Quietest hour
| Quietest hour | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Avant-garde , electronic music |
| founding | 1998 |
| Current occupation | |
| Oliver Uckermann (since 1998) | |
| Birgit Strunz (since 1999) | |
| former members | |
singing |
Inanis Kurzweil (1999-2003) |
Quietest hour is a German avant-garde - music project by Oliver Uckermann and Birgit Strunz, which was founded in 1998 by Oliver Uckermann.
Surname
The band name goes back to Friedrich Nietzsche's main work Also Spoke Zarathustra . The “quietest hour” describes the deepest and calmest (and therefore also the most terrible) moments of a person.
Band history
Oliver Uckermann has been making music since 1989, he was the bass player in a post-punk band and was involved in other, partly avant-garde projects. At the same time, he wrote his own pieces, but according to his own statement, he did not think about publication for years.
In 1998 he deliberately founded Stillste Stund as a solo studio project in order not to have to compromise on music with other people involved. In 1999 he added Birgit Strunz and Inanis Kurzweil as accompanying singers.
In the same year published Stillste Stund a demo recording called a person, a thing, a dream and, shortly afterwards Releases ... Alice In under contract taken. A Man, a Thing, a Dream was officially released on May 22, 2000 and was very well received within the black scene . The rather demanding texts and the experimental sound arrangements were emphasized. The Orkus music magazine chose quietest hour of the newcomers of the month.
The second work, Ursprung Paradoxon , was published in 2001 and earned Stillste Stund recognition in scene circles beyond Germany. It is stylistically similar to its predecessor. Birgit Strunz, who only joined the project two years ago as vocal support, took over the complete album artwork as well as the design of the homepage (as with all subsequent albums) . Already here it became apparent that the Stillste Stund would no longer be just Oliver Uckermann's solo project.
In 2002, her track From the Depth from the debut album was in an episode of the American television series Buffy - The Vampire Slayer (7th season, 2nd episode). The band only found out about it afterwards.
In 2003 Stillste Stund released their third album Biestblut - Two in One - a thought construct in 7 scenes , which is designed as a concept album . In terms of content, it is shaped by the story of a hybrid of humans and animals that lives and hunts in a forest, is then hunted itself and becomes more and more aware that it could only be a construct in the mind of its creator . The work is formally divided - apart from the prologue and epilogue - into 7 scenes with 3 tracks each. The last track of each scene is conceptualized in such a way that it can be heard detached from the flow of the album in order to loosen up the almost 80-minute work. Biestblut… is the last album on which Inanis Kurzweil is involved.
In 2005, Blendwerk Antikunst was the best-selling Stillste Stund album.
In 2008, Von Rosen und Neurosen followed - an exquisite collection of the cruelest nightmares . The limited edition includes a second CD called Alice EP , which focuses on musical adaptations of Lewis Carroll's fantasy worlds.
music
Musical influences
Oliver Uckermann emphasizes his weakness for film scores , for example by Danny Elfman or Christopher Young , and for late romantic classical music , especially Richard Wagner . He also likes to listen to post-punk , gothic rock and dark wave from the 1970s and 1980s (including Siouxsie and the Banshees , The Cure , Joy Division ) as well as modern indie rock and atonal or dissonant new music ( Arnold Schönberg , György Ligeti ) .
Musical style
The above-mentioned influences reassemble Stillste Stund in a way that is difficult to compare. Characteristic is the flowing change between passages with spoken texts (with background music, similar to a radio play ) and “danceable” sections. The relationship between these two parts varies from song to song, sometimes strongly. The instrumentation is sometimes predominantly classical or acoustic (especially on the album Von Rosen und Neurosen… ), but sometimes also strongly electronic (for example in Mühle mahlt on the album Ursprung Paradoxon ). According to the duo, the most important thing in all compositions is the conveyed atmosphere .
Recurring themes
Old German fairy tales or sagas (such as Krabat ) or other fantastic stories are often used in the texts of Stillste Stund ; Over 3 albums, the duo processed elements of Lewis Carroll's Alice behind the mirrors , but in a far darker mood. Very often the texts also contain thoughts from Friedrich Nietzsche (who was also consulted when the band was named) and other philosophers. The lyrical self in the lyrics very often questions one's own perception, often even one's own existence (especially on the concept album Biestblut ... ). On their MySpace page ( memento from January 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) the duo writes that their music sounds ...
- […] Like a fine tea party consisting of Friedrich Nietzsche, Mary Shelley, Tim Burton and the Brothers Grimm in the middle of the dissociative wonderland of your split personality - because maybe all this is not real and only exists in your head!
Appearances
Stillste Stund see themselves as a studio project and as such do not have any appearances. Oliver Uckermann justifies this with the fact that the music is not suitable for public gigs . They keep in touch with their fans mainly through emails and online forums.
Discography
Albums
- 2000: A person, a thing, a dream ( Alice In ... )
- 2001: Origin of Paradox (Alice In ...)
- 2003: Biestblut - Two in One - A thought construct in 7 scenes (Alice In ...)
- 2005: Blendwerk anti-art (Alice In ...)
- 2008: Of roses and neuroses - an exquisite collection of cruelest nightmares (Alice In ...). In the limited edition with the Alice EP
Remixes
- 2006: Das Ich - Cabaret (on Cabaret / Varieté by Das Ich)
- 2009: Caputt - Alakazam! (on Maschinenkind EP by Caputt)
- 2009: Wumpscut - Mortal Highway (on Bunkertor 7 - Re-Sample Edition by Wumpscut)
Film music contributions
- 2002: From the Depth (unofficial Remix) (in: Buffy - The Vampire Slayer , Season 7, Episode 2: Beneath You )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Interview on Rockezine.com (2002)
- ↑ a b Official MySpace website of the band ( Memento from January 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d Interview ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by GothicWorld (2004)
- ↑ Album review on Obliveon.de (2001)
- ↑ Band portrait at Dark Dimensions Label Group
- ↑ Interview on Obliveon.de (2005)
- ↑ a b Interview on Treffpunkt-schwarz.de (2008)
- ↑ a b Fan Interview ( Memento from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on Stillste-Fans.de (2007)
