Hidden Shoal Recordings Re-Release Debut Sankt Otten Album

Oct. 1, 2008 - PRLog -- The Australian music label Hidden Shoal Recordings has announced the re-release of the debut album by German cinematic pop outfit Sankt Otten.

Before the stunning success of albums Wir Koennen Ja Freunde Bleiben and Wunden Gibt Es Immer Wieder, Sankt Otten crafted their equally essential debut, Eine Kleine Traurigkeit (A Small Sadness). Built around brooding cinematic samples of horns and strings, the supple drumwork of Stephan Otten, and Carsten Sandkaemper’s distinctive guitar and arresting vocal presence.

Including the hypnotic single ‘Fernfahrer’ alongside 11 other tracks of bewitching noir alchemy and brooding filmic pop, the album justifies the band’s early label as the ‘German Portishead’. Indeed, the album feels like an unconscious eight-year precursor to Portishead’s Third, with Sankt Otten taking the trip-hop aesthetic to more experimental ends than their contemporaries of the time.

In many ways, ‘Fernfahrer’ distils all the qualities of the album as a whole: hypnotic beats, hovering guitars and restrained strings, swirling in an immersive, noir atmosphere. However, different to much of Sankt Otten’s latter output, ‘Fernfahrer’ features a wonderfully dreamy German-language vocal track that filters a sense of downbeat hopefulness throughout the song’s rainy streetscape. Eine Kleine Traurigkeit is low-key yet immediately accessible, smoky yet crystal-clear, otherworldly yet distinctly familiar. This is musical terrain that Sankt Otten have made their very own.

“Sankt Otten has surely made a statement… fusing together complex musical genres and making the product sound so simple, and yet so beautiful” – The Silent Ballet on Wunden Gibt Es Immer Wieder

“The instrumental ambience of the album is lavishing, gorgeous, and inexplicably German… And the melodies… Ah, the melodies. The track ‘Der Groove Des Guten Gewissens’, with its dramatic strings and high octave piano notes, is a true cinematic experience – turn that up and walk around the city in the rain, and let me know if your eyes don’t swell up with tears” – Headphone Commute on Wunden Gibt Es Immer Wieder

Eine Kleine Traurigkeit was originally released in 2000 by German label Eleganz to critical acclaim from the German music press. This will be the first time that the album has been released outside Germany. The Hidden Shoal Recordings 2008 re-release of the album also includes the bonus track ‘Stille Tage Im Klischee’.

Eine Kleine Traurigkeit is now available through Hidden Shoal Recordings in both CD and digital format. All availability information can be found at the HSR Store.

Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australia-based independent music label that has earned a reputation for releasing exciting and engaging new independent music that is not bound by genre or style. Hidden Shoal Recordings was chosen as one of the top ten favourite labels of 2007 by Textura magazine and has been dubbed “This generation’s 4AD” by prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo.

Label Site: http://music.hiddenshoal.com
Label Store: http://agora.hiddenshoal.com

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Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australia-based music label that has earned a reputation for releasing engaging new music that is not bound by genre or style. The label has been dubbed “This generation’s 4AD” by prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo.