''Love's Secret Domain'' is the third studio album by the British experimental band Coil, released in 1991. The singles released from the album were " Windowpane" and " The Snow". Guest vocalists include

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

on the song "Titan Arch" and Annie Anxiety on the song "Things Happen".

Background

The recording sessions for ''Love's Secret Domain'' were characterized by Coil's compulsive drug use at the time, along with

sleep deprivation Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either Chronic (medicine), chronic ...

which apparently led to conflict between members;

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy; 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, who was at one time a member of design agency Hipgnosis. He also ...

remarked that "

e could E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

remember

Balance Balance may refer to: Common meanings * Balance (ability) in biomechanics * Balance (accounting) * Balance or weighing scale * Balance, as in equality (mathematics) or equilibrium Arts and entertainment Film * Balance (1983 film), ''Balance'' ( ...

and

Steve Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation) ...

having these mad arguments that would go on for 48 hours without sleep over which sequence of words should be used". In a period of constant drug use during the sessions, they both struggled with using the studio mixing room due to constant hallucinations of "10-foot-tall Amazonian warriors and Babylonian kings" who were "crowding" the room. Stephen Thrower admitted he had experienced synchronized hallucinations with Balance during this period. The album's emphasis on sampling was inspired by the

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

scene, although it is less explicitly indebted to the dance style than the contemporaneous work of

Psychic TV Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental music, experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and Scottish musician Alex Fergusson (musician), Alex ...

. The cover features a painting by Steven Stapleton originally created on an outhouse door that he found in Cooloorta, the Irish

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

where he resides. A working title for the album was ''The Side Effects of Life''. The final track, "Love's Secret Domain", borrows lyrics from the song " In Dreams" by

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

: "In dreams I walk with you / In dreams I talk to you / In dreams you're mine / All the time." Lyrics are also culled from "

The Sick Rose "The Sick Rose" is a poem by William Blake, originally published in '' Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' as the 39th plate; the incipit of the poem is O Rose thou art sick. Blake composed the poem sometime after 1789, and presented it with a ...

" by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

, specifically, "O rose, thou art sick", besides a quotation from

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen ( or ; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh people, Welsh author and mysticism, mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural ...

's short story " The White People". ''Love's Secret Domain'' was later remastered by

Thighpaulsandra Timothy Lewis – best known by the stage name Thighpaulsandra – is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist, known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. He began his career working with Julian Cope in the late ...

with slightly different track lengths. The song "Disco Hospital" was covered by

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

on their EP '' California Rhinoplasty''. LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is an obvious acronym for the album title.

Track listing

12" vinyl

CD

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Love's Secret Domain''.

Additional musicians

* Charles Hayward – drums * Annie Anxiety Bandez – vocals * Mike McEvoy – keyboards * Juan Ramirez – Spanish guitar * Cyrung – didgeridoo * Rose McDowall – backing vocals * Marc Almond – vocals * Billy McGee – orchestra * Audrey Riley – cello * Jane Fenton – cello * Julia Girdwood – oboe * Jos Pook – viola * Sue Dench – viola * Andrew Davies – violin * Clive Dobbins – violin * Gini Ball – violin * Sally Herbert – violin

Technical personnel

* Coil – production *

Danny Hyde Danny Hyde is an experimental musician and remix artist. Hyde has contributed to production and mixing on many Coil albums, including ''Horse Rotorvator'', '' Love's Secret Domain'', '' The Remote Viewer'', ''Black Antlers'', '' The Ape of Naples ...

– produced, production, programming, engineering

References

External links

* *
''Love's Secret Domain''
at Brainwashed {{Authority control 1991 albums Coil (band) albums Experimental music albums