MISSOURI:
Coming Down The Hill With A Picturesque View (Micropal 2008)
Release
Date: May 23rd 2008
Missouri's musical journey goes from their beginnings as an Alternative
Country two-piece, via an experimental phase to the quartet of the VoodooRama
era, through several collaborations up to a groovy Soul record. Around
that time Missouri started to play live for the first time as a
six-piece band with real drums and bass. The concerts were so convincing
that the two added live musicians (Andreas Voß and Patrick Goebel)
were invited to record new material at the band's own Lonestar Studios.
Now having 6 people contributing to the development of the new songs called
for an entirely different approach.
At this time the band would go to the studio around mid-day with no preconceived
ideas, work out the basic structure of a new song, record it in the afternoon
and have the singer do his job in the evening to finnish things off. After
some time Alex Sticht, an old friend of the band, came in to do percussions
and additional backing vocals. The result of this process (besides chronic
pill abuse, ruined friendships, a Wireless connection for the studio,
several new computers) are 10 Pop songs which evolved from nothing and
were made into immortal Missouri hymns by 7 musicians. Just listen
to Barcelona Sunrise! "Love is here, love is here, it shines brighter
than the Brigthon Pier. And if the Barcelona Sunrise is a blast, then
to love you baby is a must".
The old Missouri strategy to never do the same trick twice and to let
go of old things was once again confirmed by this concept. 10 intense
Pop songs with more Pop inside them than Missouri ever had before. They
developed their own style out of bits from the first few records: Voodoo,
Soul, cryptic and romantic lyrics which this time revolve around a fictitious
band that goes through the highs and lows of the modern music business.
A concept album, possibly? Sure, why not. It's the concept of having 7
people create a song from scratch that enjoys continued existence in the
modern Pop-Biz. As always, they are self-ironic and angular with lots
of quotations from music's vast and varied history. "Sleighride"
for example is a clear homage to Neu!, "Revisited" shows Billy
Joel in a different light and "Bands missing in action" has
not only had a good sniff of the Meters' flair but is also concerned about
this particular band's whereabouts. This acts as an example for every
band out there, because they will all eventually go missing someday.
"Summer Festival" is the story of a fellow band set to music.
Business as usual, one could say: Missouri in ever changing new disguises
but still always Missouri. This is all the more astonishing, considering
that there were 7 musicians involved who all have their own individual
understanding of music.
Another thing that's new is the Label. The good and longstanding friends
at Micropal Records liked the idea of putting out a recorded document
of this period in time just as much as Missouri themselves. Cheers for
that!
Missouri on this record are: Red, Frank Mollena, Wuschi Ebert, Carter
Cain, Andreas Voß, Patrick Goebel and Alex Sticht. The female voice
on some of the songs belongs to Nina Kraensel.
All songs were played and recorded by Missouri. The mixing was done by
Frank Mollena at Lonestar Studios Nürnberg. Mastering by Peter Heider
at Purecuts.
Label: www.micropalrec.com
USA: www.bluedisguise.com / www.artoffact.com
Booking: www.truemmerpromotion.de
Band: www.missourimusic.de / www.myspace.com/missourimusic
Lonestar Recording Unit: lonestar@missourimusic.de
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