SELECTED PROSE
SELECTED PROSE
PROSE
JUNE 2009
DET POETISKE BUREAUS FORLAG (ISBN 978-87-92280-06-0)
On the 26th of June 2009 the independent Danish publishing company Det Poetiske Bureaus Forlag (The Poetic Bureau) released the so far most extensive collection of Danish translations of Charles Baudelaire’s prose writings, Selected Prose.
The release was translated by af Luna Tirée de la Brume and illustrated by Thomas Faber.
The publication’s 515 pages were introduced with a preface about Baudelaire written by Martin Hall, a writing entitled “The Poet, the Priest and the Soldier”.
THE BRUTALITY OF INADEQUACY
THE BRUTALITY OF INADEQUACY
MAGAZINE
JUNE 2009
GAFFA (ISSN 0109-0097)
In relation to the 30th anniversary of the English post-punk act Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures Martin Hall was invited to write an extensive essay about the group for Gaffa, Denmark’s biggest music magazine.
You can find a pdf version of the article here:
RANDOM HOLD (SPECIAL EDITION)
RANDOM HOLD (SPECIAL EDITION)
MARTIN HALL
CD
FEBRUARY 2009 (ORIGINAL RELEASE FEBRUARY 1996)
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 14)
Originally released in 1996 Random Hold was instantly regarded as one of Martin Hall’s finest works by an unanimous Scandinavian press. In 1997 the album was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where it also received a massive amount of breathtaking reviews.
Since then it has been included on the list over the 50 most important releases in Danish rock music in the illustrious Danish rock encyclopedia Politikens Rockleksikon and the album still gains growing attention from music connoisseurs all over the world.
1. Cradlemoon (5:44)
2. Performance (5:12)
3. Another Heart Laid Bare (4:54)
4. Interim (1:47)
5. Cue (3:24)
6. She’s Eternal (6:00)
7. Golden Day Longing (4:37)
8. Skinline (11:03)
9. Catching the Dust (Part 1) (1:59)
10. Catching the Dust (Part 2) (6:38)
11. Another Heart in Transit (8:39)
12. Cradlemoon (Chamber Version) (4:24)
13. Images in Water (Instrumental Version) (7:52)
CRADLEMOON
The fire and the water keep mixing in my blood
The sons and the daughters seemed to give it all up
They got too tired of the waiting
Too tired to believe
In the promises that nobody keeps
I’ve seen a generation coming
I’ve seen a generation go
And the more I see, the less I know
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
So I followed the shadows by the trail of the waste
And it led me into the heart, to the heart of these days
I never wanted to remember
Never wanted to believe
But you don’t ask why when the thunderheart beats
All I wanted was a reason
What I got was so much more
Couldn’t turn my back on the things that I saw
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
In a world full of stories
There’s a time in the night
When the sky seems to break by the blink of the eye
PERFORMANCE
Fields of living fire
You’ll see me reaching into the air
The shadow of a survivor
I turn around but there’s no one there
I’ve been looking for reason
Some poisons taste like the sweetest wine
But all I ever believed in
Was all the things that I couldn’t find
The fires burn, erasing all the traces
And I spread the ashes all across the sky
Watching it all fall like rain through empty spaces
To the darkest corners of my heart and mind
Hear the cries and the whispers
The touch-and-go of another night
The afterglow of desire
Shines with the flame of a lesser light
A line of nameless faces
Fading away in a sea of time
Another time and place is
The last belief of performing mind
The fires burn, erasing all the traces
And I spread the ashes all across the sky
Watching it all fall like rain through empty spaces
To the darkest corners of my heart and mind
In a room without a view
There’s a story without end
Every time an answer shows
Then another hides away
ANOTHER HEART LAID BARE
Another heart laid bare on the doorstep to my exile
Another pantomime to disbelieve
I see your bended head, always humble in the daylight
Playing the servant’s role to never see
Of all the images that you left for my keeping
The one I like the most is the world outside
I never thought I would but the distance seems so perfect
I can’t deny the fact that I’m pleasantly surprised
Another victim cries, pointing fingers at the heavens
Declaring me the crime of centuries
The traces on my skin, they keep shining in the nighttime
A fingerprint on every memory
CUE
The cities of light, the mirrors beneath the stars
In all of my life I’ve followed my untamed heart
It burns like a fever in the sleepless nights
Behind closed doors and behind closed eyes
The sea of the sky keeps shining a world of gold
The sweeter the song, the sadder the tale that’s told
Like a secret that I’ll never know
There’s a feeling that will follow me anywhere I go
I’ll walk on waters
I’ll quiet the storms
With you as my reason
With you as my calm
SHE’S ETERNAL
I never wanted her to see
The world inside me
The world was turning round and round
Like something running out of time
She whispered “listen to the wind” and her breath burned my skin
I didn’t understand but it made me feel so still
There’s a tale of the night, there’s an unspoken word
And the story that she told couldn’t be explained in words
‘Cause she
She’s eternal
With her the world dies
And she
She’s eternal
With her the world dies
Let it die
A stone that falls into the sea
It falls inside me
These winterlands, they never change
They’re covered in this quiet grey
Voices calling in the night from the corners of my mind
From the desolated worlds I was trying to leave behind
Never thought I’d be returning to the place it all began
To the tainted heart of longing, till she took me by the hand
GOLDEN DAY LONGING
Sweet
Golden day longing
I feel it inside
Each breath that I take
High
High as the empty
It falls on my skin
To cover the burns
Turning silver
See the writing that runs down the wall
Book of reason
I don’t need it anymore
Sweet
Golden day longing
No words can explain
The feelings I have
SKINLINE
Days are burning like the rainbow
In a corner of the world
Your forever is a nevermore
And it turns the sky and the earth
The moon and the stars
The skin and the scars
Keeping your eyes on closing doors
Counting the shadows on the walls
Pieces of eight still fill your mind
Burning your skinline
Break the silence into stories
Tell them like a children’s tale
Always staying at a distance
As you bleed the light of the day
You’re lying awake
You lie there and wait
CATCHING THE DUST
The eyes on the ceiling
The eyes on the walls
There’s always a riddle unsolved
A question to store
Candles burning in the night to remind you
That no matter where you’re hiding
It will find you
Get inside of you
All of this time
Watching the lines
Slowly run out into the blue
Catching the dust
Staying untouched
Hiding the world within your hand
All of this time
Just catching the dust
Hiding the world
The longest of stories
The thinnest of air
The something you always wanted
Untouchable near
“Hertzlich willkommen. Mit Martin Hall’s Random Hold liegt das erste Produkt vor, das Public Propaganda als Label auf den Markt schmeissen… und was für eines! Martin Hall, eine der wichtigsten Persönlichkeiten in Dänemarks Musik- und Kunstscene, verbindet electronisches und klassische Sounds zu einer perfekten Untermalung seiner düsteren Gesange, die einen sofort in ihren Bann ziehen. Das ganze klingt ausserdem extrem ruhig und atmosphärisch, dabei aber nicht immer kuschelweich, sondern oft auch nachdenklich machend. Mal wirken die Songs als solche, mal experimentiert Martin Hall mit Stimme und Klängen. Verdammt entspannende und starke 43 minuten, die uns Public Propaganda da ins Nest legen. Unbedingt reinhören. ”
( 5/5 )
Bodystyler (December 1997)
“Die perfekte Musik …”
Gothic (December 1997)
“Einfach eine grossartige CD!!!”
Dark Mind (November 1997)
“Musik, die einfach schön ist … Denn Kunst kommt von Können. Und das ist Kunst in Reinkultur! Atmosphärische Klänge, wie sie die heutige schnellebige Zeit dringend nötig hat, um einen Ruhepunkt zu finden.”
Orkus (November 1997)
“Random Hold ist ein bewegendes, ein ausgereiftes Kunstwerk. Gut, dass endlich die Musik unserer Nachbarn im Norden mehr und mehr in unser Bewusstsein rückt …”
Notes (November 1997)
“Hall’s Musik so ganz anders ist.”
( 8/10 )
Neurostyle (December 1997)
“Der Däne Martin Hall blickt mit seinen 34 Jahren bereits auf stattliche 31 Veröffentlichungen zurück. Einem breiten Publikum ist er hierzulande allerdings noch nicht bekannt. Random Hold könnte das ändern. Hall schafft ein unspektakuläres, zurückhaltendes Album voller Emotionen. Er versichtet auf klanggewaltige Arrangements, entfaltet sich lieber im Detail. Stilprägend wirkt dabei die Kombination elektronischer Musik und klassischer Instrumentierung, die gleichberechtigt nebeneinander stehen und die gefühlvollen Texte unterstreichen. Zeitlos schön und ubedingt hörenswert.”
T5 (November 1997)
“Da haben wir ja ein richtiges Multitalent.”
( 9/10 )
Feedback (December 1997)
“Musik für den Herbst. Musik für Schwärmer, Romantiker, für die melankolischen Stunden allein, für Stunden zu zweit. Musik wie für mich komponiert.”
Astan (November 1997)
“Bleibt zu hoffen, dass Martin Hall mit diesem atmosphärisches aussergewönlichen Album auch hierzulande auf offene Ohren stösst.”
Entry (December 1997)
“Dänemarks Vorzeige Multimedia-Künstler vor Durchbruch in Deutschland.”
Zillo (November 1997)
Henrik Marstal: Cello
Iben Teilmann: Viola
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, bass, guitar, tape material
Ole Hansen: Keyboards, piano, trumpet, french horn
Sara Wallevik: Violin
Signe Kjærsgaard: Bass
Thomas Li: Networks, treatments, logic, percussion
Design: Birgitte Wester/Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
In February 2009 Random Hold was re-released in a remastered special edition featuring several bonus recordings from the original sessions. In relation to Record Store Day 2017 it was released on vinyl in a new version remastered by Thomas Li.
For a more specified storyline concerning these versions, please see the following links:
The album was recorded on mobile equipment at Regent House and Holbaek Art School via Satellite Recording Facilities, summer 1995. It was mixed at Soundtrack and then edited at Mainstream.
“The grandiose and beautiful, dusty album Random Hold from 1996. It is the hermetic Hall’s most flawless pop work ever.”
( * * * * * )
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)“Martin Hall has rarely appeared more precise, serene and focused than on his latest release.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)”A damned good release from Martin Hall.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)“Martin Hall’s best record so far. A little miracle.”
( * * * * * )
Nat & Dag (the Danish equivalent to The Face)“Martin Hall’s peak as an artist.”
Zoo Magazine (the Danish equivalent to Q Magazine at the time)“Random Hold is Martin Hall’s most beautiful and flawless record up until this point.”
Det Fri Aktuelt (major Danish newspaper at the time)”An uncompromising and naked expression … intimate and attentive deliveries.”
( * * * * * )
Undertoner (Danish site for independent music)“Beautiful music … art at its purest.”
Orkus (major German music magazine)“The perfect music!”
Gothic (major German music magazine)
FÆRDEN
FÆRDEN
NICOLAJ STOCHHOLM/MARTIN HALL
CD
SEPTEMBER 2008
GEIGER RECORDS (GEIGER03CD)
In December 2008 Geiger Records released the critically acclaimed Danish poet Nicolaj Stochholm and Martin Hall’s musical setting of the former’s poetry suite Færden (“Movement”) in a limited edition of 300 copies. The album was designed by visual artist and musician Jakob Schweppenhäuser.
The text is part of Stochholm’s collection of poems Aldrig Mere (“Never Again”) released in the spring of 2008. The suite consists of 25 pieces of poetry in which personal longing meets ancient Greek mythology.
Originally Færden was broadcasted by the Danish National Radio in April 2006. The programme was produced by Søren E. Jensen who has made several radio features on new Danish literature and related music. Since the original transmission the project was re-worked and optimized in relation to its cd-release.
1. Færden (1) (14:13)
2. Færden (2) (9:26)
3. Færden (3) (10:24)
4. Færden (4) (7:24)
5. Færden (5) (2:01)
Martin Hall: Instruments
Nicolaj Stochholm: Voice
Design: Jakob Schweppenhäuser
Producer: Søren E. Jensen
WEIGHTLESS MAN UNDER OMINOUS SKY
WEIGHTLESS MAN UNDER OMINOUS SKY
MARTIN HALL
DIARY
DECEMBER 2008
LINDHARDT OG RINGHOF (ISBN 9788711431184)
Weightless Man under Ominous Sky is a diary written by Martin Hall during his involvement as a judge in the Danish National Television Talent 2008 contest, a primetime show that ran for three months during the fall this year.
From the moment he agreed to participate in the project, his focus was to write this book about the course, and the journal gathers Hall’s thoughts and experiences during the process. At times the book is a clinical dissection of the mainstream medias, at others it’s a raging chaos of self-doubt and disgust.
The release is subtitled ”A social experiment in the shadow of music hall culture” which might be the best way to describe the project as a whole – as an equally diplomatic and diplomanic analysis of an entertainment industry as ruthless as it’s fascinating.
Genre: Diary
Pages: 274
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Territorium
"I've just received an email asking about my interest in whether or not I'd like to be a judge in DR1's new big fall competition, Talent 2008. Hmm. A truly transgressive question."
”Cynical, profound and icecold reflections on present day media culture and entertainment television.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)
“Tough and breathtaking … Razor-sharp, thoughtful and morbidly funny observations carried by a very precise sense of language. “
( * * * * * )
Nordjyske Stiftstidende (major regional newspaper)
“The book shows Hall from his most witty corner and he does so very well. He is actually really funny and manages to keep a good balance throughout the course of the book.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmarks biggest music magazine)
Due to its bold and fairly confrontational approach to the show the book caused quite a scandal at the time of its release. It was received with reviews ranging from 5 out of 6 stars appraisals to pure condemnation by the more conservative press.
On the following picture Martin Hall is seen with his two co-hosts, director of Lars von Trier’s film company Zentropa Peter Aalbæk Jensen and musical star Julie Steincke.
PASKUTINIS ROMANTIKAS
PASKUTINIS ROMANTIKAS
MARTIN HALL
NOVEL
OCTOBER 2008
TYTO ALBA (ISBN 978-9986-16-651-1)
Martin Hall’s epic novel The Last Romantic received massive attention by the Danish media and press corpse at the time of its release in August 2005. The book – a two-volume thick publication covering more than 700 pages – became Hall’s literary breakthrough in his home country.
In October 2008 the Lithuanian publishing company Tyto Alba released the title in the former Soviet republic under the title Paskutinis Romantikas (“The Last Romantics”). The company releases approximately 100 books a year and had earlier published translations of bestsellers such as Ms. Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder and Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
Neither Hall nor his Danish publishing company had anything to do with the choice of the Lithuanian cover. You can read more about the original version here:
FLAMMEN & CITRONEN
FLAMMEN & CITRONEN
DVD
SEPTEMBER 2008
METRONOME/UNIVERSAL PICTURES (5704897036733/DDVDSF4174)
At the end of March 2008 the motion picture Flammen & Citronen (“The Flame and The Lemon”) had premiere in Scandinavian cinemas. The film is the most expensive Danish language production ever made and is directed by acclaimed Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen.
The picture revolves around the Danish resistance movement fighting the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II and tells the true story of two of its most significant characters, Flammen (“The Flame” a.k.a. Bent Faurschou Hviid) and Citronen (“The Lemon”, Jørgen Haagen Schmith) – in the film played by respectively Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen (the latter internationally known from his role as the villain Le Chiffre in the James Bond movie Casino Royale from 2006).
Martin Hall’s film debut is a short, almost cameo-like guest appearance where he plays the part of Captain Østergaard Petersen.
1. Flammen & Citronen (133 min.)
Motion Picture DVD
Metronome/Universal Pictures
Thure Lindhardt
Mads Mikkelsen
Stine Stengade
Peter Mygind
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Producer: Nimbus Film
Design: Nimbus Film
Photo: Jørgen Johansen
“Incredibly exciting, entertaining and a visual delight to watch. Simply a must see.”
( * * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (The Danish equivalent to The Sun)
”A feat of strength.”
( * * * * )
Politiken (The Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
“Exciting, elegant, full of atmosphere and crowned with intense presence. A basically perfect film.”
( * * * * * )
Børsen (The Danish equivalent to Financial Times)
“A poignant and thought-provoking drama from beginning to end.”
( * * * * * )
Euroman (The Danish equivalent to to GQ Magazine)
As stated, Martin Hall’s makes his debut as a film actor in a short, almost cameo-like guest appearance playing the part of Captain Østergaard Petersen – a depraved, Nazi friendly persona with a strong propensity to nightly excesses.
Although the scene in the film was shortened significantly in comparison to the original storyboard due to its very violent nature, the sequence is still a memorable view for Hall aficionados.
MEDIENKONVERTER INTERVIEW
MEDIENKONVERTER INTERVIEW
Martin Hall interview made by Daniel Jahn for Medienkonverter on the 26th of September 2008
The interview was made in relation to the release of the Catalyst album.
Last year you released ‘Catalogue’, a compilation featuring your previous work on five records and a DVD. Now you’re releasing ‘Catalyst’, a record that portrays a collection of your most important works containing 20 personally selected singles. Both records prove your versatility ranging from post-punk over pop to classic and avant-garde. Although this wide spectrum, at the beginning, is hardly within anyone’s reach, after a few listens to your music a central theme and an unmistakeable personal style seems to crystallize. Is there a connecting link between all your pieces of work
– When I started making music, I was fascinated and very moved by the way music was able to transmit feelings – from the person making the music to the listener receiving it. This is what art is to me: A matter of transmitting energy. Not just from one person to another, but also from one age to another. Music conveys an inner world, gives you access to places in yourself you might never have been before. I’m saying this to stress the fact, that to me this is the great gift of music: Its ability to lift you up, to allow a new sensation, to give entry into a world otherwise clouded and obscured by daily routines.
– By this token I’ve never been too concerned with labelling what I’m doing. Some emotional lifts take place in the vast fields of romanticism, other depend on the acid drops of rock music. I don’t, however, listen very much to pop or rock music anymore, but I’ve got no problems whatsoever with a Phil Spector-like arrangement overflowing with violins and horns. I love the greatness of popular music. I make music according to need. You make use of forms in order to translate an essence. I think people who listen to the music I’m making, appreciate this kind of journeying into the unknown, the fact that most of my records are different. They tune into the principle behind the various expressions.
– To me music is alchemy, something that’s in a constant state of becoming, something that never ends. In this context the ‘Catalogue’ box represents five doors into the same thing – the pop music, the signature songs, the instrumental works, my collaboration with other electronically inclined musicians and an entirely classical section – whereas the new compilation ‘Catalyst’ focuses on the singles I’ve made during the years … the more easily accessible songs you could say. In Denmark a new generation is beginning to listen to my music, and the singles collection might be an easy first step into an increasingly deepening musical experience. A box consisting of five records and a DVD is a bit too much to begin with for the general listener.
Your last record ‘Facsmile’ is one of my favourites. It sounds like coming to a destination after a long journey, being mature, expressive and yet fragile. For me personally, what’s especially impressing is your vocal interpretation, how your voice seems to be like an instrument fitting perfectly in the songs. How is your relation to your own voice?
– First of all, thank you very much for your comments concerning ‘Facsimile’. It’s definitely also one of my own favourite records. I’m very pleased with this record, in the sense that it seemed to capture the essence of my person, at least at the time when I was recording it. In many ways it’s a concentrate of what I’ve been working with ever since the beginning … or at least working towards. It is, as you said, a sort of arrival – or homecoming, all depending on your point of view – after a long journey. “From one to zero in a circle of ten” so to speak. It’s a destilate of a musical journey, the concentrate of a long process.
– In this manner of speaking my voice is an integral part of the process. It’s the media I work with, my given tool. I’ve had a lot of trouble relating to my own voice during the years, but on this record it simply went into the process as one of its natural ingredients. It’s like poetry, you try to express ideas or states of feelings through the words – the same goes with music. Perfection can be terrible. A lot of my records from the mid-80’s suffered from an almost pathological sense of perfection, but as the American writer Sylvia Plath once said: “Perfection is terrible. It cannot have children”. I really like this phrase. Things have to be genuine rather than perfect. I think that’s one of the things that happened on the ‘Facsimile’ album … that I surrendered to the process rather than constantly being subject to the idea of a perfect product.
As well as records with songs you have published instrumental records, soundtracks and collages. Are there any specific criteria to decide if you work with or without vocals or are those decisions intuitive?
– It depends. Sometimes you are approached with a specific request. When I recorded ‘Camille’ (the music I wrote for a Danish theatre production of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Lady of the Camellias”), it was obvious to me that this body of music had to be instrumental. The parts where vocals were needed were performed by the phenomenal mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini, a fantastic singer. In this case, with the theatre play, I embraced someone else’s work, and by that token it had to be voiceless. “Faceless” you could say. Transparent.
– In comparison ‘Facsimile’ was a completely different process. This was a personal expression, a poetic display. A soul diary – a set of intimate journals. ‘Facsimile’ was a tale, something that needed to be told … a poetic expression that needed a voice. The writer’s voice. My voice.
You describe yourself as a romantic artist. Your songs are always expressive, but nevertheless they are no kitschy love songs. They posses a special form of melancholy that is more hopeful than lamenting, a kind of optimistic melancholia. Longing is a repeating constant factor in your lyrics. What does melancholia, what does yearning mean to you? How much do your songs reveal of the person Martin Hall?
– Well, longing reflects a search for completion – the need to be fulfilled. You yearn for that which you have not yet obtained. Longing is what drives all sensible humans. As living beings, we all want to be fulfilled, in one way or another. I think this is quite a beautiful process, not at all a hopeless project. Personally, I’m quite melancholic by nature, but at the same time I’m very defiant: I’m not going to put up with it. I want to see change, I want to see progress.
– The reference to the romantic tradition is also a hint to the zeitgeist of the start-80’s, the period in which I made my artistic debut. In recent years there’s been a lot of talk about the 80’s, but sometimes I get confused about which 80’s we’re referring to – the 1980’ or the 1880’s. There are quite a few parallels: The poetic nerve, the metaphors, the savage seriousness. The romantic tradition wants everything or nothing at all. It places the heart at the centre of existence and demands conviction. It doesn’t want to settle to any kind of mediocrity.
– Anyway, when I refer to the romantic, I refer to this kind of fierce longing – to the marriage between tender longing and bold demand. Personally, I think you’ll find the most fitting image of Martin Hall on records such as ‘Facsimile’ or ‘Camille’. Where the motive somehow stays elusive, where the real agenda seems kind of hidden in the details.
Your lyrics do not only mediate emotionality, but also a particular set of aesthetics. For example, in one of your songs it is said “Ash and lemon water shining on your lips” which is a quite fascinating metaphor that despite tenderness conveys coolness. Do you draw such literary images deliberately or do such lyrics rise from spontaneous moods?
– I don’t think you can distinguish what you’ve become with what you do. I love literature. You’ll probably find reminiscences of a lot of things I read in my lyrics … senses of Marcel Proust, Rainer Maria Rilke and Scott Fitzgerald. Of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Marguerite Duras. These names have inspired me during the years, elevated me, and obviously the shadows of some of these people’s works linger in my writings.
– I used to write very personal, very confronting lyrics, but in this regard I have definitely changed direction over the years. One of the greatest compliments you can get as an artist, I think, is when people find sanctuary in your works – when they find room, space to linger for a while. Imagery creates space and space allows growth. Combined with music you’re able to produce a haven, a sanctuary.
– When art acts as a catalyst – as something that enables other processes to get activated without losing its own momentum – it’s a magnificent thing. From the ‘Catalogue’ display to the ‘Catalyst’ function so to speak … from the external references to the personal experience.
I once read that you have a tense relation to the music business. I can imagine that your intense way of working and your multifarious output is hardly to combine with all those absurdities of the today’s music market. How do you succeed in doing these splits?
– The music industry is a grocery shop, everyone knows that, something that depends on wages and profits. Sometimes the machinery of a major company can be helpful, at other times completely destructive – you have to stay focussed on the project you’re working with. I’m not really into the “labelling thing”, the idea of the mainstream versus the alternative. I think a lot of the distinction being made between the mainstream and the independent scene is an illusion, something necessary to give people a sense of individual identity. So-called “rebellion” is the market economy’s biggest driving factor, so in many ways the term “alternative” has become just another label for selling people new goods. Being in opposition becomes a design-identity that gives the average consumer the feeling of being hip and trendy etc. The show goes on.
– However, if your musical aim is strong, pure, then this will shine though no matter what circumstances you’re operating in. In the end it’s all about control – about personal focus. I want things to work. You do one thing here, another thing there. As an example, during the 90’s I was as an active songwriter for several major artists which enabled me to finance some of my own, much more difficult and non-commercial works later. I financed the writing of my two-volume novel ‘The Last Romantic’, a process that took me almost five years to complete, with the money I had made on writing songs for other people.
– As I’ve already said a few times, it all comes down to staying focused. In the mid-90’s Sony “couldn’t hear the single” when I presented them to the first sketches of one on my most critically acclaimed records ever, ‘Random Hold’ (released in Denmark in 1996, in Germany 1997). I then raised the funds myself and recorded one of my best albums ever.
In your home country, Denmark, you already seem to be some kind of icon who is accepted and respected by mass media as well as by the independent scene. Do you feel honoured in this position, or is this of no importance to you?
– I appreciate the recognition of integrity, but it’s nothing to be thankful about. I do what I do, and the consequences are what they are.
The end of your collection ‘Catalyst’ is the current single ‘Delirious’, a twisting and euphoric pop song. Is this pop-appeal the beginning of a new artistic chapter?
– No, not really. As a matter of fact it might be the end to that particular chapter in my career, the one called “pop music”. I don’t know. The song is a couple of years old, but it just seemed to fit the singles collection. The collaboration with Danish newcomers Marybell Katastrophy also worked out incredibly well, so there it was, a new single – something that my coming album (scheduled for release in February 2009) is completely devoid of.
FLAMMEN & CITRONEN
FLAMMEN & CITRONEN
DVD
SEPTEMBER 2008
METRONOME/UNIVERSAL PICTURES (5704897036733/DDVDSF4174)
At the end of March 2008 the motion picture Flammen & Citronen (“The Flame and The Lemon”) had premiere in Scandinavian cinemas. The film is the most expensive Danish language production ever made and is directed by acclaimed Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen.
The picture revolves around the Danish resistance movement fighting the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II and tells the true story of two of its most significant characters, Flammen (“The Flame” a.k.a. Bent Faurschou Hviid) and Citronen (“The Lemon”, Jørgen Haagen Schmith) – in the film played by respectively Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen (the latter internationally known from his role as the villain Le Chiffre in the James Bond movie Casino Royale from 2006).
Martin Hall’s film debut is a short, almost cameo-like guest appearance where he plays the part of Captain Østergaard Petersen.
1. Flammen & Citronen (133 min.)
Motion Picture DVD
Metronome/Universal Pictures
Thure Lindhardt
Mads Mikkelsen
Stine Stengade
Peter Mygind
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Producer: Nimbus Film
Design: Nimbus Film
Photo: Jørgen Johansen
“Incredibly exciting, entertaining and a visual delight to watch. Simply a must see.”
( * * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (The Danish equivalent to The Sun)
”A feat of strength.”
( * * * * )
Politiken (The Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
“Exciting, elegant, full of atmosphere and crowned with intense presence. A basically perfect film.”
( * * * * * )
Børsen (The Danish equivalent to Financial Times)
“A poignant and thought-provoking drama from beginning to end.”
( * * * * * )
Euroman (The Danish equivalent to to GQ Magazine)
As stated, Martin Hall’s makes his debut as a film actor in a short, almost cameo-like guest appearance playing the part of Captain Østergaard Petersen – a depraved, Nazi friendly persona with a strong propensity to nightly excesses.
Although the scene in the film was shortened significantly in comparison to the original storyboard due to its very violent nature, the sequence is still a memorable view for Hall aficionados.
CATALYST (SINGLES 1982–2008)
CATALYST
MARTIN HALL
CD
SEPTEMBER 2008
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 12)
As a concentrate of the voluminous 5-cd/dvd Catalogue (Martin Hall 1980–2007) from 2007 Panoptikon issued the single-cd album Catalyst (Singles 1982–2008) approximately one year later.
As the subtitle describes, the release is a collection of Hall singles stretching all the way back to the early days of Ballet Mécanique up until the new single “Delirious”, a track that was recorded with the young Danish group Marybell Katastrophy.
1. Intellectual Self-Mutilation (3:13)
2. Free-Force Structure (Edit) (6:11)
3. Warfare (Edit) (4:09)
4. Treatment (Edit) (5:25)
5. Showdown (Edit) (4:08)
6. Crush (Edit) (3:43)
7. Beat of the Drum (Edit) (4:00)
8. Surreal Thing (4:45)
9. Prime Material (3:25)
10. Cradlemoon (Edit) (4:22)
11. Another Heart Laid Bare (Edit) (3:46)
12. Love in Vein (4:19)
13. Just a Feeling (4:05)
14. Burning Sugar (Edit) (3:22)
15. My Argentine Rose (1:52)
16. Minor Frame (2:54)
17. Roseland (4:32)
18. Damage Control (6:08)
19. Tout le Monde (2008) (1:19)
20. Delirious (3:56)
INTELLECTUAL SELF-MUTILATION
All their care in me mentioned briefly in a move
Selfish bourgeois as intellectual self-mutilation
Generosity of shared evil
Some denied the possibilities
And the icecold waters spread without intention then
Fattish colourless seemed eternal
Gloriless emotions strangled me
Pulse with mercy gave me light to see
Individual only as a consequence
From bleeding of brotherhood
I seek never seen
I seek never been
Pretentious as soul
Pretentious as honesty
From the journey that killed useless hate
I was born again to share the strength
And for those who try to wash their hands in suffering
I will be there soon but not already
I do not regret what I fought for
Only all the weapons I fought with
I refuse to feel the pain from all my former friends
Those who lived by form and then denied it
Nature
Something has begun to open
Beauty cuts thought
FREE-FORCE STRUCTURE
Forever hidden in the profile
The either-or behind the both-and
Transcend and ascend in the moment that frees
All loving fucked up in tension
Without shadow and without motion
A word like heart
A word like fire
I believe with my body
Believe with my soul
Believe in the eyes before me
Approach and regain
Life repressed to myth
Changing once again
Words sealed with a kiss
Cancel all the pain in these fantasies of realities
Let the fragments shine
Feel me deep within
Let the nearness bind
Feel me skin to skin
Let your flesh and mind fuse to the same thing
Rising from decline
Get up
Reach out
Confront
Break through
Re-set reality
Programme your love
All must pass but presence remains
The basic concepts, the further lies
Of the rituals built on your ism of truth
In this chain reaction set-out
We’re born alone but still I need you
So please don’t hide in self-hate and compromises
Between a desire to be free
And passion made of confinement
WARFARE
In this media of mental translation
In this handicap of alienation
I need more than your model of motion
Than aesthetics of broken hearts
Here we are again
Feeling just the same
In these separate hells
Every word’s been said
Every lie’s been fed
To define ourselves
While your balance is kept intellectual
You’re emotionally ineffectual
A hysteria so perfectly tragic
So unreachable near
I’ve just had enough of neurotic love
Of this culturecide
I don’t need your shit
It just makes me sick
Look into my eyes
‘Cause this is the face
This is the race
TREATMENT
Treat me hard
Treat me with heart
Show me no mercy
Show me no sign of weakness
Retreat me right
Remain in light
Through every night and day
So cruelly
I know you’ll be my destiny
In all
Surrender completely
Fade into me
I need you this close
I want you to be
The purpose itself
To every extent
In method and need
Beginning and end
Treat me right
Treat me with right
Show me no mercy
Show me no sign of weakness
In cover of all of your love
I’ll make this dream come through
In every trace of every face
I feel a stream of you
So tender we treat each other with fear
The root of our need will constantly tear
Our fiction apart
Revealing the bone
Behind walls of love
We’re still all alone
Be my Judas
Be my destiny
I’ll forgive you in eternity
Be my Jesus
Be my sacrifice
I’ll betray you with a kiss of ice
SHOWDOWN
As everything changes me
Exploding in start on start
It shines on so hard through you
A crystal of flesh and blood
In your face
In your eyes
In the savagery of
How we love
How we die
A fever is burning
Releasing my spirit
In these European schemes
Imprisoned in mind of stone
A system so centralized
Conceptual humanity
Through obsession and love
Through the days and the years
And still burning inside
There’s no turning back now
The circle is broken
Feel the showdown
CRUSH
As you fill me again
I have no further questions
Condemned to be free
As I reach out for you again
Nothing is new
But something has grown
Bigger than both of us
Stronger than memory
And much stronger than defeat
I’m gonna crush the worlds we used to know
A seed is sown
I’m gonna let it grow
I’m quite aware what I’ll be going through
There’s no way back
It all depends on you
My destiny
I’ve seen it in your eyes
A love so deep
A stream that purifies
And in your arms
The nature of all death
Is nothing but a touch of timelessness
I’m gonna crush you with my love
I’m gonna be crushed up in love
BEAT OF THE DRUM
Now one day I woke up to some rules of life
That a serious heart needs a light mind to survive
That if you only hope you won’t get very far
‘Cause dreams call for action
No matter what you want the way is to begin
‘Cause knowing all about it is not the living thing
And those who sit and ask for great things all the time
Well I hope they’ve sorted out the many small things on the line
A focus inside out
The still of the centre
You must live by demand
But also surrender
As the beat of the drum beats the ghosts on the run
So the beat of my heart keeps me wondering
Now it’s been said this world is a stage
Well then if that is true
It’s an unwritten play
That makes being a becoming
It’s so easy seen when it’s someone else
But are you any better when you’re by yourself
‘Cause in this hall of mirrors you’re in a counterpoint
Where it takes one to recognize one
Now there are those who say that life is hard and then you die
Well petty leads to pity if you do not wonder why
‘Cause the way to solve a problem is to get a bigger one
So to those who cry for freedom
Well there’s working to be done
SURREAL THING
River deep
Mountain high
Out of the blue
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few
While all things must pass
A fire will burn
Purify
Never change
It’s seen in the sky
As there’s so much more to this than meets the eye
It’s something within
The longing inside is the drive that allows
The work to be done
River deep
Mountain high
A shadow inside
In the light of a greatness from which none can hide
Out of the blue
Into the fire
And I’m stronger than ever in my one surrender
A red storm arising
Now I know what I want
And I know how to get it
It’s calling within and without
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few
I know it
‘Cause I feel it
I don’t need no further proof to believe it
There’s a guiding light
Burning inside out
As pure as the real thing
I return
In the light of the sun
A shadow is cast of a moment in time
Like turns of the tide
In the still of the night it begins
What is is to be
PRIME MATERIAL
Modern life
So-called welfare
It lives inside you like a dream in the night
A sophisticated nightmare
It’s gonna blind you with its sweetest delight
Stimulus governs
Stimulus rules
It governs the trials
It governs the views
Prime material
Transformation of waste
Age of ice
Age of fire
And it’s been later than you think for a while
Living myth
The survivors
An inner freedom’s gonna start with denial
The self-pity ends where reason begins
The theatre stage is rice paper thin
Prime material
Transformation of waste
You’ll know yourself by the resistance
It either breaks you or it makes you stronger
CRADLEMOON
The fire and the water keep mixing in my blood
The sons and the daughters seemed to give it all up
They got too tired of the waiting
Too tired to believe
In the promises that nobody keeps
I’ve seen a generation coming
I’ve seen a generation go
And the more I see, the less I know
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
So I followed the shadows by the trail of the waste
And it led me into the heart, to the heart of these days
I never wanted to remember
Never wanted to believe
But you don’t ask why when the thunderheart beats
All I wanted was a reason
What I got was so much more
Couldn’t turn my back on the things that I saw
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
In a world full of stories
There’s a time in the night
When the sky seems to break by the blink of the eye
ANOTHER HEART LAID BARE
Another heart laid bare on the doorstep to my exile
Another pantomime to disbelieve
I see your bended head, always humble in the daylight
Playing the servant’s role to never see
Of all the images that you left for my keeping
The one I like the most is the world outside
I never thought I would but the distance seems so perfect
I can’t deny the fact that I’m pleasantly surprised
Another victim cries, pointing fingers at the heavens
Declaring me the crime of centuries
The traces on my skin, they keep shining in the nighttime
A fingerprint on every memory
LOVE IN VEIN
Heavy as lead in a medicine secret
Turning the sights on a narrow-go-round
Limited mind never looking for answers
Vanishing light never hitting the ground
And the beauty blinds you
And it cools the strain
And it hides inside you
Like a love in vein
Silhouette tear on a pillow of sorrow
Look-a-like pain as a ticket to go
Cities of light for a memory season
Dressing your mind for millennium low
‘Cause the beauty blinds you
And it cools the strain
And it hides inside you
Like a love in vein
JUST A FEELING
Silver lining inside me
You’re adapting my every word
Such an eloquent silence
Feeling hurt?
Still you’re moving so lightly
Like you’re hanging within the air
Seems it’s your way of saying
Couldn’t care
It’s just a feeling
Another feeling on the sky
It’s just a feeling
Another feeling coming down
The silver lining
You’ll see it run into the air
For just a moment
Another line that disappears
Guess it’s all second chances
Getting used to the sights and sounds
With the greatest indifference
Running down
All aesthetic behaviour
Still I’m watching your every move
Give and take of the daylight
For the view
BURNING SUGAR
The memory lines that run down the sky
Running like streams of reason
The story is told in silver and gold
Words never tell the tale
I believe in all that I see
In all that I know
In all that I feel inside me
I know that dreams will come true
If they’re burning
Burning sugar
Burns inside me
Burning sugar
Burning so sweet
The things that I’ve seen
The places I’ve been
Secrets that stay unbroken
The look in your eyes
It’s high as a kite
Cooling my every need
MY ARGENTINE ROSE
She’s a cool breeze of discontent
She’s like a story that never ends
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose
See the twenties within her eyes
Eternal stardust that never dies
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose
She’s my melancholic maybe
Come and save me
Come and set me free
MINOR FRAME
Crowded Saturdays
Guest among ghosts
A girl made of shivers
Girls on their own
Rolled down shades
Sweet, harsh sweat
It’s the choked laughter
The unmade bed
All the things you might remember
Things you might forget
Looking young and old
In the same glance
Nervous tenderness
But steady at hand
Curly hair
And vinyl sounds
Guess it’s carved within the faces
Carved and painted down
A cigarette that’s burning
Along the line
I guess that she’s the one you won’t forget
ROSELAND
29 believers in the room next door
Guess the myth didn’t equal the score
While they’re praising the legend
They can’t wait for his fall
Never was enough room for us all
Not enough air to breathe
Or time to leave
Trading in make believe
For the time being
Meet me at Roseland
Meet me at summer’s end
No one will notice
Anywhere that we meet
Promise you’ll be there
Don’t leave me waiting
You’re all I’ve ever known
All I’ll ever know
All the painted faces
Every painted smile
So allergic to all that they hide
Guess I needed the feeling
Every scandalous high
Got accustomed to life on the line
I saw all the stories end
Begin again
But only a single face
Stayed the same
Meet me at Roseland
Meet me at summer’s end
No one will notice
Anywhere that we meet
Promise you’ll be there
Don’t leave me waiting
You’re all I’ve ever known
All I’ll ever know
Wherever you go
Wherever you’ll show
I’ll be waiting for you
DAMAGE CONTROL
She’s got a heart full of crazy people
She’s clearly not amused
Catching colds and missing trains
Is all she seems to do
The tragic bravados
The bourgeois staccato
Wonder why they bother at all
They’re all talking in headlines but dress out of style
“Get a life and then give me a call”
Every ghetto gladiator
Every little Pierrot
Looking like a drag magician in another wasted show
There’s a beggar on each corner
A stench in the air
Life’s a song that’s dedicated to the lovers at Tiananmen Square
Confetti-covered
All animated
Party eyes that never close
A wave of raving faces with sparkling smiles
They look the same wherever she goes
The white shirts and big lips
All drowning in honey
Smacking tongues while they’re shaking their heads
Little socialites with portable roots
In her eyes they’d be better off dead
But the shops and the markets
The wild consumer craze
Seem to bind it all together and somehow make their day
All these harlequin girls with swimming pool eyes
If nothing else matters
They really took advantage of their time
So shit in your hat and place your head on a chair
This journey’s clearly not going anywhere
Turn on the tv
The lie of the land
A string quartet playing in a refugee camp
Start with a kiss and soon you’ll need vaseline
The damage control of any tangerine dream
Play hard to get
You’ll end on the run
‘Cause everyone’s bored with all this soft-porn
TOUT LE MONDE
April 4 turning 9.25
Writing words in the air
Lovers left with a cool rainy day
Places no longer there
Cardboard letters and manners that fail
Paris Odéon girls
Doors are closing
Lights still glowing
With a weak innocence
DELIRIOUS
See the lime green eyes
Every painted smile
It’s the beating heart of the crowd
Like a kite on the sky
It’s the shortest of nights that burn
With the most wonderful flame
In the glittering light
There’s no need to align
We’re just wasting our time
Maybe it’s the lack of reason
Maybe it’s the wasted feelings
Maybe it’s the light that makes me feel
Delirious
See it in the breaking mirrors
Spreading in a thousand shivers
Spreading like a mist within the crowd
It’s delirious
See the starry eyes
Fade away in clouds
See them kiss-and-tell just for you
I’ve been watching the faces
Coming back from the eighties again
They’re all on the line for you
Written about the ‘Catalogue’ box:
“Impressive box set capturing 27 years of uncompromising work … a must for fans and strongly recommendable for beginners.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)
”An impressive introduction to one of the country’s most important and most productive songwriters … it’s difficult to point to any other Danish colleague who can put together 81 tracks without putting a foot wrong one single time.”
( * * * * * )
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark’s biggest daily newspaper)
”The eccentric dandy exposed from A to Z … a piece of Danish music history that no connoisseur should miss. A true ear-opener.”
( * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D Magazine)
Only feature artists listed
Ballet Mécanique: Instruments
Christian Skeel: String arrangement
Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial: Harmony vocals
Front and Fantasy: Instruments
Johnny Stage: Remix
Marcel de Sade: Piano
Marybell Katastrophy: Instruments, harmony vocals
Trauma: Instruments
Under For: Instruments
Winterhill: Remix
‘Catalyst’ contains a line of recordings made in the period 1982–2008. For specific information concerning the individual song titles we need to direct you to the discography section and the original releases. The 2008-remastering made by Johnny Stage.
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
The Catalyst collection does not include all singles made by Martin Hall throughout his career – far from. In the Catalyst context the term “single” refers to formats such as 7” and 12” vinyl releases, cd-singles, promo copies, b-sides, downloads and remakes of single tracks, a definition providing the label with enough artistic latitude to enable new listeners to get a sense of some of Hall’s more project orientated works. All in all the cd contains 20 tracks as well as lyrics and liner notes to each individual title. Most of the songs on the compilation are featured in the form of single edits.
Apart from the already mentioned new download- single “Delirious”, the other newly recorded track on the album was a second version of ”Tout le Monde”, the grand finale on the Catalogue box. On this track Martin Hall was accompanied by the pianist and connoisseur Marquis Marcel de Sade. The duo re-recorded the song for the 2008 album version, the second time around furthermore featuring the nameless Danish author, director and singer in Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial on harmony vocals. This version of ”Tout le Monde” was added as the digital b-side of the “Delirious” single by which token the track finds it way onto the Catalyst album.
Concerning the other collaborations on the release: Track 1 was performed with Ballet Mécanique, track 2 and 3 with Under For, track 4 with Front and Fantasy, track 12 with Trauma, track 15 with Christian Skeel and track 18 with Winterhill. The music on track 4 was co-written with Martin Krog, on track 12 with Trauma and on track 15 with Christian Skeel.
Producer credits: Track 7 and 8 were co-produced by Flemming Nygaard, track 10, 11, 13 and 14 by Thomas Li and track 19 by Johnny Stage. Track 12 produced by Trauma, track 15 by Christian Skeel, track 16 and 17 by Johnny Stage, track 18 by Winterhill and track 20 by Marybell Katastrophy (string arrangement written by Martin Hall).