ENIGMA - SEVEN LIVES MANY FACES

Created and produced by ENIGMA mastermind Michael Cretu, Seven Lives Many Faces debuts 18 years after ENIGMA's spectacular global debut in the fall of 1990 with "Sadeness, Part 1." An omni-cultural trip traversed in 12 chapters, Seven Lives Many Faces is an aural expedition that moves well beyond the scope of the familiar range of sound, broadening listeners' sonic horizon and challenging the musical status quo. How popular is ENIGMA you say? Well with more than 40 million albums sold, 50 number one chart positions, and approximately 100 platinum sales awards around the world, ENIGMA is Germany's most successful musical export of the past 20 years. ENIGMA's seventh studio album, Seven Lives Many Faces, will be released by Virgin/EMI on September 30 in two physical and digital configurations: a single CD and digital album, and an expanded Special Edition with five additional new tracks, available in a deluxe 2-CD package and digitally.

"The idea behind ENIGMA is to make the impossible possible," says Cretu. "As long as I don't repeat myself, I won't get bored. That's why I always have to start something new, invent things!" To create Seven Lives Many Faces, Cretu drew from his vast digital archive of more than 400,000 different sounds. "Technology has never been a surrogate for a good idea, but even a good idea can never replace instinct," he says. "What I choose from this archive and how I combine the different elements is frequently difficult to follow, even for people who are involved in music." The new album (Seven Lives Many Faces) is driven, in part, by string arrangements paired with aggressive drums and percussion, bringing together traditional and modern musical elements. "Figuratively speaking, it was my intention to combine the dirtiest Bronx hip-hop beats with the purity of the London Symphony Orchestra."

Cretu has always looked for new ways to combine music and language, instrumentation and lyrics. Seven Lives Many Faces's final track, "The Language of Sound," a post-dadaist sonic collage of vocal fragments and human sounds, is representative of his broader creative vision for ENIGMA. Cretu explains, "Language produces barriers; music, on the other hand, is limitless. It is indispensable for the human race because it produces vibrations, tremors, emotions."

ENGIMA: Seven Lives Many Faces [CD, digital album]
Encounters
Seven Lives
Touchness
The Same Parents
Fata Morgana
Hell’s Heaven
La Puerta Del Cielo
Distorted Love
Je T’aime Till My Dying Day
Déjà vu
Between Generations
The Language of Sound

ENIGMA: Seven Lives Many Faces (Special Edition) [2-CD and Digital Collection]
Disc 1:
Encounters
Seven Lives
Touchness
The Same Parents
Fata Morgana
Hell’s Heaven
La Puerta Del Cielo
Distorted Love
Je T’aime Till My Dying Day
Déjà vu
Between Generations
The Language of Sound

Disc 2:
Superficial
We Are Nature
Downtown Silence
Sunrise
The Language of Sound (Slow Edit)