Confessions & Doubts

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Confessions & Doubts
Studio album by Peter Heppner

Publication
(s)

28th September 2018

Label (s) RCA Germany

Format (s)

CD, download, vinyl

Genre (s)

Dark wave , electro pop ,
synth pop

Title (number)

  • 10 (Standard Edition)
  • 40 (Limited Fanbox)

running time

  • 37:37 min. (Standard Edition)
  • 2:26:54 min. (Limited Fanbox)
occupation
  • Mathias Heising: guitar

production

  • Alex Lys
  • Dirk Riegner
chronology
My Heart of Stone
(2012) 		Confessions & Doubts TanzZwang
(2018)

Confessions & Doubts ( English for "Confessions and doubt"), the third studio album of the German synth pop - singer Peter Heppner .

Creation and artwork

Emergence

All the lyrics on Confessions & Doubts are specially written by Heppner himself, only the lyrics to the title What remains? was created in collaboration with Joachim Witt . Heppner was also responsible for the compositions, which he carried out together with other co-composers. Seven of the ten compositions were created with the help of Heppner's long-time companion and live band member Dirk Riegner . Furthermore, the composers Riad Abdel-Nabi, Matthias Heising, Alex Lys, Kim Sanders , Mirko Schaffer, André Tanneberger ( atb ), Mario Wesser and Witt contribute to a few titles. While Riegner was already active as a composer on the first two studio albums by Heppner, the other composers contributed a title for Heppner for the first time. The co-composers were responsible for the musical composition, while Heppner was mainly responsible for the vocal compositions. The production and programming of the album was carried out by the Berlin music producer Alex Lys. Lys not only produced an album by Heppner for the first time, this is generally the first album production by Lys, previously he only made individual productions. Lys did three of the ten productions and programming together with Riegner. Riegner is only involved in three productions, he co-produced the previous studio album My Heart of Stone . The album was mixed by the Cologne German-Turkish Yunus Cimen. The mastering took place under the direction of Robin Schmidt from 24-96 Mastering in Karlsruhe . With the exception of what remains? all titles were recorded by Lys. The recordings for What remains? made by the Berlin music producer Thommy Hein . The instruments were recorded by Joschka Bender (guitar), Heising (guitar), Lys (keyboard) and Riegner (keyboard).

Confessions & Doubts was published under the music label RCA Germany by BMG Rights Management (1 track), Edition Drakkar Publishing (7 tracks), Eisenherz Musikverlag (1 track), Melodie der Welt (1 track), Sony / ATV Music Publishing ( 2 titles), André Tanneberger Edition (1 title) and TMB Musicbrokers (1 title) published and distributed by Sony Music Entertainment .

Artwork

The album cover should represent a file . On the left side of the cover picture is a white caricature of Heppner's upper body - from face to chest. Lines of text from the album can also be found in white letters on the rest of the cover. At the top, on the left-hand side, is the artist's name "Heppner" in red. The background of the entire cover picture is yellowish. Details on the file can be found at the bottom. It contains the following information:

  • Case name ( English for ' case name ') : Confessions & Doubts
  • Assigned to (English for 'assigned to') : Peter Heppner
  • File number (English for ' file number ') : 19075890512 | 2018

The same artwork concept is also on the cover of the first single What remains? as well as the remix album TanzZwang, which was released at the same time . On a second cover picture, which can be found on the “Limited Fanbox”, only Heppner's face is shown. Heppner's face is shown slightly blurred and bluish. Inside the CD is a 22-page booklet in which all the lyrics, further photos and all contributors can be found. The photographs of Heppner were taken by the Berlin photographer Mathias Bothor, further image recordings and the artwork came from Ulrike Rank again - as with various Heppner publications. For the first time, images from the photo shoot with Bothor were published by Heppner on June 7, 2018. These were two black-and-white portraits by Heppner that were published for the first time for promotional purposes. The cover of the "Standard Version" was presented for the first time on August 9, 2018. The cover for the "Limited Fanbox" was first presented on September 6, 2018.

Publication and promotion

publication

The first publication of Confessions & Doubts took place on 28 September 2018. The conventional version of the album was released on CD, download and vinyl and includes ten new studio recordings. The album was actually supposed to be released a week earlier on September 21, 2018. When putting together the "Limited Fanbox", there were unforeseeable problems that led to a delay that could not be made up. Heppner wanted to publish all album formats at the same time in the previously announced versions and for this reason postponed the publication for a week. On August 9, 2018, Heppner announced the final track list for Confessions & Doubts for the first time . One day later, the official press release of the music label Sony / RCA was published. A few days later, the pre-order of the album started on August 14, 2018.

At the same time as the regular album, a “Limited Fanbox” was released, which is limited to 2,000 units. This consists of four CDs, three stickers with the cover pictures for Confessions & Doubts , What remains? and TanzZwang , two posters with the two cover pictures for Confessions & Doubts , a pin with the cover picture for the “Standard Version” of Confessions & Doubts and a hand-signed autograph card. The first CD is the studio album Confessions & Doubts . The second CD Confessions & Doubts (Instrumentals) contains instrumental versions of all the songs on the studio album. The third CD is the remix album TanzZwang, which was released at the same time . The fourth CD TanzZwang (Originals) contains studio versions of some of the tracks from the remix album. Confessions & Doubts (instrumentals) and TanzZwang (originals) can only be purchased in conjunction with the “Limited Fanbox”; no independent publications were made. The fan box consists of a total of 40 titles.

promotion

Already on September 16, 2015, the first two new tracks from the album celebrated their live premieres, Give me a reason and Good Things Break . Both tracks were an integral part of the second tour section of Heppner's acoustic tour in 2015. About a month later, Heppner published a black and white recording on his Facebook page on October 21, on which a girl can be seen sideways in front of the camera on a playground 2015. You can't see your face. The lettering “working title” runs through the picture; at the top is the word "confession" in several different languages. Including the English translation “Confessions”, part of the final album title. There is also a French and Russian translation on the picture. On June 22, 2018, Heppner announced that the title of the album had been changed from "Confessions" to "Confessions & Doubts". One day before the release, Heppner presented the "Limited Fanbox" in an unboxing on YouTube .

background information

Composing session (2013-2014)

1. Recording session

After the release of his second studio album My Heart of Stone on May 18, 2012, Heppner went on his My Heart of Stone Tour of the same name at the end of the year . Following the first section of the tour, which took him through eleven German cities in November and December of that year, Heppner began work on a third studio album. A composition session with his long-time companion and live band member Dirk Riegner took place in the Thommy Hein Studio. On February 6, 2013, Heppner made the following contribution on his Facebook page:

“Although I was / am not idle due to the follow-up and preparation of the tour , I used the time to get creative again. At the moment I'm back in Berlin to sing a vocal track for a new duet with a dear colleague of mine in the Thommy Hein Studio . As always, who that is will only be revealed when it is “ready to be said”. In addition, I finished the first composition session for my new album with Dirk Riegner last week and some wonderful songs came out again. It is worth looking forward to. "

- Peter Heppner, Facebook, February 6, 2013.
2. Recording session

In March 2013, Heppner and his live band embarked on the second part of his My Heart of Stone Tour . The second section of the tour took him through seven other German cities and ended on March 9th in the Landskron brewery in Görlitz . Shortly after the Easter holidays , in the run-up to the third section of the tour, which took him with his band outside of Germany, Heppner and Riegner completed a second composition session. On April 2, 2013, Heppner informed his fans via Facebook that he and Riegner had sat down again before Easter to come up with more song ideas.

3. Recording session

After the third and final tour section of his My Heart of Stone Tour , on which Heppner and band played once in Greece and twice in Russia , he and Riegner held a third composition session. On May 28, 2013, Heppner confirmed the third session with the words: “Since yesterday I have been sitting with Dirk Riegner again ... We are brooding over new song ideas! Keep your fingers crossed that we can come up with beautiful new melodies! "

In the middle of this third composition session, Heppner also updated his Facebook cover picture. An old press photo and the note “New album in progress” as well as the English translation “New album under construction” could be found on this from now on. After the four-day session, Heppner broke the idea of ​​a double album for the first time :

“Well, the third composition session with Dirk is over and I can only say: Hammer-Super-Geil! If it goes on like this, it'll be another double album ... :-) No, seriously, two unbelievable layouts written in four days ... I'll get down to the vocal composition and lyrics right away. Actually I wanted to clean up my office / studio, but now ... I am highly inspired and motivated! Now songs are being made! "

- Peter Heppner, Facebook, May 31, 2013.
4. Recording session

After a short vacation in Norway , Heppner and Riegner met in early September 2013 for the fourth composition session. Shortly after the fourth composing session, Heppner spoke for the first time that it could be the best album he had ever made - including all band projects and guest contributions in which he was involved. At this point he was indulging in the results of her work over the last week and he would no longer get along. He is just so addicted to the pieces, even though they have only composed the music so far and the lyrics are still missing.

Due to repeated fan inquiries, Heppner announced an initial schedule for the third studio album: In order to collect enough musical drafts or compositions for the new album, he and Riegner would have to do at least two more sessions. They hope they'll be done with it by the end of the year. Experience has shown that even if he was already in the middle of writing the lyrics and composing the “finished” compositions, it would “probably” take a few more weeks until he was finished. He is just not the “riot”. He's more into classic text work and it just takes longer. This is followed by production, which again takes a few weeks or months. Only then could one think of a publication, the preparation of which would take some time (video shoot, press work, etc.). It makes no sense to release a CD right before or in the middle of summer. If the preparations are not completed by March, or by the beginning of April next year at the latest, the publication will not take place until September or October. However, you would plan to provide a few excerpts for free download as soon as they are finished. In addition, nothing stands in the way that there could be a first single release much earlier, similar to God Smoked from the previous studio album. He and his team would work to shorten the wait for the new album as much as possible, but "good things take time". He thinks that nobody would benefit if the new album was knitted with the “hot needle”. Heppner later stated in an interview with Laut.de that he and Riegner had already had 30 titles at this point in time, and he knew they all had to be implemented.

5. Recording session

At the end of October 2013, the fifth composition session between Heppner and Riegner took place in Hamburg . With the texts and chants for the previous compositions, he has made progress in the meantime, even if not as well as he would have liked. The album's release date at the end of 2014 is not in danger. With the help of the photographer Nina Bergeest, a photo album with black and white pictures of the studio work was published during the fifth recording session . Heppner described this session as the most productive ever. Within a week five draft songs were created, which in his opinion left nothing to be desired in terms of quality. In the first week of November, Heppner announced that the first three to four songs would be nearing completion, both composition (song and music) and lyrics. He's moving on to finish work on as many pieces as possible this year. Then they could start producing demos and then go into final production.

6. Recording session

The sixth recording session was originally planned for the end of November 2013, but had to be canceled by Heppner due to illness. In the meantime, he published Dream of Christmas, a German and English-language Christmas carol for free download, and for the first time participated as a radio play speaker in the play Monster , the eighth part of the radio play series Blauer Planet . The sixth recording session at Heppner's home finally began in mid-January 2014. Among other things, three new song ideas were created. At the end of this session there were so many demo recordings that Heppner found out about the interest in two full-fledged albums in a fan survey. In his opinion, a double album makes no sense.

7th and 8th recording session

In February 2014 the seventh meeting between Heppner and Riegner took place. As in the previous session, three musical “layouts” were created here. The eighth composition session took place in Hamburg at the beginning of May 2014. Here he and Riegner finished all preparatory work in the compositional area. From then on, Heppner started with the vocal compositions and the lyrics.

Tours and texts (2014-2015)

After the composition session was over, Heppner took a break from production. He bridged the rest of the year with concerts and guest appearances. First he appeared as a guest singer during the performances of Camouflage and Solar Fake at the Amphi Festival . This was followed by a concert as part of the Nocturnal Culture Night, before Heppner went on an acoustic tour with his live band at the end of the year .

At the end of January 2015, Heppner began again with the more intensive text work. On March 29, 2015, Heppner performed again at a Camouflages concert. Both parties presented a joint piece for the first time with Count on Me . Count on Me was released as a single later that year . On April 3, Heppner performed at the black ball in Zurich . Due to the positive response and the lower cost of acoustic concerts, Heppner and his team decided to play a second tour section in September 2015, so the acoustic concert series led through 16 German cities and for a concert in Vienna in Austria . During the second part of the tour, Heppner presented two new pieces, Gib mir noch nen Grund and Good Things Break , which finally made it onto the album.

Break due to illness and 30 Years of Heppner (2016-2017)

At the beginning of 2016 it became quieter around Heppner, who took a break. In the summer of 2016, Heppner announced on his Facebook page that he had been suffering from the heart disease hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HOCM) since he was 16 . This disease was only diagnosed two and a half years earlier, after Heppner was hospitalized with an inflammation of the heart muscle , previously it was wrongly assumed to be suffering from asthma . In the spring of 2016, he underwent an operation to remove the HOCM, which went without complications . As the reason for the decision to go public with his illness only after about 30 years, Heppner stated that he did not gain attention through a "pity bonus" and as a kind of "ailing musician", but through his art, music and Texts wanted to be known. Shortly after the announcement, Heppner played at the Amphi Festival . Until the end of the year he played at the Schwimmern Festival and twice at the Gothic Meets Klassik Festival .

In 2017, Heppner celebrated its 30th anniversary on stage. To mark the occasion, in April played two concerts in the Russian cities of Saint Petersburg and Moscow . In November of that year, a small tour to mark the anniversary with the title 30 Years of Heppner followed . The tour lasted just over a month from October 31 to December 3, 2017. It took him and his accompanying band through six German cities as well as once to Barcelona in Spain and once to Warsaw in Poland. During the tour there were guest appearances by Marcus Meyn (Camouflage) and Kim Sanders .

Final album production (2018)

After the last two years due to health problems and the celebrations for the 30th anniversary on the stage, things have been a little quieter in terms of album production, Heppner shared some impressions from the recording studio for the first time on March 10, 2018 . Among other things, he uploaded pictures from the said recording studio and in the same post confirmed the start of the vocal recordings and the planned release of the album before the tour begins. On March 13, 2018, Heppner finished the first singing session. On April 11, 2018, it was announced that Heppner had signed a new contract with the music label RCA Germany and is therefore no longer under contract with Polydor . The final production began on May 24, 2018 in Berlin under the direction of Alex Lys. On June 15, 2018, Heppner announced that they had celebrated the mountain festival and that half of the production was done. During an interview with Ingo Nommsen in the ZDF service magazine Volle Kanne on August 6, 2018, Heppner confirmed that he had just finished production.

content

All the lyrics on the album are written in German or English and are written by Heppner himself. The lyrics to What remains? he wrote together with Joachim Witt . All pieces are new compositions. For Lied Herz (Metropolis) , Heppner was inspired, among other things, by the film of the same name, Metropolis . The play Theresienstadt: Behind the Wall was influenced by Heppner's participation in the musical theater play The Children of the Dead City . In terms of content, he tried to put himself into the situation. What would he say if he had been a child of this “Dead City”? Musically, the record moves in the field of dark waves , electropop and synth pop . Sony / RCA compared the sound as reverberation to the “signet sounds” of the 1970s. The sound was compared to that of a Moog or Prophet synthesizer as well as the sounds of the German band Kraftwerk or the French musician Jean-Michel Jarre . The posture of the plate, in turn, pays homage to the London scene in the early 1980s. It could also have been created “off Portobello Road ”, or under the aegis of 4AD and the many other independent labels of the time, which produced music groups like The Cure and New Order . It is the democratic view of the means of music production that Confessions & Doubts - sounding contemporary - spans an arc between the early 1980s and 2018.

For two titles, Heppner was supported vocally by two old companions. The song What remains? he took in with Witt. In 1998 the two sang the song Die Flut in a duet. Heppner sang the song You Don't Love Me together with Kim Sanders . After Aus Gold (2004) and Deserve to Be Alone, this is the third joint recording by Heppner and Sanders.

Track list
# title Author (s) Producer (s) length
1 Unloveable Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys 3:48
2 What remains? (feat. Witt ) Riad Abdel-Nabi, Peter Heppner, Mirko Schaffer, Mario Wesser, Joachim Witt Alex Lys, Dirk Riegner 4:01
3 Nothing ends Peter Heppner, André Tanneberger Alex Lys 3:43
4th Many happy hours Matthias Heising, Peter Heppner, Alex Lys Alex Lys 3:04
5 Good things break Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys 4:31
6th Give me a reason Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys, Dirk Riegner 3:28
7th You Don't Love Me (feat.Kim Sanders ) Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner, Kim Sanders Alex Lys, Dirk Riegner 4:02
8th Heart (metropolis) Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys 4:06
9 chance Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys 3:38
10 Theresienstadt: behind the wall Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner Alex Lys 3:23

Confessions & Doubts Tour

The Confessions & Doubts Tour was Heppner's sixth tour as a solo artist. The tour lasted just over a month, from November 15 to December 16, 2018. It took Heppner and his accompanying band through twelve German cities and once to Zurich in Switzerland . Heppner was accompanied by his live band, which since the My Heart of Stone Tour has consisted of Achim Färber (drums), Carsten Klatte (guitar) and Dirk Riegner (keyboard). During the tour, Heppner and his live band presented 27 different titles. The repertoire consisted of an electropop set with German and English-language songs. Two thirds of the setlist consisted of pieces from the new albums Confessions & Doubts and TanzZwang, as well as a small selection of songs from his first two solo albums, a compilation of older guest contributions and Wolfsheim pieces. The German electro-pop band Leichtmatrose played in the opening act of all concerts . Although not all concerts were sold out, it was announced before the end of the tour on December 7, 2018 that the tour would be expanded by seven concerts in Germany in April 2019.

Single releases

What remains?

The only official single to date was What remains? published, a cooperation with the German New German Hard Musician Joachim Witt . A music video shot by Marcus Sternberg celebrated its premiere on September 21, 2018. With what remains? it is the second joint recording and single release by Heppner and Witt. The two had already recorded the song Die Flut for Witt's eighth studio album bayreuth one 20 years earlier . The single climbed to position two in the German single charts and also made it to the charts in Austria and Switzerland. The single had to admit defeat to only Loonas Bailando in Germany , but was the most successful German-language song in the German single charts for a period of twelve weeks . Die Flut received a platinum record for over 500,000 units sold, making the single one of the best-selling German-language songs and duets in Germany since 1975. According to sources, the single has sold over 750,000 times worldwide. For both interpreters, the single represents the greatest success of their careers to this day. Compared to Die Flut , what remains? under the opposite sign. While Heppner was still a guest on Witt's album bayreuth Eins , this time Heppner is the host. During an interview with Dori from the radio show Nachtfalke on the Internet radio station Radio Schwarze Welle on May 17, 2018, Heppner first hinted at the successor. During the interview, Heppner added that he and his team had noticed that the title was celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and that they were also planning something. Just a week later, Witt confirmed to the Bild newspaper that the two of them were playing a song called What remains? would have recorded.

Shortly after the publication of What remains? Some fans were disappointed that the title would be too much like courage of a warrior by Witt and titled What remains? only as a cover version. Heppner then reported that what remains? was created in 2012. Witt had sent the song to Heppner at that time. He had already written and sung the verses and asked him if he would be interested in texting and singing the chorus and a remaining middle section ( bridge ). Heppner was interested and the end result was What remains? been. The piece was initially to remain unpublished, but Witt's former music label Columbia SevenOne Music / Sony Music insisted that the song be put on Witt's studio album DOM in some form . So Witt initially published a modified form of the piece with the title Courage of a Warrior . What remains? could not build on the success of its predecessor and missed a chart entry.

Unloveable

After two video extracts from the remix album TanzZwang , which was released at the same time, with Standing Tall (Sand & Pfeffer Remix) and … und ich tanz '(Latches Mix) , Heppner also released a video single with Unloveable on April 17, 2019. The music video became like what remains? shot in black and white and shows Heppner at various locations in the Port of Hamburg , such as in Moorburger Strasse or Seehafenstrasse . The shooting took place in the middle of March 2019. As with Dream of You , House of the Three Suns , What remains? and ... and I'll dance (Latches Mix) again to Marcus Sternberg .

Contributors

Album production

Artwork (cover)

Companies

reception

Reviews

  • Helgvar Sven Mánfreðson from the German-language metal and rock webzine Hellfire described Confessions & Doubts as a classic "Heppner work" with wonderful melancholy electro pop . Ten wonderful pieces were created, which give me a perfect start with Unloveable . Heppner's voice has freedom, the music / sounds are there, but subtly laid out. Mánfreðson described the piece What remains? As a wonderful lyrical and, above all, musical tidbit of two opposing voices . . Nothing Ends is on the one hand dreamy, on the other hand the song makes the dance muscles twitch. Many happy hours describe the quiet separation in words: " Ghosting ". Good Things Break , You Don't Love Me and Chance are three beautiful pieces in a wide variety of rhythmic presentations and textual content. Give me a reason, I'm reggae-heavy - heart (Metropolis) go to the same and fill the dance floors of the respective parties guaranteed. In Theresienstadt: Behind the wall you can literally imagine how it must have gone back then. A song that Mánfreðson deeply touches and leaves him swallowing. The album offers wonderful electro pop ala Heppner, there is nothing more to say.
  • Roman Jasiek from the German-language e-zine Avalost Times rated Confessions & Doubts with nine out of ten points. Heppner opened the door to the album with Unloveable . Right at the beginning a melancholic electro-pop number, which in its melody, its mood and in general in its whole way feels very much like a song that could have taken place on Wolfsheim's Spectators in the late 1990s . After Heppner and Witt celebrated their greatest commercial success with the flood , was it a big risk with What remains? to include a successor. If you put on such big shoes, the risk of stumbling is high. Fortunately, both professionals are enough to master this mammoth task with ease. If the flood was the question of when it will come, the wave into a new, much better life, what remains? more of a bittersweet approach to the moment after the tide had long since ebbed. What remains? will not inherit the flood , but nobody will have seriously assumed that either. These two really "strong songs" will complement each other perfectly from now on. The ballad Many Happy Hours is also very touching . She describes an incident (ghosting) that we have probably all experienced ourselves in one way or another: “The spontaneous end of something that could almost have become a nice relationship. Everything went well, everything was wonderful. At least from the point of view of one of the two parties involved. The other one has simply disappeared. Path. As if swallowed by the earth, from now on. ” Good Things Break , one of the heaviest pieces on the album, also goes with it . Core statement: “Everything that is good breaks, everything changes. Not necessarily always for the better. ”Jasiek does not want to agree with Heppner unreservedly, but he is very well aware of such thoughts. The song pulls your shoulders down, but as is often the case with Heppner in a wonderfully melancholy way, far from whining.
Give me a reason , musically with its subtle reggae influences, it may still be very “smart”, but the content is a bit too thin. Sitting in the pub and pouring yourself in, completely dismissing the blame for the misery and then saying: "Hey, but if you help me now, I'll stop the nonsense" - that is really a bit too thin and shut up unusually little self-reflection . Fortunately, this is the exception and therefore tolerable. Listening again to old friends seems to have been one of the mottos of this record, as Kim Sanders is once again a former duet partner in You Don't Love Me . Both voices would harmonize wonderfully together. And today, as then, the bittersweet taste of melancholy fills the room when the first notes sound. Then there is Theresienstadt: behind the wall . Without a doubt one of Heppner's most important and correct pieces of all. At a time when the news is overflowing with reports about the events in Chemnitz or Koethen , a song that is described from the perspective of a prisoner from the Theresienstadt concentration camp is just right. It doesn't happen often anymore that Jasiek touches music as much as it does here. This piece, however, "melts the ice in his eyes". A well-dosed portion of very delicately portioned guitar playing, a touch of percussive instruments and, above all, Heppner's haunting vocals - an "insanely" important song is ready. It is not wire or stone that holds us captive. It is the will of man that falls a prejudice. If you were to end your excursion into Heppner's latest musical machinations, you would probably be left with a lump in your throat, so big that there was almost a risk of suffocation. Jasiek thanks Heppner for this impressive contribution against oblivion. The only negative is the publication policy. The release of two albums, which one could very well have brought onto the market as a double album, should at least be questioned.
  • Marius Meyer from monkeypress rated Confessions & Doubts ten out of ten points and described the album as follows: Unloveable starts in the middle tempo range, paired with a good shot of melancholy and of course the distinctive, catchy voice. It follows the "hit" What remains? . What you notice in the overall context is that the tempo is sometimes higher, and on the other hand, the skillful use of the language when the pieces are played in German. Of course you know this Heppner, but it is nice how much it has held up over the years. Especially when it comes to issues such as togetherness, it is difficult not to step into faux pas . Heppner succeeds in doing this very well in Many beautiful hours, for example . Something that only a few succeed in, be it lines like “Now I'm sitting alone in Carlos Eck again, with a lot of alcohol I'll shoot myself away” to sound poetic, as in the very thoughtful and touching Give me but 'n reason is called. A really strong act in search of the self in an apparently wrong-going relationship. In the final Theresienstadt, thoughtfulness reached : a new height behind the wall . Inspired by the musical drama The Children of the Dead City , Heppner is doing his part here to preserve memories in times when there are noticeably fewer contemporary witnesses. But that doesn't mean that this is just a cerebral and brooding album. It is good and right that an artist makes people think, but musical enjoyment does not fall by the wayside here. Quite the opposite: The result was an excellent album of dark "electro sounds" that did not contain any outliers or filler material in its ten pieces. Instead, the listener receives ten pieces at a consistently high level.
  • Bent-Erik Scholz from darkmusicworld.de rated Confessions & Doubts positively and raised the title What remains? , Good Things Break and Theresienstadt: “Highlights” from behind the wall . His review was as follows: Dreamy sounds, wavy synths and an engaging calm and melancholy would run through the ten tracks. Unloveable is the perfect soundtrack for a night walk. Even the singer's clear German accent is becoming a trademark and his voice glides from the ear to the heart with the usual strength. Also the duet What remains? with Joachim Witt fill one with the joy of hearing the voice of the Grand Master again. Witt and Heppner would work wonderfully together even 20 years after the first collaboration. Although Witt's single, published as a collaboration, was already processed under the title Courage of a Warrior on his 2012 album Dom , the feeling of nostalgia that this new collaboration triggers is unsurpassable. The ten songs on the album would waver between love, self-doubt, and beautiful melancholy. All these aspects would be processed in Nothing Ends , which wanders somewhere between dance beats and quiet melodies and creates a nice atmosphere. A little slower, many happy hours creep into the ears of the listener, who is lyrically not brilliant, but nevertheless knows how to hit the heart with the text.
One of Scholz's “highlights” is Good Things Break , which begins as a “toy allegory” and then comes to the bitter realization that the best things rarely last. This song comes across as profound and beautiful, unlike the next number, give me a reason , which sounds more like a half-baked excuse for alcoholism than a love ballad. An alcohol problem is never just the fault of the partner, but also whoever decides to take the bottle. With the relatively unpoetic lyrics, the piece qualifies as one of the weaker numbers on the album. It would be a little better and above all more profound on the pop ballad You Don't Love Me , the instrumental of which has an almost “ Bond-like ”, elegant threat, while the flow of a romance is sung about. As usual, Heppner implements this topic with confidence, the song is fascinating and almost seductive in its nature. A favorite on this album, atmosphere and lyrics would go great. The reflective heart (Metropolis) contains a very self-critical, philosophical text that deals with growing out of one's mistakes and not being stopped by the stones that life and fellow human beings put in one's way. The instrumental is beautiful, has almost a slight “ Soulsavers vibe”.
The song Chance deals with fate. The synth-driven, groovy instrumental would have done really well on the last Depeche Mode album. As usual, Heppner posed the question of how much power really lies in our hands - a beautiful, dreamy, thoughtful title that, through many rhetorical questions, gets those who listen carefully to think about it. The album ends very strongly with the song Theresienstadt: Behind the Wall . The name, of course, immediately arouses associations with the concentration camp of the same name and so the song is also about exclusion , fears and imprisonment . In addition to the historical aspect of this wonderful ballad, references to current history can also be found here. In the text, Scholz also read parallels to the refugee crisis and to the judgments made today about people based on their origins. “I was all alone in this terrible place” - with the almost hopeless refrain, this line seems like a bridge between refugee homes and concentration camps. The song questions prejudices through a simple change of perspective and absolutely stimulates thought. The album, consistently melancholy, ends with this soft-rock, socially critical number, in which Heppner proclaims: “Behind the fence we could all be free together.” One of the highlights of the album.
“Typically Heppner”, the symbiosis of dreamy instrumentals and the heavy, melancholy “vocal performance” works wonderfully, and Heppner's voice is, as always, consistently present and unique. These ten ballads are rarely flat, often multifaceted and the album title is preserved within the self-critical and thoughtful lyrics.
  • Alex Klug from the German-language online magazine laut.de rated Confessions & Doubts four out of five stars. It is already unfair, because compared to the umpteen times exposed "German Pop Circus Guard" Heppner not only has a stone in the board, but a whole avalanche of voluminous boulders. His unmistakable baritone would also be truly voluminous in his 31st year of creation and with this he could even breathe life into Max Giesinger phrases. But what do you actually expect from a new Heppner album? Definitely not a new The Sparrows and the Nightingales , that much is certain. Heppner's largely synthesizer-based productions are almost too contemporary and sterile for that. Where in particular the predecessor My Heart of Stone had to suffer from the generic burden of numerous interludes, Confessions & Doubts make comparatively short work of ten songs. What is good and works much more sedate - just like Heppner himself. What remains? apparently "quite a hit potential". Heppner would give the "school desk philosopher", Witt, unlike in 1998, even tried proper singing. Soothing words that Bendzko and his group could not have expressed more flowery and yet something resonates again and again, especially in the German-language titles, this dripping melancholy, this guilty accentuation. They are the ones who would let go of even the most pretentious “ I + I storytelling” à la “Now I'm sitting alone in Carlos' corner again / with a lot of alcohol I'll shoot myself away”. “Guilty Pleasure?” ( English for “feelings of guilt”). Nope, if you let it go, it would be Heppner.
While the German-speaking half knew how to walk the tightrope between “hit potential” and “total lyrical failure”, Heppner would be innocent as usual in English. Nothing Ends and Chance are sovereign “disco tracks” that could just as well have been on the dance album TanzZwang , which is being released parallel to Confessions & Doubts . "What-if-ballads" like Many Beautiful Hours and Good Things Break rounded off the album with the usual "New Romantic touch", only the edgeless "Reggae vibes" in Give me a reason would be somewhere between " not fish and not meat "fizzle out. All the more surprising how clearly Heppner moved out of his lyrically mostly generally applicable to vague comfort zone at the end. In particular, those parts of the German press landscape that Heppner wanted to attribute an alleged lyrical proximity to nationalist topics in the past should listen carefully to Theresienstadt: Behind the Wall . Whereby: Historically, it wouldn't be more concrete than the song title. With his sparse, as so often extremely simplified poetry style, Heppner paints damn depressing concentration camp mood pictures in childishly naive Anne Frank manner. In terms of text, the title composed for the musical theater piece The Children of the Dead City is likely to be Heppner's most important and at the same time oppressive “coup” since Wolfsheim's Kein Zurück - a piece of German culture of remembrance.
  • Thomas Pilgrim from Plattentests.de did not rate the album as positive and only gave it five out of ten points. The title What remains? Never achieved the engaging “hymn-like character” of the 1998 hit ( Die Flut ), but gave a tidy, slightly gloomy “electro-knock” with a sweeping refrain, in which Heppner presented himself as the usual great singer. Witt, for his part, demonstratively renounces excessive vocal pathos and tries his brimful “metaphor suitcase” at best moderately. A passable introduction including the successful "opener" Unloveable , which is next to "downbeat ballad" and "tearful pop song". With a deeply wounded heart, for which of course the others are always to blame. And basically you don't expect anything else from an album called Confessions & Doubts . Namely, extensive quarreling with one's own emotional inadequacy and with the conviction that it is not love that hurts, but people who do not know how it works. At least that is how the long and broad complaining You Don't Love Me wanted it , in which Heppner and Kim Sanders would at least knock the allegations out on an equal footing, while the unpleasant “Ragga-Caribbean” mocked “ Give me a reason to blame” offended by interpersonal failure wise. An all-encompassing pain that Heppner has little more to oppose in the all too "maudlin sighs" Many happy hours and Good Things Break than wistful memories and the idea of ​​not allowing feelings in the first place. And a musically conservative record becomes a conservative record.
However, Hamburgers have more to offer than trip-hop- oriented rhythms and pop music, which are not entirely out of place when watching television in the garden. The “restlessly pushing synths” by Nothing Ends, for example, always wait for a “redeeming eruption” that did not materialize as desired; and rotate Chance , disaffected but dynamic, around a “jolly bass sequence”, even briefly knocked on Wolfsheim . Only at the end there is no room for self-pity: The Theresienstadt, inspired by the musical drama The Children of the Dead City , negotiates too bitterly and insistently : Behind the wall, the fate of the youngest in the Nazi transit camp , than that during the pounding " massive attack beat" all lovesickness in the world would not put into perspective in a flash. Seen in this way, it is the right ending for a relatively mediocre album. Pilgrim highlighted the pieces Unloveable , Chance and Theresienstadt: Behind the Wall as “highlights” .

Charts and chart placements

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Confessions & Doubts
  DE 11 05.10.2018 (3 weeks)

Confessions & Doubts placed eleventh in the German midweek charts in the first week of sales . In the official German album Top 100 , the album finally landed at position eleven and was in the charts for a total of three weeks. Furthermore, the album was able to place itself in the iTunes daily evaluations for several days and reached its highest rating on the day of its release with position 26. Outside Germany, the album was also placed in the Brazilian iTunes daily evaluations, where Confessions & Doubts reached position 19 on October 15, 2018.

For Heppner as a solo artist, Confessions & Doubts is the third chart success in the German album charts. After two top 10 hits , this is the first album of his to miss the top 10.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Peter Heppner: Confessions & Doubts , accompanying booklet, RCA Germany, September 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ Tim: Peter Heppner: “You can make something strange to yourself”. Freiepresse.de, September 26, 2018, accessed on October 3, 2018 .
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  25. ↑ Markus Brandstetter: I have no idea about dance. laut.de, October 2, 2018, accessed on October 3, 2018 .
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  42. ^ Peter Heppner: Peter Heppner - contributions. facebook.com, March 31, 2015, accessed September 13, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Camouflage feat. Peter Heppner - Count on Me. Discogs.com, accessed October 11, 2015 .
  44. ^ Peter Heppner: Peter Heppner - contributions. facebook.com, April 4, 2015, accessed September 13, 2018 .
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  55. ↑ Peter Heppner - Announces big Confessions Tour for autumn 2018! darkmusicworld.de, March 3, 2018, accessed December 14, 2018 .
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Peter Heppner
Studio albums

solo • My Heart of Stone • Confessions & Doubts

Remix albums

Dance compulsion

Compilation albums

My Heart of Stone (Deluxe Edition)

Video albums

1302km Iceland - In Search of the Glass Garden • solo (Deluxe Edition)

Singles
solo
Alone • Wherever
My Heart of Stone
My world
Confessions & Doubts
What remains?
Further
Still the same sky
Promo
God Smoked I Won't Give Up Dream of Christmas
Featurings

Gray in Gray • Reach for the Stars • Away • Do You Hear My Calling • Black Waves • Whispering Voices • The Flood • Dear God • Heal Yourself • Dream of You • In My Life • Glass Garden • Life… I Feel You • We are we • Made of gold • Pleasure pain • Maybe? • This moment • House of the three suns • Exactly opposite • Count on Me

Tours

Solo Tour • Club Tour • My Heart of Stone Tour • Peter Heppner acoustics • 30 Years of Heppner • Confessions Tour & Doubts