Will 2013 be a strange year? Some highly expected records (at least in some circles) have titles that might send shivers down your spine: “The Terror”, “Pale Green Ghosts”, “The Beast in its Tracks“ – and “Wandermüde”.
John Grant’s background story for PALE GREEN GHOSTS: “Moving to Reykjavik, at the age of 43, was incredibly risky and scary, I didn’t know anyone here, but I’ve built up a life here, and recorded an album I’m really proud of, that distils what I’m about down to its most essential components, better than ever before. And this was during the middle of health issues. It means I’m trying to take the bull by the horns, and to live.“
Josh Ritter’s background story for THE BEAST IN ITS TRACKS: „I wrote and recorded this record in the 18 months after my marriage had fallen apart. All heartbreak is awful – my broken heart wasn’t unique. But writing these songs was helping me get through the night and I didn’t have the strength to care or question. It felt like a different record from the start. Far from the grand, sweeping feel of the songs on So Runs the World Away, these new ones felt like rocks in the shoe, hard little nuggets of whatever they were, be it spite, remorse, or happiness. I told all this to Sam Kassirer, my producer and friend. If we recorded these songs, which felt so personal, their starkness needed a corresponding simplicity of production. I hadn’t composed this stuff, I’d scrawled it down, just trying to keep ahead of the heartbreak, and they needed to be recorded like that.“
WANDERMÜDE: „david sylvian’s experimental breakthrough blemish sees a new interpretation in the album wandermüde, by the remarkable electroacoustic musician stephan mathieu. working from the instrumental source material, mathieu brings us a new experience of the most stirring textures and darkest thoughts from this pivotal album.“
There’s no music from The Flaming Lips‘ new album THE TERROR available yet. Though several songs are supposed to be „creepy“. So, in the meantime, (to lighten the mood a bit after this short trip through upcoming albums that are full of chasing one’s demons, ghosts, shadows – and hopefully some irresistible tunes), you can find a video of Wayne Coyne and Stephen Colbert crowd-surfing in matching giant hamster balls. Enjoy.