MOON,PATTY - Head For Home (Sealed) (CD)

If it had been up to previous reactions of press and audiences, Patty Moon’s new album would have been released long ago. After all, the second CD Lost In Your Head had already been highly praised by everyone back in 2008. Stern magazine characterized the production as “magical”, the critic of Jazzthetik described it as a “genuinely complete artwork” and the hi-fi magazine Audio showed great enthusiasm for the “filigree folk-pop”. The tango-inspired piece Straight Alone found its way into Wolfgang Murnberger’s film Mein bester Feind [My Best Enemy] with Moritz Bleibtreu. Two years later Patty Moon wrote three pieces for Hans W. Geissend?rfer’s cinema production In der Welt habt ihr Angst [You’re Afraid In the World] with Anna Maria M?he and Axel Prahl. Patty Moon’s third album Mimi and Me in 2011 was also highly acclaimed, particularly since it surprises with melodies that are unobtrusively, elegantly catchy. “A miracle work in which you hear the elves dancing”, H?rzu magazine jubilated and Melodie & Rhythmus deemed it “enigmatic, magnificent music that is no less original than that of a Kate Bush or Tori Amos.” Head for Home builds on this and simultaneously exhibits new facets. The thoughtful attitude is still there, just like the wonderfully atmospheric arrangements with chamber music strings and the Patty Moon-typical pictorially stunning poetry. Maybe her melodies are a little dreamier nowadays and together with certain harmonic changes they occasionally seem like a Black Forest response to Icelandic pop-melancholies. It quickly becomes apparent that the music sounds even more minimalistic, more personal than before and appears to be closer to the singer and the listener. Similar to a club concert, where the artist sits some three arm-lengths away from the audience, it comes across very directly, without any electronic effects. The former duo project has since become a solo venture. This entails that in addition to composition and lyrics, Patty Moon is now also largely responsible for arrangements and production. Although Patty Moon has taken a lot into her own hands, for example preparing the various parts of the delicately romantic strings at the computer, she didn’t want to record Head for Home completely single-handedly. She found new collaborators in her close proximity. The string section is coming from the Freiburg conservatory and plays a central role alongside Patty Moon’s piano. Two horns, bass and drums provide relatively familiar sounds, while singing glasses or beat boxing are a bit more unconventional. Patty Moon deliberately allowed certain untidiness. “The piano is very old and hence the pedal and one key make some noises,” Patty Moon laughs. “Of course that is not so perfect, but I find that it gives the whole thing a loving touch.” Also her clattering, jingling toy piano would scarcely be heard on other records. Another unusual idea is using the mechanical ticking of a medical MRT as a symbol for the constant restlessness in one’s own head. Or the sound of a spinning pot as an answer to the question: which sounds does the world make when it spins? To discover all of these sounds however, you need to listen quite closely, since many things happen in the background to conjure atmosphere. The album’s title, Head for Home has a double meaning to Patty Moon: to direct your path towards home and to be at home in your head. “For me, songs are the only true way to express myself. For certain times and soul states they are even a home to me. And where do music and text develop, coalesce and merge? In the head of course!” In 2011 a critic of the FAZ already praised the timelessness of Patty Moon’s pieces, “which don’t stick to the heels of trends.” He continues, “not least due to the English texts, the trio appears European in the best sense.” Both statements still hold true for the current Patty Moon. On Head for Home another aspect is more evident than ever: good songs always move the audience, whether in minimalistic or opulent arrangements. Patty Moon’s new album exemplarily proves how sought out musical methods and vivid poetry can be concentrated to enormous intensity.