Track:
- My world depends on you
- Pink
- Days in time
- A Silent Love (Part I)
- You love him
- Walking
- Heute nacht
- One way love
- Apples and Oranges
- Smooth man's melody
- Lucky Life
- The Spacerider Legend
Click for an MP3 teaser from the CD
German Import at a Domestic Price
A review from musictap.net 3.5 stars | Pop music has taken on many guises in its long tenure as a leading style of music. In the 90s, it morphed like altered timelines, producing simple to extravagant collections. The style has been good to bands like Coldplay, Travis, and a multitude of others, infusing our cultured histories of music with pleasing tunes. Countries have had their ways with stylistic interpretations, creating uniquely varied and fresh material. Chandeen, from Germany, under the direction of Harald Löwy, have added their atmospheric blend to the ever-changing evolution of pop music. Call it Dream Pop, cuz it’s just that, dreamy.
Europe has long been the playground of music with its population transfixed by the sheer fun of it all, while America has always taken its music for granted. This gives room to bands like Chandeen to propagate and grow with an understanding and diverse environment for nurturing. Chandeen, has been in the business for some time, contributing to the explorations that form new paths for our listening enjoyment. Incorporating the use of synth and some damn fine guitar, the music takes on ethereal qualities exploring all the shades of its boundaries.
Although I’m loath to reuse the buzzwords of the present moment, they do accurately describe Chandeen’s newest. The music is gorgeous; the vocals as airy and as dreamy as can be produced. The whispered lyrics are feverish and charged; like a fragrant warm breeze lightly playing over my face, inducing daydreams and pleasant musings. The melodies are intrinsic to the elements of the compositions.
Cautiously adventurous, which sounds like an oxymoron here, describes the band’s songs. They stay within a certain guideline, one that Chandeen is used to but deliver some very interesting and very 70s like guitar leads. The vocals of Stephanie Härich and Antje Schultz are sweet. Like cotton candy, their singing sticks to you. The tunes stay with you and you find them rolling around your head long after you have finished the CD.
With twelve songs and nary a bad one in the bunch, Chandeen have etched their way into stronger territory. The guitar playing is more polished, the vocals more seductive and the song composition more intricate, incorporating a tapestry of sounds to weave an album of pure flower bed lushness. Every song adds a new trick to the book. Listen to "Pink" and its western styled guitar introducing a haunting song filled with eroticism designed to tease. Or follow through with "Days in Time" and be captured alive by vocal beauty as Stephanie sings with exquisite range. The guitar leads here are so Gilmour like that you'd almost think he guested.
The sweetness of "You Love Him" brings a sashaying feeling to you while "Walking" drenches you with a drizzle of lusty singing and a scintillating, shimmery blend of drum and synth. The guitar leads here are so captivating they cause you to hit that replay button over and over. For me, that's everytime, on every song, that they play.
There are several songs sung in German, "Heute Nacht" and most of "Pink". They work fine and do not frustrate. One of the surprises on the disc is a cover of Pink Floyd's "Apples and Oranges". Sung with such amazing strength and accompanied with expert playing and a beautifully echoed "aaahh" that I just fell into it, enjoying the moment.
Someone in this band has a complete idea of what this band should be and its a noticeable quality.
DISC | The production is spacious and beautifully rendered here in every respect. You can hear every moment clearly and is rich and full-bodied. Making use of L/R channel play, the disc is a joy to listen to.
PACKAGING | It always seems as if a band gets dinged in this category of the review. You make a really cool recording but pull back on the book. This release is no different. The disc features an 8 page stapled colour booklet with photos and credits. The song listing and credits are on the back of the book. There is wasted space on the booklet and no lyrics. The band has opted, instead, to provide a website that contains the lyrics. The website leads to other special bonus materials, however, it seems as if the band has used the lack of lyric inclusion as a carrot to force people to purchase the disc. If you ask me, this is not a way to compel people to purchase the disc. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to the internet but, most importantly, at a time that we may want the lyrics, access to the internet may not always be available; like riding in a car. Advice? Include lyrics, always. The bonus inclusions, provided by going to the website (no, I won't reprint it here.) gives some really cool stuff. There are two tracks of live material, three unreleased tracks, and three rare early cuts, all downloadable MP3s. I love the use of the special page to offer the bonus material but the lyric thing is a dropped ball.
THE FINAL SAY | Chandeen is a fantastic band with absolutely talented performers. The girls are stunningly beautiful not only in their singing but in their looks. The songs are all well written and represent a cross section of the capabilities that Chandeen possess. Listen to the meditative "The Spacerider Legend" to realize how expansive they can be. Harald has styled a band that anyone can listen to. Buy this one!! - Matt Rowe
A review from musicaldiscoveries.com Bikes and Pyramids is a dramatic advancement in Chandeen's sound, and obviously re-injects the artists' creative freedom. It continues where
Jutland and
Waking Dream left off, leaving the heavily commercial influence of
Spacerider to one side. Modern percussion rhythms and progressive dance orientations provide the foundation for the glorious vocal work of Antje and Stephanie who adit to harmonising together for the first time in the simply stunning "You Love Him." While each song still runs longer than a typical single, several of the tracks have clear single potential. That said, the band's first maxi includes extended remixes of the upbeat opening track "My world depends on you" by De/Vision and Electronium. The album version's light but rhythmic percussion and acoustic guitar blends perfectly with Antje's layered vocal.
Heartfelt--with thick 60s style electric guitar in spots providing a melodic backdrop--Antje sings "Pink," which will be many listeners' first exposure to the band's use of German lyrics. Anyone not a fan of Antje's voice will certainly be by the conclusion of this track. The slow and jazzy arrangement of "Heute Nacht" perfectly supports Antje's soaring lead vocal and harmonies provide a lush backdrop between the verses. The singer's power and range clearly emerge within the track. The evocative and moody "Days in time," is Stephanie's first track on the album. Lightly accompanied, the song showcases the power and energy within the singer's fine and sultry voice. Sweeping electric guitar solos and bass overtones fill out the arrangements. The rhythmic "A Silent Love (Part I)" arrangements blend electronics with acoustic guitar to perfectly underscore Antje's whispy lead vocal. The extended "Lucky Life (Part II)" clearly the bookend piece echoing the lyrics and stylistically matching "A Silent Love." Antje's vocals add tremendous texture to "Lucky Life."
The vocalists' joint project is the mid-tempo track "You Love Him." One will hear a slight processing of Stephanie's lead vocal in the verses but everyone will enjoy the layered harmonies in the upbeat and most accessible choruses. "Walking" is a bluesy yet rhythmic track featuring almost spoken lead vocals by Steffi. Vast and extended guitar excursions grace the instrumental bridge. "One Way Love" is a lovely and accessible light rock number sung against acoustic and gentle electric guitar with the Antje's vocal arrangements reminiscent, in fact, of numbers by The Corrs. Like "You Love Him," the piece has significant single potential. And in a similar vein, listeners will all be immediately attracted to Antje's interpretation of the short jingle-like Pink Floyd track "Apples and Oranges." Steffi's edgy vocals perfectly carry the tune over the sparse electronic arrangement of the verses within "Smooth Man's Melody" while the vocalists' combined talents clearly emerge in the track's lush choruses. An extended instrumental completes the piece. The last track of the album is "The Spacerider Legend." A gentle, keyboard-based soundscape opens into heavenly vocalise and flute melodies as the album comes to a close.
Secret Link! The album's artwork has photos of the artists but most interestingly a secret link to some absolutely superb online rarities. "Lullaby"--an outtake from the 2002 sessions--and an alternate version of "One Way Love" are available. The full version of "Reach Another Day" (from The Waking Dream sessions) is also provided in 128 kbit quality. Three tracks from Chandeen's 1992 tape The Twilight Crossing include "Journey to the Land of Wisdom (1992 version)," "Leaving The End" and "Scottish Hills (1992 version)." A live version of "In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated" from the Light Within Time tour and full lyrics for Bikes and Pyramids are also accessible from further links inside the secret page. Interested visitors will need to obtain the album booklet to get to the link!
A review from gothicparadise.com Chandeen is a name highly recognized in the Ethereal/Heavenly Voices genres. It's no wonder, since they've been at it for 10 years now. They have appeared on a large number of compilations, with probably the most famous appearances being on the various Hyperium label's
Heavenly Voices compilations. They were on the Hyperium label for several years where they released several albums and received a lot of praise and positive reviews. They later left Hyperium and signed with SPV where they released one of their most popular albums to date,
Spacerider. And now, in 2002, they release
Bikes and Pyramids on Kalinkaland Records. Their sound is often enjoyed by fans of many different genres. Their style is described as Space-Pop meets New Wave, which is a fair assessment. Each album has evolved a little bit from one genre and influence to another, but with each new release they stay with their trademark sound that has made them so popular.
It has been three years since the release of the "Skywalking" single and four years since Spacerider. So it's been a long wait for fans of this popular group. While this album takes on a little bit more of a "pop" sound, it is still very worth the wait. In fact, for many people that may lean away from the darker, more obscure sounds in the Gothic/Ethereal genres, this album will be a special treat. From beginning to end, the listener is captured in a world of dreamy vocals, variable tempos and a variety of electronics and musical styles. Antje and Stephanie manage to captivate the listener in each song as Harald's musical intellect and talents underscore the arrangements. Beginning with the dreamy pop track "My World Depends On You" mixes all of the classic Chandeen elements with some breakbeats and New Wave elements that make this track a definite hit on this album and also released as the first single. Leaning more to their classic sound are tracks like "Pink" and "Lucky Life (part II)". And another of my favorite tracks on this album is the beautiful song "A Silent Love". This is a special treat, remixed by Klive and Nigel Humberstone of In The Nursery. This excellent, dreamy track really captures the audience in the enveloping embrace of beautiful music that is a real masterpiece. Another fun treat on this album is the cover of Pink Floyd's "Apples and Oranges". They transform this into an upbeat, fun song. Other tracks include experimental ambient sounds, while others lean more towards just straight pop music. A wide variety and a great album overall! Rating 4/5
A review from chaindlk.net Category: Synth Pop / Electro Pop / Synth-Electronica | Another great little group brought to my attention by Sam Rosenthal of Projekt......... To me, ethereal and pop are strange bedfellows, given ethereal's moodiness and pop's liveliness. La Floa Maldita hit it with a rare perfection,and Rhea's French-tinged vocals are still a standard in all of ethereal (the language of love never sounded as good as when it came from her). This is a little different but just as good of a benchmark. Armed back to back with two amazing vocalists, Antje Schulz and Stephanie Harich, this CD is a tour de force of ethereal pop pure,simple,and elegant all at once. The first song and single "My World Depends On You" is perfect soundtrack material to some Euro romance film set in the summertime. Slow and driving,and doubled up with two vocal layers on the chorus, it is something to behold, even for staunch pop-doubters like me. "Pink" opens up with a kind of western guitar roll, of course played very slow before giving way to the atmosphere laying underneath and letting the German vocals roll out. And if you have a friend that says "Oh German isn't sexy at all" point them to Chandeen. This is the sexiest I have EVER heard it,and backs up my point that it is a gorgeous language to know (hehe alles wir weisse das)! "Days In Time" is another atmospheric guitar track, and the vocal work of Stephanie will melt your heart in her soft vocal trance. The breathy style of ethereal vocals never sounded better except for "Heute Nacht". "Walking" has a poppy,Portishead type rhythm drum line on top of pop-laden vocals and bounce. The contrast of the poppy Trip-hop drum line and the pop vocals play quite nicely, making it the highlight behind "Heute Nacht". "Heute Nacht", meaning Tonight for all the nonGerman speakers out there, is the highlight of the CD. Sensual as hell, German has never oozed such sexiness before (well,except for Franka Potente! But we're talking musically!) and this is the ultimate proof it can give even French a run for it's money! Just pop on this track and get ready to make some babies,garaunteed! Even if you don't understand what they are saying,the vocals and words are so sensual it won't even matter. It's the song R&B wish it could make. And if you do understand the German, you'll understand the mood of pure sensuality,just let it flow over you. "Apples and Oranges" is the pop hit that US radio would be too idiotic and cooperate to appreciate or allow to be a hit. It's a cover of an old Pink Floyd gem from the Syd Barrett era,given a whole new twist. I could bounce and skip along in the park on a sunny day to this little ditty. It's such a guilty pleasure! Overall, no filler in this whole CD at all. Each track compliments one another,and the vocals are simply some of the best in the business. This band is only rivaled by Machine In The Garden and La Floa Maldita (whatever happened to them?!?) in my mind. And plus some goodie bonus material I will let you see for yourself! Definitely give this band a try,and I garauntee you won't regret it. Even my Britpop-loving best friend was aching to get her hands on this CD. So pop it on and get ready to make some babies,as she says! Rating: Why even bother? Some things speak for themselves, so I'll let it talk for itself ;). PS: The two singers are also some of the best lookers in the business. Bist wir so schon damme! - KlingKlangBedlam