brannten schnure: sommer im pfirsichhain

Brannten Schnüre is an experimental dark folk group out of Würzburg, Germany. Christian Schoppik composes and plays all the music and Katie Rich whispers, recites, and sings. Together they make astoundingly beautiful folk with rich instrumentation leaning toward the atonal spectrum. Instrumental wanderings stand alongside Nico-esque poetry tales. Schoppik plays the accordion and, on some songs, guitar and flute. Inspired by hierophants like Nový Svět and David Jackman, solemn song fragments (a lot of old Greek rebetika recordings) are modified and looped, with additional instruments and voices integrated later on. Their music has been described as "surreal folkcollage" and "German hauntology." With the 2010 emergence of Schoppik's second project, a Dada cabaret called Agnes Beil, Brannten Schnüre moved closer to the song structures of its frivolous sibling. The voluptuous Sommer im Pfirsichhain (Summer in the Peachgrove), with its atmosphere of sticky, tense midsummer, is the second part of a quartet of releases, following the 2014 cassette Aprilnacht (SicSic) and preceding Geträumt hab' ich vom Martinszug and part four. Reference points include Winter Family and TwinSisterMoon. Music etched on folkloric, ritual elements transferred into the 21st century. Also worth mentioning is the hand-drawn artwork by artist Gwénola Carrère.