Andrea Haugen, known under her artist name of Nebelhexë, is a recording artist, writer, and model. Her artistic expressions are of a dark, spiritual and esoteric nature.
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Andrea Haugen has always had a fascination for the dark, hidden and misunderstood.[1] She has been referred to by the alternative music press as being one of the most intriguing personalities of the extreme music subculture.[2] A review of her Laguz Within The Lake album describes Nebelhexë as "the soundtrack to a Lord Of The Rings movie prequel" and "Enya gone Goth to the beat of a tribal drummer".[3] Another review says "Awkwardness is the exception and lies in juxtaposition to near-brilliance: (the song) “Reverse” being the case in point, atmosphere is key here and it’s dark — tribal and modern, earthen and mechanical, all at once".[4]
The artist describes her songs as meditative and haunting with style influences ranging from Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush to The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos. The album could be described as New Age with definite crossover appeal to a non-incense burning crowd.
She credits her early love for British Gothic, New Wave and underground music for bringing her to London in 1990, where she soon became part of the subculture scenes. Always searching, and always having had a fascination for life's mysteries, the lunar sides of life, images of vampires and a deep connection to animals, she joined with various esoteric and occult circles, such as the IOT. Exploring the dark sides of life, she became a model in the fetish scene and a performance artist (such as the Cradle of Filth shows). She was also involved with the Church of Satan at that time, which inspired her greatly. [1]
In 1994 she made an impact with her first music project, the obscure, ghostly dark ambient Aghast. She was also the woman behind the melodies of Hagalaz' Runedance, a project she dedicated to the pagan spirituality of Northern Europe. Hagalaz' Runedance became very popular and hit the album charts. Andrea announced that she got "extremely fed up and bored" with the music and image of Hagalaz' Runedance and that it really did not represent her personal ideas at all, since the real her is much darker and interesting.[1]
Since 2003 she releases all her music under her artist name of Nebelhexë. She also writes filmscripts since then, both horror and satire. She plans to make a movie called "The Neighbour". She has asked actor Cam Gigandet to co-star in the film. She met him through actor Jackson Rathbone... [1][5]
Her song "Skindeep" from the album "Dead Waters" was first chosen for the Twilight Soundtrack New Moon, but was then denied due to the explicit dark lyrics. The song is about sex and vampirism [1]
A writer since 1995, her controversial writings, statements and comments have become quite acknowledged.[6] She spoke against what she saw as the inhibiting patriarchal religions that restrict people's inner nature. Many of her social-critical comments have been printed in alternative magazines and also in the biggest Norwegian tabloid papers and magazines. She also writes Gothic and surreal poetry.
Andrea Haugen wrote the book The Ancient Fires of Midgard, about her discovery of the Germanic myths and traditions. Yet Andrea has made it quite clear many times that the focus on the northern myths was but a brief phase in her life period and she considers herself to be generally very spiritual, and more of a left-hand path occultist. She claims to be spiritual, but by no means religious. She states: "Life is for living! Life is an amazing journey without limits and I am fascinated by all of life's mysteries and explore spiritual philosophies from around the world. I like real spirituality, real people and real achievements."[1]
She is releasing a spoken word CD to her new poem book "The Dark Side of Dreaming". She also works on her biography "Walking With The Night".[6]
Her gloomy videos bare a strong message, but appear to be often misunderstood and the cause of great discussions.[7]
Her private life is very secluded. She has a daughter, Alva, with ex-husband Tomas Haugen - they maintain a close friendship. Andrea Haugen says in her Trivia page that she loves sighthounds, arabian horses and oriental cats.[8]
She has domains both in Norway and the UK, where she resides and associates with several known actors, such as Jonathan Rhys Meyers.[9] Haugen sees her future in film, acting and film music, both horror and comedy.[10]
Andrea Haugen trains kickboxing and 'freestyle'.[11]
She will release her next releases under the name of Andréa Nebel, no longer under the name of Nebelhexe. She also has revived her old Aghast project, yet in modernized form, now called "Aghast Manor". The music is designed to be used as film soundtracks.[1]
Andrea Haugen practises Nichiren Buddhism.[1]
"I'm a person who explores life and who has done pretty many wild things in her life... To me, art and magic/spirituality are connected. I try to awake deep emotions and visions that I hope will move something in the individual. What I hope to inspire people mostly with, is that they think for themselves and value their individual freedom. My art is usually quite inspired by dark images and surreal decadence, but it doesn't mean I am morose as a person... quite the opposite. In fact I am known to be real charming and funny (laughs)... to me 'dark' means a deeper intensity of emotions and a deeper understanding for the night-side of life..."[1]