Lady Sleep

一而再再而三的不解德国这个严谨僵硬的国度如何能够孕育如此甜美曼妙的歌唱。

1977年生于Heidenheim，从小就是披头士的歌迷、学习录音、上过打击乐和钢琴课、在学校乐团任职的他，从1994年起用吉他创作到2000年开始用钢琴创作，而后在2001年出版了自己的处子专辑，也就是那张美丽的"Infinite Love Songs" 。我是从03年的那张"Rose"开始认识这个忧美的男人的，这里的“忧美”不是错别字，而是“忧伤美丽”的一个缩写，的确，这是对他音乐最好的两个形容词，诚然，这样的词汇可以用来形容的乐队艺人何止千万，但Maximilian Hecker确实赋予了它们更为纯粹的别样意义：古典韵味的钢琴、通透的假声、弥漫的稀薄情感、独特的曲式行进、偶尔肆虐的吉他失真和神经质的男声。

呵，感觉和从前的收音机头越靠越近了，尤其在这张"Lady Sleep"中的某些曲目，一直到"10.Yeah, Eventually She Goes"一曲变得赤裸和一发不可收，当然，我无从去考证他与Radiohead之间的关系如何，这只是作为一个乐迷的主观感受而已。全碟下来，一如既往的干净温暖，比之从前，似乎更加注重内心的挖掘了，第一曲"Birch"有着明亮的古典钢琴点缀，而高潮处，就像前面说的，难免令人联想起Radiohead。其后的诸如"Anaesthesia","Summer days In Bloom","Everything Inside Me Is Ill","Snow"等曲子均为甜蜜温馨佳品，实在让人讶异于这个帅气的男人如斯敏感的心路以及如同泉涌般的创作才情。

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Maximilian Hecker's first album Infinite Love Songs came out 2001 and gained the yet 23 years old from Berlin a huge fan base. Great commendation by international the press followed: 'one of the most ravishing, honest, tear drenched pop-albums of the year.' (Musikexpress). Lady Sleep has been produced with Guy Sternberg at Lowswing Studios, Berlin and with it's instrumentation it clearly sets focus on Infinite Love Songs. Less abundant, more space to the essential. 'The central topic of the album is the longing for a disembodied state, symbolized by the longing for symbiosis, love, death, anesthesia, bliss and lunacy.' (Maximilian Hecker) Hecker's third long player isn't any less emotional than Infinite Love Songs or Rose, just simply more relaxed and clasped by retention. It presents eleven puristic songs which pour a comforting clarity and pleasant embrace. Intimacy on a higher level. Kitty Yo. 2005.

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by James Christopher Monger

Lady Sleep, the third full-length offering from German chamber pop balladeer Maximilian Hecker, is pure misery. Protagonists pine, grieve, and rage as they watch hope fade away through frosty windows of romantic failure like Elizabethan teenagers in love, pausing only to reflect on the inevitable relief provided by their eventual earthly demise. Hecker croons lines like "You're the goddess of my daydreams/you're the diving suit to my body/you're the one I will never touch" in a lucid falsetto that recalls the Zombies' Colin Blunstone without the whimsy. His maudlin world is augmented by piano, strings, and the occasional burst of processed guitar or drums, resulting in a collection of material that manages to echo both Trent Reznor and "Without You"-era Harry Nilsson, while maintaining a distinctly European flare for melodrama. It's not all wrist-slitting breakup music however, as Hecker can conjure up the occasional bit of Morrissey-esque black humor ("Everything Inside Me Is Ill") and there is the requisite mid-tempo pick-me-up ("Full of Voices"), but for the most part, Lady Sleep is an effective love letter to pain. Fans of Antony and the Johnsons and Scott Walker will find much to love here.

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Distributed By – PIAS – 247.0072.020

Manufactured By – Handle With Care

Pressed By – MPO

Engineered At – LowSwing Tonstudio

Mixed At – Tritonus Tonstudio

Mastered At – Soundgarden Tonstudio

Bass – Norman Nitzsche (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 11)

Design [Additional] – Alorenz

Design Concept, Photography By [Black And White Photos] – Alexander Obst

Engineer [Recording Engineer] – Guy Sternberg

Mastered By – Chris von Rautenkranz

Photography By [Colour Photos] – Michael Tewes

Producer, Mixed By – Gareth Jones

Songwriter – Maximilian Hecker

The red rose on the front and the lyric on the back are printed directly onto the jewel case. (This only applies to the first limited edition pressing. The second edition standard pressing has not these printings on the jewel case.)

Barcode (Text): 5 413356 611328

Barcode (Scanned): 5413356611328

Matrix / Runout: MPO KY03072CDP @ 02

Mastering SID Code: IFPI L039 01/09/03 08:56:15

Mould SID Code: IFPI 1222

Rights Society: GEMA

Label Code: LC 02816