„Forest Tapes“ is a new album by Heated Land. It was recorded directly to tape through only one central stereo microphone in a living room somewhere in Southern Germany and it is – we are not kidding – one of the best sounding and most soulful pieces of music we have heard in a long time.
No drums, no overdubs, no artificial reverb, no editing. Listening to “Forest Tapes” under headphones feels like sitting right there in the room with them, right at the center of these songs as all of the individual sounds come together and create the whole. In this digital age, it is almost like a rediscovery of what music can be.
Live performance has always been at the heart of Heated Land’s music. These recording sessions with their long-time collaborator Torsten Lang - despite being carefully engineered and rehearsed - capture the band’s essence: Andreas Mayrock’s rugged, feral songwriting and lyricism at the core of timeless, ever-changing, free-flowing songs about eternity, nature, capitalism, self-knowledge, and community.
The record’s track list is comprised of newly written material (“Stories”, “Yellow Mountain”, “Fingernail”) and rearranged versions of songs from their two previous albums. It has a completely acoustic, bluegrassy mood to it, but not one of wild improvisation. The minimalism of Wilhelmine Schwab’s violin suggests she carefully chose only the most devastatingly beautiful notes. Raja Ghraizi’s lead guitar playing is otherworldly, yet tightly interlocked with the other instruments. Time and again, a small choir weighs in. They are being joined by Simon Preuss on double bass on the B-side of the album. Their landlord, the stone sculptor and musician Milan Lipsky, contributes saxophone to an epic version of “Off The Trees”. He wound up playing his part in the rain out on the terrace through a half-open door to not disrupt the carefully balanced sound image.
credits
released September 29, 2023
guitar, vocals: Andreas Mayrock
violin, choir: Wilhelmine Schwab
guitar, choir: Raja Ghraizi
double bass, choir: Simon Preuss
choir: Målin Uschkureit
choir: Gisela Lipsky
saxophone: Milan Lipsky
words & music: Andreas Mayrock
recorded & mastered by Torsten Lang
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