athome

feel at home
AT HOME MUSIC is pleased to announce our first record release on 27.01.2006.

"Almost Forgotten Tales" is the debut album from AT HOME – André Nitze. It is released in an elegant digipack, with photography by Sarah-Johanna Eick and artwork by NEW IMAGE. "Almost Forgotten Tales" is a concept album in which 10 pieces of music are interwoven with each another, conjuring up a world of images. It is Nitze’s journey through our world. And the sound originates from the stillness of our apartments at night. Our home.

Questioned about his musical roots and influences, Nitze replies:„I grew up listening to “This Mortal Coil”. David Sylvian’s songs have always been a part of my life to the present day. Robert Smith was like my “guitar teacher”. I think “A Forest” was the first piece I played on the guitar. For me Ivo Watts Russell is one of the greatest innovators in the music industry. And in my view these archetypal albums were all created under his direction. In other words what we today call 4AD. The Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Dead can Dance, Clan of Xymox… These are albums that aren’t hyped much but everyone knows them. If they hadn’t existed, the music world would have been a much poorer place. I’m especially thinking of albums like “Sleep With The Fishes”. This influenced me a great deal.

On “almost forgotten tales” Nitze sets three poems by Dylan Thomas to music; he explains why: „It is the sense of the absurd in his writing. His writing is a true source of inspiration to me. Jon Cale was the one who first introduced me to Thomas. I devoured everything he wrote. “Being But Men” is all about how simple it is to feel happiness. Something that we knew all about as children. It’s so simple... but we’ve forgotten how to do it. This is not a new idea. But nobody has captured the essence of it like Thomas.“so Nitze.

PRESS COMMENT

“...a melancholy atmosphere very much predominates throughout “almost forgotten tales”. (...) the mellifluous, disarming compositions are underlain with tranquil keyboard harmonies, interspersed with guitar accents and here and there some stirring bursts from the saxophone. This is all rounded off by warm-hearted vocals, which are certainly going to please followers of the David Sylvian sound. (...) This could be a real discovery for fans of the music labels Hyperium, 4AD and Project!” D. H.

“The album attempts to capture the essence of everyday, urban life in the metropolis Berlin, yet this occurs more from the perspective of the observer than an active participant. The ten-minute opener “Being But Men”, whose lyrics have been borrowed from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, makes it clear from the outset that this album is all about constructing and nurturing a mood. The mellifluous, disarming compositions are underlain with tranquil keyboard harmonies, interspersed with guitar accents and here and there some stirring bursts from the saxophone. This is all rounded off by warm-hearted vocals, which are certainly going to please followers of the David Sylvian sound.”

LISTENER REVIEW

AT HOME’s debut album plays with a rainbow of tonal colours and the emotions which they trigger in the listener. The right lyrics play an important part in sustaining the album's enigmatic atmosphere. The lyrics of three of the songs are borrowed from the works of Dylan Thomas.

One can still find them, those albums whose true beauty is only revealed when you’re sitting at your window at night with your headphones on, watching the car headlights sweeping past. The musical one-man show that is AT HOME demands something of us which we never seem to have any of: time.

Diffusing serenity, mastermind Nitze is often simply content with embellishing the simple, sustained notes of a cello with perfectly interspersed plucks from a guitar or creating celestial flageolet sounds and estranged planetarium moods. And over the top he recounts his almost forgotten tales. Opulent in its wealth of tonal nuances, largely minimalist in its arrangement, this release somnambulates in a never-never land somewhere between This Mortal Coil and Mogwai, yet as soon as it seems fitting, it indulges itself in a chorus with an unashamedly pop feel (The Hand That Signed).

athomemusic.de