Hidden Shoal Recordings Pre-Releases New Album by the German Cinematic Pop Outfit, Sankt Otten

The Australian digital music label, Hidden Shoal Recordings, today announced the pre-release of the album, “Wir koennen ja Freunde bleiben” by the German cinematic pop outfit, Sankt Otten.

“Wir koennen ja Freunde bleiben” (Let’s Remain Friends) is a flowing cinematic patchwork that at once embraces and deconstructs the notions of genre while never losing sight of its warmth and totality. The album rolls elements of brooding post jazz instrumentals through, noirish Morricone’esque trip hop and ambient electronica. Beyond these ingredients, “Wir koennen ja Freunde bleiben” is defined by its indelible sense of time and space as if each feature of its musical terrain was mapped out by a jazz cartographer.

The album weaves a bed of intensely orchestrated, creamily thick electronic soundscapes with slow-motion drums, and the twanging noir guitars of Oliver Klemm (of “Pendikel” fame), winding through the recordings like a thin red line. This is an immediately engaging album that defies simple classification.

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. 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 stronger 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.

“Wir koennen ja Freunde bleiben” is now available as a pre-release in the HSR Store. The album will see official release in February 2007 where it will be available in Itunes, eMusic and Sony Connect stores globally.

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 won-derful catalogue of releases.

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