A phantasmagoria, despite its supernatural-sounding label (we’ve got Arthur Rimbaud and Edgar Allan Poe to thank for that misapprehension), is, technically speaking, a shadowplay, or immersive illusion. The Frankfurt School cultural critic Theodor W. Adorno [1] applied the term to Richard Wagner’s over-the-top, bombastic and showy operatic performances: the sum total of the sets, the dressing, costumes, artistic direction, music, songs and performance came together in what he termed a Gesamstkunstwerk, or ‘total artwork’ which combined these separate creative streams in a “perfection of the illusion that the work of art is reality sui generis.” Modern shows by bands, collectives and outfits falling under the nebulous classification of ‘neo-folk’ tend to lean towards the phantasmagoric in t...