Menetekel

HackedePicciotto are Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto. Both are legends of their own making: Danielle de Picciotto moved from New York to Berlin in 1987, to become the lead singer of the band Space Cowboys, co-initiator of the Love Parade, a collaborator of the Ocean Club with Gudrun Gut, and Alexander's partner in crime. Alexander Hacke is an original member and the bass player of Einstürzende Neubauten. The artist couple, romantically married in 2006, has creatively interacted with countless international projects for almost two decades. Their live shows are, to put it mildly, intense. Danielle specializes in unusual instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, the autoharp, and the kemençe besides playing the violin and piano; Alexander is master of the bass, guitar and drums. Together they create beautiful, existentialistic, acoustic soundscapes, which roar and vibrate simultaneously. Menetekel is darker than their last masterpiece Perseverantia (POTOMAK 125171, 2016). The title is another word for "the writing on the wall" and the artist couple is projecting our collective despair of what is happening worldwide momentarily into a monumental symphony of sound. "All Are Welcome" whispers in harmony but very quickly the shadows grow deeper and the mood becomes wilder, the trumpets sound and the fall of "Jericho" is eminent, or is it the exile from Paradise? Danielle and Alexander gave up their home in Berlin in 2010 and have been touring the world ever since trying to find a sanctuary comparable to the artist haven the city used to be in the eighties. But times have changed. The icy winds blowing are everywhere and thousands of homeless souls are wandering the roads, their personal search becoming a universal cry for deliverance. "The great rains have begun" Danielle exclaims on "Prophecy", a whirlwind of oriental and western sounds dancing with each other faster and faster until they are morphed into the minimal "Crossroad". The symbolic and spiritual questions asked supply an unusual depth to the album, giving it a universal and very poignant touch of the human quest. CD version comes in a centerfold digi-pack cover.