Artemis

by Lindsey Stirling

Overview

Wielding her violin like a huntress' bow, Lindsey Stirling focuses her classical crossover vision with a deeply imaginative concept for her fifth album, Artemis. Named after the Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon, the effort finds Stirling hitting her artistic stride with a grand soundtrack to a movie that doesn't yet exist, like a neon cyberpunk take on Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score. Making her early work feel small-scale by comparison -- early-2010s tracks like "Song of the Caged Bird," "Beyond the Veil," and "Heist" come closest to what she's offering here -- Artemis also benefits from fewer special guests, which was a distraction on her previous full-length, Brave Enough. Here, Stirling's animated string wizardry shines and her ethereal vocals do a fine job without too much outside involvement. Not to say special guests Amy Lee ("Love Goes On and On") and Elle King ("The Upside" reprise) aren't welcome here; their contributions are just strategic buffers on an album full of highlights, standout cameos in this world Stirling completely owns. Summoning the mystical spirits of old while channeling future dystopian concepts in a heady narrative centered on persevering through the darkness to reclaim our inner spark, Artemis relies on the tension between light and dark, upsides and downsides, and the past and future to tell a heroic story with full cinematic scope. The grand opening of "Underground," which sounds like Stirling's take on an early-2000s J-pop song, is immediately followed by the sweeping title track, a dramatic swell of shiver-inducing energy that is lifted to the heavens upon her vocals. The rest of Artemis proceeds in a similar fashion, from the rousing "Til the Light Goes Out" and propulsive "Darkside" to the magical "Between Twilight" and angelic "Foreverglow." By the time the fictional credits roll with King's uplifting take on "The Upside," listeners might be begging for a fully realized visual accompaniment to this evocative wonder. With less folksy fiddling or outdated EDM to bog it down, Artemis signals an evolution for the artist, revealing itself to be Stirling's strongest work to date and a pure thrill for fans of her particular hybrid style. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

Product Details

Release Date:	11/15/2019
Label:	Bmg
UPC:	4050538525700
Rank:	19084

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lindsey Stirling   Primary Artist,Violin
Elle King   Featured Artist
Amy Lee   Featured Artist
Maize Jane Olinger   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Will Hunt   Engineer,Vocal Engineer
John Greenham   Engineer,Mastering
MoZella   Composer
Mako   Producer
Josh Gudwin   Mixing
Scott Bruzenak   Composer,Producer
Ben Rice   Vocal Producer
Maureen McDonald   Composer
Gene Bresler   Photo Illustration
Andrew Maury   Mixing,Engineer
Patrick Joseph   Composer
Adina Friedman   A&R
Meghan Kabir   Composer
Melissa Sabo   A&R
Lindsey Stirling   Composer,Producer
Amy Lee   Composer
Mark Maxwell   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer
KillaGraham   Producer
Alexander Seaver   Composer
Graham Muron   Composer
Afshin Salmani   Composer
Buddy Bojorquez   Design,Art Direction
Taylor Bird   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Vocal Engineer
Peter Hanna   Composer,Producer
Gabe Burch   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Rob English   Creative Director
Petey Martin   Composer,Producer
Scott Michael Smith   Engineer
Jason Badower   Illustrations
Jessica Breslow   A&R
Juha Ekman   Illustrations
Maize Jane Olinger   Composer
Paul Matelski   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Hanna Peter Anthony   Composer