Soap and Skin - Marche Funebre

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Dave on Thu 19 Nov, 2009.

It's a side order of haunting singer songwriter... with a pinch of drama and lashings of melancholy. The new EP from Soap and Skin is called Marche Funebre.... It's no laugh riot, but would you want your laughs to start rioting? Kicking policemen, smashing windows of banks and not washing?? I didn't think so... anyway I digress... This record sounds pretty interesting actually, the vocals are almost Gregorian chant, the music is sparse and the cover has loads of symbols on it. If a composer or friend of some wealthy aristocrat from France circa 1745 was beamed into the future, placed in a recording studio and encouraged to make something I feel it would sound like this. I strangely enjoyed listening to this, I wanted to get on horseback and become a highwayman...it has a galloping feel to it which demands attention ....possibly medical....Its on (PIAS) recordings and has a remix from Kompakt's DJ Koze.... onward trusty steed!!!!!

· Anja Plaschg alias Soap&Skin is not very good at letting go of her
music. Were it not for such mundane things as release schedules and
mandatory deadlines, she would probably still be tinkering with the songs
from her debut album ‘Lovetune For Vacuum’, which was released in
early spring 2009, accompanied by euphoric reviews, and selling several
tens of thousands of copies throughout Europe. Yet for the young Austrian
musician, the fact that ‘Lovetune For Vacuum’ has long been released
certainly does not mean that the songs are now inviolable and set in stone
the way they are. Modifications during her concerts are not uncommon,
sometimes changing small details, sometimes entire arrangements. The
song ‘Marche Funèbre’ is the best example of this. That the song
attributes an ability to mourn not only people but also machines was
already subtly apparent in the album version, though the techno element
only truly became manifest in the live version. Computers began to speak
in confused, ecclesial words, the mechanical beat took control.
· For her third single, following ‘The Sun’ and ‘Spiracle’, Soap&Skin has
now recorded this gripping studio interpretation, while the album version of
‘Thanatos’ remains unaltered.
· The stylish 10” vinyl (limited to 150 copies and exclusively
available to independent retailers) and digital download are
complemented with a ‘Marche Funèbre’ remix by Hamburg-based producer
and DJ virtuoso DJ Koze. If you’re expecting a real club anthem, you’re in
for a surprise - Koze takes the vocals but eliminates everything technoid,
dressing ‘Marche Funèbre’ in an entirely new outfit and sending it back into
the basement bar to get the lonely hearts club there thinking about
something a little different.

Thanatos
Marche Funèbre (DJ Koze Marxa Mix)
Marche Funèbre Yrasor