Hidden Shoal Recordings Release Single by The German Cinematic Pop Outfit, Sankt Otten

The Australian digital music label, Hidden Shoal Recordings, today announced the release of the single, “Fremdenzimmer” by the German cinematic pop outfit, Sankt Otten. The track is taken from the forthcoming album “Wir können ja Freunde bleiben” due for release in January 2007.

“Fremdenzimmer” (Room for Strangers) as its translated title suggests, rides a thin line between invitation and caution. At once it grabs your hand and draws you into its brooding, hypnotic atmosphere. Musically the track treads the wonderful exploratory territories of such luminaries as Talk Talk’s latter day output and Radiohead’s instrumental excursions yet adds another thread of cinematic atmosphere and tension. This is immediately engaging instrumental music that defies simple pigeonholing.

Touted by the German music press as the “German Portishead”, Sankt Otten cover a far broader ground than their English trip hop brethren. Traversing the realm of noirish cinematic pop, Sankt Otten draw inspiration from such musical inventors as - Morricone, John Barry, Talk Talk - and the modern adaptors - Portishead, Bohren und der Club of Gore, David Holmes.

“Fremdenzimmer” is taken from the forthcoming Sankt Otten album release through Hidden Shoal Recordings, “Wir können ja Freunde bleiben” (Let’s Remain Friends) due for releases in January 2007. The album an intensely orchestrated, creamily thick bed of electronic soundscapes, slow-motion drums and the twanging noir guitars of Oliver Klemm (of “Pendikel” fame), winding through the recordings like a thin red line. If Morricone collaborated with Talk Talk, the result would sound something like this.

The band began life in Germany, 1999 and over the ensuing period released two albums on the German electronic label Eleganz Records.

After their brilliant and wonderfully received debut on Eleganz - the 12” vinyl “Stille Tage im Klischee” (Quiet Days in the Cliché - playing with the title of Henry Miller’s studies on bored hedonism), the band followed up with the equally impressive “Eine kleine Traurigkeit” (A Small Sadness). Sankt Otten then underwent several changes: from the singer/songwriter duo to an electronic solo project, of which the Retinascan 3” remix CD-R “Zuhause fühle ich mich wie ein Tourist” (At Home I Feel Like a Tourist) pays testament to the band’s lineup of today. Despite the shifting personnel, Sankt Otten’s musical
trajectory has only grown all the stronger for it with Stephan Otten, head and hands of the project, constantly directing the growth and evolution of the band’s musical output. With “Wir können ja Freunde bleiben” Sankt Otten collects the pearls of their work from the years 2000 to 2005.

Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australian based independent digital music label. The label is a unique marriage of contemporary distribution, with traditional indie label values and, most importantly, a wonderful catalogue of releases.

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