Lieder aus Herbst by Nadine Maria Schmidt

‘Songs of Autumn’, the second album of songs in German language by Leipzig based singer/songwriter Nadine Maria Schmidt and her band Frühmorgens am Meer (“Early Morning by the Sea”) makes a mark at the beginning of 2014s fall music season. Their debut "Blue Edges" had received a nomination for the Prize of the German Record Critics and met with general acclaim by the cultural media. These new songs are filled with the sweet smells of October leaves, of a final flourish before the year loses its colours. Melancholia, deep thinking and attention to detail are reflected in their words and sounds. The sensitive chamber pop arrangements vary widely in form and shape, from an a capella piece accompanied by a Tibetan singing bowl to large-scale arrangements with trombone, cello, piano, chorales , Indian Bansuri, accordion, darbuka, melodica , glockenspiel , guitar, bass and drums. At their core Schmidt's deep, croaking, cooing, whispering, breathing, shattering, screaming and rejoicing voice fills the idiosyncratic poetry of her lyrics with life and drama. The topics of her songs are sometimes immediately clear, sometimes they only dawn on you later, and sometimes not at all. She collects stories of people’s lives, gives them new colours, transposes them, turns them around and makes them unforgettable. Each song follows the trace of a different person. And Nadine Maria is not afraid of putting the darkest chapters of a life into lyrical form. For the first time, lyrics from other sources are included in the 15 tracks on the album, not least the Hermann Hesse poem "To Beauty." The album was produced in a German-French collaboration by Roy de Council and André Gensicke (Die Zöllner). It was funded entirely by their fans, as "Blue Edges" had been before. Recommended for friends of idiosyncratic singer/songwriters. CD with 56 minutes playing time in digipack with a 20-page booklet.