nous Miroir

CAT No. FLAU97
Release Date: June 22nd, 2022
Format: LP/DIGITAL

Miroir is the second release of Berlin based duo NOUS
– Marie Séférian and Henning Schmiedt.
The poetic album deals with space, reflections, surrealism. 

After their post chanson debut album Je Suis, the duo now creates an atmospheric soundtrack for an imaginary film. “Hoffmanniana” is the title of director Andrei Tarkovsky’s scenario for a movie about the 19th-century German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann, a project he could never realize. Tarkovsky felt profoundly connected to the German Classicistic period and Hoffmann, who used surreal and sarcastic elements in his short stories. 

Some of the album’s songs reflect scenes written in Tarkovsky’s scenario directly – E.T.A.’s penchant for cats, for instance, the mystic mirror tales, and his surrealistic settings find their way into Marie’s lyrics. 

Tarkovsky’s work often praises the beauty of decline as an art of transition. In the former Soviet Union, this was considered a critique of the ruling aesthetics of Socialist Realism and art as a weapon in the Cold War. Living in a communist dictatorship himself in the 80’s, Henning was sensing that Tarkovsky was using these aesthetics to criticize society. A socially critical element is present in Hoffman’s work as well. 

Tarkovsky’s praise of imperfection and slowness appeals to (no)us because it feels like a silent protest against the present-day, high-speed lifestyle and its irresponsible and damaging tendencies.

“As musicians, we always value space and rest in music because the audience can reflect, contemplate, react and create their imaginations on the piece, perhaps in an ideal way that we couldn’t even play”. 

KEEP READING

Track List

01 Notturno

02 Miroir

03 Reflecting the infinite

04 Voliere

05 Murr

06 Espérer

07 Gute Nacht

08 Doppelgänger

09 I like smaller things

10 Miau

11 SiuSiuSiu

12 Zersprungen in ungezählte Stücke

13 Nachtstück

14 Folgendermaßen

nous Miroir

CAT No. FLAU97
Release Date: June 22nd, 2022
Format: LP/DIGITAL

Track List

01 Notturno

02 Miroir

03 Reflecting the infinite

04 Voliere

05 Murr

06 Espérer

07 Gute Nacht

08 Doppelgänger

09 I like smaller things

10 Miau

11 SiuSiuSiu

12 Zersprungen in ungezählte Stücke

13 Nachtstück

14 Folgendermaßen

Miroir is the second release of Berlin based duo NOUS
– Marie Séférian and Henning Schmiedt.
The poetic album deals with space, reflections, surrealism. 

After their post chanson debut album Je Suis, the duo now creates an atmospheric soundtrack for an imaginary film. “Hoffmanniana” is the title of director Andrei Tarkovsky’s scenario for a movie about the 19th-century German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann, a project he could never realize. Tarkovsky felt profoundly connected to the German Classicistic period and Hoffmann, who used surreal and sarcastic elements in his short stories. 

Some of the album’s songs reflect scenes written in Tarkovsky’s scenario directly – E.T.A.’s penchant for cats, for instance, the mystic mirror tales, and his surrealistic settings find their way into Marie’s lyrics. 

Tarkovsky’s work often praises the beauty of decline as an art of transition. In the former Soviet Union, this was considered a critique of the ruling aesthetics of Socialist Realism and art as a weapon in the Cold War. Living in a communist dictatorship himself in the 80’s, Henning was sensing that Tarkovsky was using these aesthetics to criticize society. A socially critical element is present in Hoffman’s work as well. 

Tarkovsky’s praise of imperfection and slowness appeals to (no)us because it feels like a silent protest against the present-day, high-speed lifestyle and its irresponsible and damaging tendencies.

“As musicians, we always value space and rest in music because the audience can reflect, contemplate, react and create their imaginations on the piece, perhaps in an ideal way that we couldn’t even play”. 

KEEP READING