The project of Belgium's young Valérie Leclercq, Half Asleep, drags us into a woolly universe where life keeps the soft pace of guitar and piano loops. Her (filled to the brim) debut demo we received last year reminds us of our excitement upon first hearing such great ladies as Tara Jane O'Neil, Julie Doiron, Stina Nordenstam, and Lisa Germano... say no more!
"2003. November - December: I stole a friend's MD mic and began recording a few new songs in my bedroom. I played them on my acoustic guitar 'cause the electric one refused to sound clear + lots of problems with my amp (but didn’t really matter as I told myself that winter time and 'acoustic stuff' fit together rather well actually). In the living room, I played and recorded the piano. I must say it wasn't that easy because of all those little wooden hammers that felt obliged to make little wooden hammer noises while hitting the strings... whatever... here is the final product. The songs are very slow and quite
long, I know, and I'm sorry if it makes you want to sleep; wasn't my intention. Now I just hope there'll be some brave ones to stay awake... (by the way: can you swim?)"
- Valérie Leclercq
Recording info
- Tracks -
1. The Twilight Was Probably Right
2. Half-Sailors On Rafts
3. I Do Know Someone That Suffers From The Lack Of Tea
4. Yellow Neck
5. Washing Machines
6. Tu sens le sommeil et les larmes
7. & Other Stories...
8. Secret Side
9. Wrinkled Chest
All songs by valérie leclercq except "Secret Side" by Nico ("The End", 1974)
- Special thanks -
Noé (for the mic), Fred, Ori, David, my dear parents, and all those bloody froggies who work behind the scenes (Delphine, Vincent, Cécile, Florian, Aurélie, ...)
_______________
discography
- "(We Are Now) Seated In Profile" (Unique Records - 2005)
- "Just Before We Learned to Swim" (Matamore Recordings - 2005)
- "Just Before We Learned to Swim" (hinah - 2003)
- "Palms and Plums" (Another Records - 2003)
We discovered Templo Diez thanks to an exchange of records with the French label Intercontinental Records, which had released the band's debut album "Hoboken". Three years later, while hinah was on a sabbatical year, Pascal Hallibert sent us the new cd of Templo Diez, "Winterset", on which we especially loved the beautiful song "Sal". We suggested we could put out an EP if they felt like going for more acoustic tracks and putting the voice of Gloribel Hernandez (who was also singing on "Sal") more upfront. And they agreed!
We discovered Andrew Goldman's music a few years ago, at the time of his folk, melodic project Maestro Echoplex. After playing for a while under the name John Guilt, Andrew started a new project named Fulton Lights, which has just released its second album "The Way We Ride" and its heavier and more distorted atmospheres and tempos. As Andrew was on solo tour in Europe, we invited him over for a session that was meant to be electric but ended up being acoustic after the amp of our friend Éric decided to break down at the last minute. So here is a chance to discover Fulton Lights in its most stripped-down version!
Those who visit our website regularly are bound to have come across the name "Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin" once in a while in the news section. Indeed, we have been following closely Morgan Caris’s project in the last five years and we would very much like to release something with his name on it... But Morgan is a perfectionist and this something is yet to come. Therefore a hinah session had clearly become necessary and the opportunity of an acoustic evening with Shelley Short and Brittain Ashford to inaugurate our Parisian hinah hq was just the perfect excuse!
This is not the first treat we get from Matt Bauer: a few years ago, he had already contributed to our "Tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music by Harry Smith" with an edited cover of "Willie Moore". Shortly afterwards, he had sent us his big EP "Wasps And White Roses", a beautiful folk piece on which the banjo blends with Matt's suave voice. In addition, Matt was surrounded with nice people, as Jolie Holland and Mariee Sioux joined him for this EP! So as Matt was touring Europe as part of Alela Diane's backing band in the spring, we invited him to make a detour via Frankfurt for a live hinah session.
:: Catalogue & mp3 ::
hinah029 - Templo Diez
hinahgift026 - Fulton Lights
hinahgift025 - Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin
hinahgift024 - Matt Bauer