Early Autumn Break
Early Autumn Break - Susan Bauszat und Chris Bauer
Group
Genres: indie, folk, handmade music, german
Similar artists via Last.fm
Reba Hasko
About Early Autumn Break
Purveyors of all that is dulcet, lilting yet touched with ineffable darkness, Early Autumn Break are nothing if not well named. Their poignant music brings to mind the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness; albeit heavy on the mist. Hailing from Düsseldorf, Germany, EAB is a duo of singer/multi-instrumentalists Susan Bauszat and Christian Bauer. Drinking from the well of Nick Drake, Tim and Jeff Buckley, Pentangle and Neil Young, Susan and Christian sing and play together with a rare synergy, their voices merging in a gauzy, effortless harmony over intricate, finger-picked guitars and elegiac strings. Indeed, their sound - lush, intimate and folk-tinged – owes more to windswept English hillsides or hazy ‘60s California than to the hometown of Kraftwerk, and there’s also something timeless and universal about their melodious, meticulously essayed songs that render them instantly familiar yet oddly elusive. The duo first realised that they shared more than a taste in non-German music when they played together in pastoral post rock band Volksgarten. They split off to form EAB in 2003, united by an eclectic set of influences that include, alongside the aforementioned doyens, the Cocteau Twins, Chet Baker, Julie London, Dead Can Dance and a-ha (!), to name but several. They take lyrical inspiration from, “mental disorders, global problems, daily ambivalence, disillusion, being constantly broke... and, of course, love”, according to Christian - which may explain the songs’ bittersweet undertow. That he facilitates music with nightshifts working at a Cologne psychiatric institution probably does no harm in this regard. No surprise then, to find EAB’s debut album, Music When You Listen, ushering you into places of finger-picked solitude and murmuring reverie, all of it tinged with an aching melancholy. Recorded in San Jose, California and at home throughout 2005, it’s a record of sweeping neoclassical grace and undeniable gravity. Susan’s voice - one of those rare instruments that really could sing the proverbial telephone directory – lends a smoky, sensual intoxication, while Christian’s vocals, breathy and yearning, are no less convincing. The duo’s instrumental élan is obvious form the album’s first bar (as is the loveliness of the string arrangements, which come courtesy of their friend Jörg Lengersdorf). Music of such a fragile stripe can all too easily default to bland, Laura Ashley-hued ‘pleasantness’, but EAB diligently circumvent banality courtesy of unpredictable melodic twists, lean arrangements and fiercely non-formulaic lyrics. The words to standout tracks Californian Suicide (“you wouldn’t want to fight against us all…”) and Stageless (“running around in circles without making a move)”, defy their stygian titles and rather than being the expected Gothic naval-gazers are actually intriguing, playful and genuinely poetic. Sunnier cuts like Half Moon Bay (with its aching string refrain) are never allowed to drift into mere ‘prettiness’. As with all things EAB, there are sharp thorns scattered among the delicate flowers. Sensitive, intimate but ultimately life-affirming , EAB are all about stepping outside the hurly burly, taking in the beauty of your surroundings and making an emotional audit of where you stand. After all, there are long dark nights ahead. (David Sheppard)
Taken from Last.fm
106 listeners · 1,878 plays via Last.fm