With much water gone under the bridge, Esther Sprikkelman and Harry Otten
have known each other since childhood - Esther was a pubsescent punk,
screaming slogans against queen and country whilst Harry was the slightly
older guru-with-guitar figure. Time was these people could be relied on to
have everything turned up full and damn the neighbours. These days the
neighbours are untroubled: the noises now made by Esther & Harry are an
altogether quieter thing. Yes, Safe Home is most definitely quiet, yet
listening to the music made by Safe Home is most definitely a disquieting
experience…
In 2001 Safe Home released a series of five 7" singles on their own Angels
In Space micro-label, and, when these records (now sought-after and
increasingly hard to find) were sold out, issued the tracks, together with
new recordings, as the album "You Can't Undo What's Already Undid", released
by Sunday Records of Illinois early in 2002. Described at the time as
"'Paradise Lost' as performed by Alice", the album was "a quiet little
melancholia for electro-burble, cyclical guitars, harmonium and the distant
intimacy of a faraway-so-close voice": this was not summertime music.
Avoided by even the non-establishment music establishment at home in
Holland, "You Can't Undo What's Already Undid" was well-received elsewhere,
and work began on a second full-length set, eventually completed as "The
Wide Wide World And All We Know". Once again, and this time perhaps even
more so, the sound of Safe Home is an uncomfortable mixture of melancholy
and longing: Harry Otten's glacial arrangements of understated guitars weave
and loop as Esther Sprikkelman's always impressionistic lyrics leave plenty
of room for the listener to conjure up his or her own personal claustrophobia.
The water passing under the Safe Home bridge seems to be oddly treacherous -
not violent and heaving, but with an insidious undercurrent hidden in the
blackness; crossing it offers a dry passage only to those who dare not look
down.
Muziekreis door het Berlijn van toen en nu - van jazzhel tot technohemel 1e druk uitverkocht – 2e herziene druk eind oktober verwacht
Muziekreis door het Berlijn van toen en nu - van jazzhel tot technohemel is een boek dat in slechts 4,5 maand volledig is uitverkocht. De tweede druk van het boek ligt inmiddels bij de drukker en wordt eind oktober verwacht. Wie tussen nu en 25 oktober het boek online besteld, maakt dus in feite een reservering voor een exemplaar van de 2e druk. En dat belonen we graag! Wie vóór 25 oktober online besteld, betaalt geen verzendkosten.
Revu: '…. aanstekelijk historische werk…. ' Volkskrant: '… een prima excursiereader, maar ook een reisgids om zelfstandig mee door muziekstad Berlijn te lopen.' Dagblad van het Noorden: Jonker omzeilt de valkuil van betweterigheid en waakt voor een te gedetailleerd informatiebombardement. Daardoor leest haar boek als een vlotte, alternatieve resiids, ...' FileUnder.nl: 'Een must voor zowel muziekliefhebbers als politiek geïnteresseerden.' LiveXS: 'Voor iedereen die ooit in Berlijn is geweest, er nog naar toe wil of gewoon precies wil weten hoe Berlijn is geworden tot wat het is, lees dit.' CuttingEdge.be: 'Al weet je best veel van de Duitse geschiedenis, zo aangenaam compact, met een rode draad, kom je zelden tegen.'
Hi guys,love your songs, were you guys anything to do with the nightblooms?cos we love them too! I'm gonna dig out my copy of album and check it out(god,how nerdy does that sound) Let us know if you ever come to Scotland to play Love Glider
Hi & thanks for your support! "The Wide Wide World And All We Know" is such a beautiful work, Post Fairport... Post Drake... Post Pastel... Post it! I must confess that I really like the bits when the Home becomes Unsafe with hidden sounds, tiny noises & glitches. Do you really own a mellotron? Fantastic. Say hello to Steve, the vinyl guru.
