Allerseelen has started a series of luxurious limited (600 copies) vinyl releases, each in a double 10″ format in a nice gatefold sleeve. These releases are a co-production of the Austrian labels Aorta and Steinklang. There will be 10 in total and you can also subscribe to the whole series. “Flamme” contains mostly new songs, recorded at various locations over the last year, though some compositions are known from recent singles and compilations, here in new versions. Later this year “Archaische Arbeiten” will be published, containing ancient recordings from old demo tapes. All previous Allerseelen albums will also be re-released, for the first time on vinyl format, all of them with additional songs.

Gerhard uses various additional voices and guests playing guitar, violin and cello. The songs uses texts from well-known writers like Hölderlin, Nietschze and Novalis, but also from more obscure poets from various countries. On the album even a DAF cover is present: ‘Als wärs das letzte Mal ‘. Gerhard has dedicated ‘Flamme’ to ‘to the divine and human muses in my life who have been very benevolent and helpful for my music and art and poetry during the last years.’ And indeed, the music on these two 10″ records is indeed quite warm and sensual. The style is very much in the same line as recent singles like ‘Knistern’ and ‘Funke’, with ‘apocalyptic pop, folklore magic and flamenco magnetic’. 

This ‘release deluxe’ is certainly a pleasure to listen to. Fine catchy melodies, infectious groovy rhythms, a lot of joie de vivre ambiance, lovely strings and a varied musical menu. Accessible and orginal at the same time. There are no weak moments, but some of my favourite songs on the first record are the sing-along ‘Sonne golthi-ade (Josef)’, the intimate classical songs ‘Ob auch mein Herz so funkelt’ and the almost Latin ‘Sturmlied’. The second record sparks with the lovely choral ‘Kamerad’, the cheerful ‘Löwin’, the irrestible dancehit ‘Goldener Lebenswein’, the mysterious ‘Knistern’…

After the tropic last weeks the sun seems to have disappeared for a while, but with this record the temperatures are rising again…

Songs:

Sonne golthi-ade (ELTHO)

Sonne golthi-ade (Josef)

Als wärs das letzte Mal

Kehrst zurück nicht mehr

Söhne der Sonne (Hölderlin)

Ob auch mein Herz so funkelt

Sturmlied (Josef)

Que

Kamerad

Alle Lust will Ewigkeit

Löwin

Goldner Lebenswein

Knistern

Sonne golthi-ade (Gerhard)

Si tu duermes

Funprox underground webzine 1998 – 2007