lanvall loves writing in the Bb keys cause they have this dark and melancholic vibe. When the orchestra appears it´s most of the time a blast. All in all Edenbridge have never sounded more varied than on Solitaire.

How was the album's title selected and what's the album all about?

Solitaire is about the process of questioning old dogmas and the correlating paradigm shift we are in between. It´s about the universal power within us, which has been present down the ages and will exist forever. A diamond connection which is undestroyable. This part in us is unique and is finally shown to advantage in the chain.

Like each water drop is unique and forming to the sea in connection with other water drops. "Further Afield" is about a traveler shaping things with just his mental power. "Bon Voyage Vagabond" is about an explorer. He is combining his drive to discover with the heart and soul of a poet. Those are very much the features of Jean-Luc Picard, the captain in Next Generation, a person Lanvall can very well identifly with.

"Skyline´s End" is a synonym for freedom. It's a feeling the old mariners had cause they could explore the largeness in their inner self through the largeness of the sea. They were heading for the horizon's end and felt that this doesn´t exist cause freedom has no limits at all.

"Out of this world" is about an outcast, feeling himself like an alien. He is perceiving himself differently than the rest of the society, which is fighting everything it doesn´t understand. The outcast was shaped into form and is hopeless. He is dreaming about nothing else than being free again.

"Higher" is about reaching aims and getting higher and higher. We break our back and fight and don´t recognize when we fight it´s a fight against ourself. If we recognize this we don´t need to fight anymore to get higher in life. To reach this aim is much more valuable than the little goals what we are aiming for normally.

"A Virtual Dream" is about being in a dream and out of place. It's about fear being part of a machine and the question if everything is just a virtual dream.

"Come Undone" is about a magic place of power which we never wanna leave again. In Lanvall’s case it´s the village Serfaus in the Austrian mountains. "Brothers on Diamir" is the story of the Messner brothers, who dared to climb the Nanga Parbat over the rupal face, the highest face on Earth in 1970. They descended over the Diamir face, where Günther was swept away by an avalanche. It was obvious for Lanvall that this song has to deal with a mountain drama. The joy at the victory in the wall and the pain at the loss of the own brother are very close together.

How have your live performances evolved?

In my experience live performances are a natural development and being present on stage is growing with personal development. That's why meditation and consciousness work is so important for me. At the beginning my biggest challenge was to follow the inner desire to express my feelings in front of an audience.

Cause on the one hand I wished for nothing more than touch other people with my voice, on the other hand it was my biggest fear to be on stage and attract all the audiences' eyes. But I soon recognized how our music suits me down to the ground, is carrying me and how the power of the boys in the band are layering down the ground, where I can venture outside.

Tell us about your views on the role of an "image" to a female recording artist these days.

The truth is, that when I began singing in Edenbridge I didn't make up my mind about any image. For example I often wore typical gothic clothes because I like that very feminine style, but from the musical point we are not a gothic band and we don’t have those beauty and the beast stuff. So maybe it’s confusing for some people that we don´t fit in this box where everybody knows what’s inside.

Edenbridge's music and lyrics were always open minded and have a mystic spiritual touch, because that's what is coming out of our heart. It was always my aim to find the way to my inner force and I was busy enough bringing a lot of contradictional parts in myself together, that I didn’t realize how it works to get an image. So I don't really make up my mind about this.

It can be dangerous if artists create an artificial image which has nothing to do with their real personality. On the other hand I know that people are always give you an image if you don't take one on your own. The metal scene existists of a lot of old dogmas about what the role of a woman is and it seems to be, that many of the "hard boys" fear strong women at all.

On the other hand it is important that women are getting back to their inner force, otherwise it’s getting boring. I think it’s a phenomen what we can find everywhere, but especially in metal I hope for more female singers and female instrumentalists who shall go their own way.

Besides music, what rocks your world nowadays?

Beside Edenbridge I like to lead workshops for vocal trainings and one for developing our inner voice called intuition. I've got an education as a counselor and I studied body and mindwork like yoga and other energy work. It's my gentle way of developing voice, mind and soul. I called it Aurora-Trainings. The name comes from a spiritual experience which I had some years ago. For me it means the connection of contrasts--a heart quality.

On the other hand I like being creative with painting and photographing. I love cooking and like to get inspired for new creations from countries I visited. In summer I like hiking and swimming and in winter skiing--being in the nature.

What are your plans, hopes and dreams looking out through the end of this year and into next?

We've been to Indonesia in July doing promotion for our tour which is planned for autumn this year. In Indonesia, metal isn’t that famous like in other Asian places but they still have a scene which is geting bigger and bigger, especially for melodic stuff like we do. It seems that our music is very welcome in Asia. That’s what we can feel everytime when we are there. In December there is also a plan for some shows in Vietnam. For next year there are some secrets I can’t tell at the moment!

Is there anything else you want to say to our readers that I might have forgotten to ask?

Thank you for your great questions. You didn’t forget anything, but it hopefully won’t need another seven years till we speak again.