Nothing But Hope And Passion “Hiddensee”
The Finest Five New Albums
New Releases 14/06/19: Calexico and Iron & Wine, Bill Callahan, Kae Tempest, Tusks, CEEYS
CEEYS – ‘Hiddensee’
Sounds like … the perfect symbiosis of cello and piano keys.
This symbiosis is not only displayed in the music of the two brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke from Germany but also in the name of their common musical project: CEllo + kEYS = CEEYS. Their fourth full-length is another very personal and intimate journey with one foot in the past, and the other in the present. Their East-German socialization stands at the center of this record. A record filled with memories of their childhood in East-Germany in the last decade of the GDR and the following freedom after the Soviet regime collapsed. Hiddensee is the picturesque German island in the Baltic sea, that is at the same time place of many childhood memories and the place of return after experiencing the freedom of the post GDR area. Nostalgic on the one hand, pulsation on the other. An instrumental dialogue between the two brothers that share a common musical background, only separated by the thin walls of their rooms while practicing their instruments as children.
Recorded at Saal 3 at Funkhaus Berlin, which is currently rented by neo-classic pioneer Nils Frahm, the two brothers dived deep into the world of analog recording with several devices and instruments from the 1950s to 1980s. Tender, sometimes even fragile, the melodic ideas swirl around them, back and forth, matching and completing each other in the most comforting way and thus creating a room full of reverbing vibration between suspense and ease, intimacy and freedom. The songs unfold their inner beauty in a calm and at the same time intense way, with the cello and keys – mostly piano but every now and then with decently used synthesizer sequences and loops – providing different rhythmical variations in harmonic unity. The record lives through the created atmosphere, rather than through epic moments or walls of sounds. The familiarity of the two brothers is the core of the music. A record for the calm and most private moments and an experience, that surly covers the listener even more in a live performance. (Abhilash Arackal)
