Lindsay Schoolcraft – Lovelorn and Hopesick

Do you remember the raven-haired keyboardist of Cradle Of Filth with the outstanding background vocals of an angel? What about her Belzebubs-character Skullcraft? Are you aware that she still is a busy bee since she left Cradle? Now Lindsay Schoolcraft released a Patreon-exclusive album with eight wonderful gems of songs. Let’s have a look and listen to the individual tracks.

Lovelorn and Hopesick

Twin Flame

The opener is carefully arranged around Lindsay’s vocal performance. Cello and piano lead the instrumentalization without dominating the song. “Twin Flame” builds up a tension, dramatic and mystic until it is almost unbearable anymore. “With or without you this never ends” but these final words relieve this tension.

Cloud Nine (Evanescence Cover)

Evanescence-vocalist Amy Lee certainly is one of the most perfect singers in the world of Metal Music. And she is a great role-model. It takes a lot of courage to cover one of her songs. What should I say, together with not less lovely Gaia Guarda, Lindsay nails it. Honestly spoken, I didn’t expect anything else from these two outstanding vocalists. The arrangement is very clever and puristic and less heavy than the original version and includes a theremin instead of a heavy guitar. It still is near enough to be the same song but a different version.

December Rain (2022 Version)

Well, I remember, there once was a song called “November Rain”, and December snow is not unusual. So why not combine both and create a new song about “December Rain”? It is a quite melancholic song as rain in December would be when everybody hopes for snow at Christmas. The cello and piano arrangement does its part to intensify this feeling but finally they “Wash all their lies from my veins, help me feel the cold again”.

Undying Love

We get some string, horn, and guitar arrangements and let the “Undying Love” flow like an eternal flame. It is a perfect love song and the strings simply sound wonderful. It is a true confession and there is nothing to add but “So take what you want, what you need from me”.

Where You Go

Some single piano notes at the beginning and Lindsay asks, “Will you please come out from your place?” The once again very fine strings help building up an atmosphere of doubt because it seems to be quite unclear “Where you go”.

Wicked Game (Chris Isaak Cover)

We hear another cover version. And it once again is a very ambitious challenge to match the original version. This version is further away than “Cloud Nine”s cover. The string arrangement is wonderful and catches all emotions of this song to underline the vocals, which are so very different compared to Chris Isaak’s male vocals. This time this is almost a different song, not only a different version.

Dare I Say The Truth

You know, people often prefer to hear a pleasant lie than an unpopular but honest truth. Lindsay invites you to find out about her thoughts on this attitude. Do you share her point of view, or do you think differently about it? In the end, it is your decision, who is the coward and who is the fool when you dare to say the truth.

Breathe Again

We are already coming to the last song of Lindsay’s Patreon-album. It gives us time and energy to “Breathe Again”. It begins like one of those little song gems Kate Bush released at the beginning of her outstanding career. A little bit of a piano, sweet vocals and strings supporting the fine melody make it the perfect closer of the album. The lyrics indeed feel like a liberation to be able to “Breathe Again”.

What is left to say?

I love, I really love the arrangements of each song. I also like the idea behind the album, because some melodies and lyrics developed during countless Patreon online-meetings between Lindsay and her supporters. Of course, the whole album with its string arrangements is far from being True Metal, but what counts is that all of these people, who are involved, from Patreon to producer met Lindsay due to common love for Metal music. The album is a true gem and a perfect sample of the Metal Way Of Life and what metal is all about without including one single heavy guitar riff.

Is it worth it?

Patreon-exclusive means, you can’t get it at any shop but get it for free when you are one of her Patreons from Clandestine tier on. It is the second lowest tier and really worth the few bucks it costs. By the way, please check the wonderful artwork of Lindsay’s sister Melissa Matheson as well.

Short facts

 

All songs produced and written by Lindsay Schoolcraft. With the acceptation of Cloud Nine written by Evanescence, Wicked Game written by Chris Isaak

All vocals, piano, and harp performed by Lindsay Schoolcraft

Co-production, mixing and mastering:

Tyler Williams on Twin Flame and Dare I Say The Truth

Troy Williams on Cloud Nine, December Rain, Undying Love, Where You Go, and Wicked Game,

Chris Caouette on Breathe Again

Beats and synths written, performed, and programmed by Gaia Guarda along with additional vocals and theremin performance on Cloud Nine

Violin and viola: David “Dagda” Sanchez

Cello: Dalai Theofilopoulou on Twin Flame and Dare I Say The Truth, 

Kathryn Knowles on Cloud Nine, December Rain, Where You Go, Wicked Game

Additional string, horn, and guitar programming: Chris Caouette on Undying Love and Breathe Again

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Online:

Lindsay Schoolcraft website

Lindsay Schoolcraft Patreon

Please buy merch and physical music or downloads from the bands official sources and don’t stream it for free because it steals your artists’ income.

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Proofreading by DerminBoad

Cover artwork by Melissa Matheson