Henry and The Ghosts Songbook

Description

On his new album, Micha Acher rearranged compositions written by groups like Tied & Tickled Trio and Ms. John Soda, dating from previous years. None of the fifteen tracks on Henry and the Ghost are truly frightening. On the contrary, they all exude a strange sense of familiarity. Like ghosts or doubles, which they actually are. They have all been released before, but in a different form, with different lineups. With various musical projects such as Tied & Tickled Trio, The Notwist, or Alien Ensemble. With "Songbook," Micha Acher wanted, as he explains, to explore the sound of familiar pieces in a chamber music setting. To do this, he gathered Theresa Loibl (bass clarinet, piano), Timm Kornelius (bassoon), Markus Rom (guitar, banjo, electronics), and Simon Popp (drums, percussion) in his living room for a music-making session during the summer of 2022. This session lasted two days. Afterwards, Markus Rom (Oh No Noh) added haunting electronic ideas. The atmosphere of most of the tracks is melancholic. There are surprising twists and captivating melodies, reminiscent of ghost stories. Yet, most of the songs exude a great lightness, drawing their roots from pop, folk, jazz, and classical music. Tracks like "Johanna," with its gasping harmonium and unsettling piano, or the dreamy "Modest Farewell," on the other hand, have a cinematic dimension. Immediately, faces and scenes spring to mind. But at the beginning, there is "Hamlet." The track opens with ghostly electronic sounds and melts into a calm, almost classical guitar piece. "Tomorrows" is imbued with cautious optimism. And the final track, "Nordlead," turns out to be a reinterpretation of the instrumental piece "N.L." From the legendary album "Shrink" by The Notwist (1998). In this new version, the track resonates like a distant echo, bearing witness to the evolution of Micha Acher's music and the new worlds he has explored and created since the 1990s. Yet, Acher's signature is recognizable in every note of this fascinating collection.