Heartland

So we're approaching the end of the tour, and so far this is the most criminally under-performed tracks. C'mon, what's the score?

Sorry not to be making this. Increasingly of the opinion that the best way to see the Sisters is on a big stage with a proper sound system, and that means probably at a festival.

Looking forward to the vids. Enjoy all!

Again, the sound quality from the festival gigs is just great. On that vid of Marian, you can hear him whisper above the sound of the guitars. Sounds class.

Despite what I wrote earlier, I've been listening to Tobias' recordings. Some are good and some are excellent. In particular Six Ways to Sunday is beautiful. It stops me each time if comes on, in both versions. It's haunting and beautiful. I think I prefer it as a piano melody compared to the guitar...

Yeah, there's something about seeing them totally dominate a festival stage. The sound system just seems to work for them (at least on those clips from Sofia). You can kinda get why for years he was insisting they were a 'major label' band - things obviously didn't go that way for them, but the soun...

Oh, and sisterspinster , if you're wondering why people aren't immediately taking your word at this, there's a reason people like Von go out of their way to be discreet about where they live and their personal information. There are some odd people out there and more than a few 'larger than life' ro...

Given the choice, obviously I'd prefer if Von wasn't an asshole, but let's face it, this isn't the first time he's been described as 'difficult'. If this is true - and again no offence, but it's just one person's account - then it's more embarrassing for him than anything else. He's an old geezer no...

Eh, if that's true, it's pretty sad. He's a bit long in the tooth to be getting met by police off a short flight from Europe. But does Andrew live in the UK anymore? Why would he be flying to London? One random poster on the internet does not necessarily mean it's true. No offence Sisterspinster, bu...

Yeah, this is an interesting conversation. Some people 'get it' and some don't seem to. Tobias hasn't done anything legally wrong, to the best of my knowledge. There's nothing wrong with recording covers of unreleased songs if it's just for fun. If it's done as a musical exercise by a talented amate...

I'd also add that I'm aware of Tobias' work and up until now I've thought of it as kinda cool. Homage etc. "Oh look, some dude on the internet has produced clear sounding versions of one or two of the new tracks. That's neat." An entire album of other people's work uploaded to commercial platforms, ...

To be honest, I think probably the thing to do here would be check in with Ben via Facebook or whatever, just to check this doesn't interfere in some way with some plans Von may have. Like, it's highly likely these songs will never be released by the Sisters. That's just based on history. However, i...

I think I'm an incurable romantic, but I actually still think there's hope for an album. I'm heartened by Ben's statement. I think the reception of the new songs has been better than Von could have hoped for. He and they obviously have a lot of confidence in them - otherwise we wouldn't have had the...

It really is a total ear worm. Really odd that it was only played once. Mr Blonde's video on Youtube shows the Madrid crowd who got it basically going nuts to a song they'd never heard before, and responding with a big roar when it was over.

Is there an argument in favour of some kind of Misery/Stephen King type approach to this problem? A van, some chloroform, a cabin in the woods somewhere equipped with a recording studio and hey presto, bobs your uncle. Yes, you'd go to jail, but at least you'd have some decent tunes to pass the time...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the new songs sound exactly the way they're meant to. I don't think they're 'unfinished' at all, other than those that are intentionally built that way. I'm pretty sure Von could knock out 8 minute dirges to beat the band if he felt like it. He doesn't, and this is what we get....

At least, if Von doesn’t want to produce anything, he could released the songs via « live here ». A very good live album could suits me very well. Yes, that would be better than nothing. The band is exceptionally tight and well rehearsed right now as well - it would be a good time to document what ...

I've been listening to the new songs daily for the last few weeks, and love them but last night I put Vision Thing on in the car and it made me a bit sad. Even the title track on the record - which is a musically relatively simple composition - has tonnes of layers and nuances and extra little detai...

On first listen to When I'm on Fire, I thought I heard Von singing "Put your hands together" towards the end.

But on repeat listen, it's starting to sound more to me like he's singing "put your hand together" as in a hand of cards or a play of action?

Anyone else?

I've been listening to the full list of new songs in a playlist once or twice a day for the last month, and I've gotta say, they're really grown on me. Strangely I've started to find that the lyrics in the songs that I originally found . . . odd have actually really started to just sound 'right.' Th...

Absolutely. Thank you very much. The last few weeks have been tremendous fun, waking up to see what epic new song has been played.

My guess is that the keys are still mostly pre-programmed - that's just my hunch based on the synths on the new songs sounding pretty much identical each time. I'd guess he's adding accents, perhaps playing some of the longer intros for But Genevieve, Don't Drive on Ice etc, when they start the gigs...

Courtesy of Simon Cardwell on Facebook, a grainy and blurry shot from last night's gig in Salzhaus, confirmation that Davey is definitely equipped with a keyboard. So that settles that. Unless it's a prop, he's playing at least some keys live. That's fantastic, and unless I'm mistaken, is something ...

Random thought of a Monday morning - I downloaded MrBlonde 's compilation of the new tracks from the sharing section, added it to Apple Music and played it. Sounds great. But then a rip of the video for 'We Are the Same Suzanne' came on, and it just sounds magnificent. That's effectively the last 'r...

And another couple of tracks. There is a door. The eyes of a Caligula. We're rapidly approaching the point where it's going to be quicker to list the new songs from the main site that they haven't played, rather than those they have. This feels really really strange. I'm so used to being underwhelme...

The eyes of Caligula.

Wow.