HI NOW HELLO
Artist: Florence Besch
LP: Hi Now Hello
Release: 3.3.2023, UNIQUE Records
Feel the discomfort of your own comfort zone, while the insight slowly shines through the window from outside: there can be no standstill. Florence Besch carries with a radical tenderness through shimmering melodic arrangements that can lead within a song from a warm summer day in the park to the uncanny search for one’s own place in the world. Glossy melancholy in the soft vocals lets the transported longing for some meaning flare up at the smoky kitchen table in golden lens flare.
Butter on bread
Evenly spread
Little flakes of salt
I am bored
Above the sky dreaming high
Between a trippy fascination with the smallest things as in “Toast” and the big questions of the time in “Decisions”.
Where are we supposed to end in all this mess?
“Hi Now Hello” cannot be fully illuminated, and certainly not overexposed. The album lays shimmering tracks without marking boundaries, drives and lets you drift, always looking for a place for pure hearts in dirty train station districts.
No matter how much “Microman” tries to blame everyone around but himself – you know the type, he no longer impresses with his demeanour, you no longer need it. Better to empathize with the last warm days while “Roadtripping” with the cautious urgency with which Florence carries through the album. Tranced instrumentals make the viscosity of time palpable, sometimes barely tangible and sometimes infinitely slow, while the fluidity of the present stays unimpressed. Why should it be? We’ll do it all step by step.
Florence Besch’s first LP “Hi Now Hello” is out March 3rd on UNIQUE Records.
Credits Hi Now Hello
Florence Besch – Vocals, Guitars, Found Sounds
Björn Sonnenberg – Bass, Guitars, Lap Steel Guitar, Piano, Pianet, Synthesizers, Memotron, Drums on Decisions, Beat Programming on Lovesong, Backing Vocals
Stefanie Schrank – Bass, Synthesizers, Pianet, Memotron, Omnichord. Backing Vocals on The Screaming Lady, Microman and Decisions.
Maurizio Arca – Drums, Percussion, Kalimba
Luis Müller Wallraf – Guitars, Bass Guitar, Digital Guitar
Ronja Schmandin – Synthesizer on Lovesong
Nicolas Epe – Acoustic Guitar on To A Friend
Michael Sobott – Electric Guitar on To A Friend
Choir on Lovesong: Nadia Wardi, Kira Hummen, Lisa Birke Balzer, Álvaro Arango, Tim Weissinger
Special thanks to Luis Müller Wallraf, Björn Sonnenberg, Stefanie Schrank, Maurizio Arca, Tara Transitory and Nguyễn Baly from Queer Ear Mastering, Zeynep Alpay, Ina Schulz, Linn Meissner, Felix Wursthorn, Camilla Angolini, Hendrik Siems, Klaus Fiehe, Simone Sohn, David Burrowes, Nadia Wardi, Sophie Kummert, Kira Hummen, Franka Büddicker, Katharina Gierlach, Valentin Loermann, Aaron Aldefeld, Lucy Furtado, Sophie Wetz, Pia Beholz, Nantje Wilke, Suzan Köcher, Amélie Klöffer, Justus Otremba, Denise & François Besch, Initiative Musik, create music NRW, pop NRW, popup records, Unique Records, Ronja Schmandin, Nicolas Epe, Michael Sobott, Lisa Birke Balzer, Álvaro Arango, Tim Weissinger, Jens Oliver Hoffmann, Melisuer.
All lyrics and music written by Florence Besch. Arrangements by Björn, Stefanie, Luis & Florence.
A BEAR MACHINE Production by Björn Sonnenberg & Luis Müller Wallraf. Microman & Decisions co-produced by Stefanie Schrank & Björn Sonnenberg.
Recorded 2021-2022 at Bear Cave Studio, Cologne. Engineering, Editing & Mix by Luis Müller Wallraf. Toast mixed by Nicolas Epe & Luis.
Found Sounds and little Florence tracks from the artist’s archive.
Mastered by Queer Ear Mastering.
Artwork and Design by Zeynep Alpay, Melisuer & Hendrik Siems.
Label: Unique Records
Copyright © Florence Besch 2024