Autumn Tears is an international dark wave band formed in September 1995 by Erika Swinnich, and Ted Tringo. Their music has goth, and industrial rock characteristics. The band does not use conventional electric guitars, but uses operatic orchestration.^[1]

History

Autumn Tears was formed in September 1995 by Ted Tringo, keyboardist and pianist.

In April 1996, the debut album, "Love Poems for Dying Children… Act I" was released. The music of "Love Poems…" consisted of symphonic arrangements inspired by ancient chants, classical music, and various contemporary artists (Dead Can Dance, Anchorage, Stoa, Enya). The first few songs for the album were recorded at West Record Studios, which inspired Tringo to self-release music on his own label, Dark Symphonies.

In May 1997, Autumn Tears released the sequel to their previous album, titled "The Garden of Crystalline Dreams – Love Poems for Dying Children: Act II".

The first release of Act I was originally meant to be limited to 2000 copies, however, due to an overwhelming number of requests, it was re-released with a new layout and artwork in 1998. All tracks were remixed and remastered and a bonus track called "The Intermission" was included on the repress, marking Jennifer Judd's vocal debut appearance in the band.

Autumn Tears released a mini-LP titled "Absolution" in 1999. The following year, in 2000, they would release the third and final full-length album to the "Love Poems…" trilogy, "Love Poems for Dying Children, Act III: Winter and the Broken Angel".

In 2004, the band recorded their fifth album "Eclipse". During recording, the band branched out to include new musicians, including female vocalist Laurie Ann Haus, who sang alongside lead vocalist Erica Swinnich Tandy in mostly of the tracks on the album.

In 2007, Autumn Tears released "The Hallowing", which was speculated to be their final album.

On the 2008 re-issue of "Love Poems… Act I", these claims are acknowledged in the liner notes, which state that the band had not broken up, but were simply taking a break.

"The Origin of Sleep" EP was released in 2018 featuring Irish harpist Brona McVittie, Tom Moth, and John Clark, as well as original Autumn Tears woodwind player Terran Olson and Jennifer Judd. It was mastered by Peter Bjärgö at Erebus Odora studio.

In 2019, Autumn Tears returned with their first full-length album in 11 years, "Colors Hidden Within The Gray" The album features a full orchestral ensemble with 30+ musicians, including ones that returned from the EP release a year prior. Various ethnic instruments such as bagpipes, kamancheh, and bansuri were featured.

In 2020, a follow-up album was released with the title of "The Air Below The Water", which was pressed as a double CD set. It included 40+ musicians and vocalists including opera singer Caroline Joy Clarke, singer-songwriter Tamar Singer, and vocal coach Anne “Anaé” Laurent. The album also included returning singer-songwriters Brona McVittie and Nathan Nasby. An orchestral classical ensemble as well as ethnic instruments such as kamancheh, bansuri, and duduk, were included on the album.

In March 2021, to coincide with International Women’s Day, Autumn Tears released their ninth full-length album, "The Glow of Desperation", presented as a limited CD and available through digital download. The CD features a lyric booklet illustrated with paintings by artist Marcela Bolívar.

In February 2022, Autumn Tears released a split album with Zeresh titled "Widowing" featuring 7 Autumn Tears tracks and 6 Zeresh tracks. The cover artwork was made by award-winning artist Marcela Bolívar.

In March 2023 "Guardian of the Pale" was released under The Circle Music banner.

Members

Discography

References

External links

• Official site
• Official Facebook Page
• Autumn Tears at Encyclopaedia Metallum