Thirteen Years In Noises

Thirteen Years In Noises

Track Listings

1. What's

2. Square Wave

3. To Alison

4. Fluidum

5. Alpha Centauri

6. Trance (Between the Stars)

7. Her Eyes Have It

8. Vacuum Blow [Mirror FX Remix]

9. 1+1=11

10. For That Moment

11. Neon

12. I'm (Not Really) Optimistic

13. Sensor

14. Local Distortion

15. Lovely Day Tomorrow [Ecstasy of Saint Theresa Remix]

16. Fluidum [Multimedia Track]

Tracks:

What's
Square Wave
To Alison
Fluidum
Alpha Centauri
Trance (Between the Stars)
Her Eyes Have It
Vacuum Blow [Mirror FX Remix]
1+1=11
For That Moment
Neon
I'm (Not Really) Optimistic
Sensor
Local Distortion
Lovely Day Tomorrow [Ecstasy of Saint Theresa Remix]
Fluidum [Multimedia Track]

Customer Reviews:

End Of A Chapter.......2005-10-14

Like many bands, the Ecstasy Of St Theresa owe much to John Peel, who had a copy of their ridiculously rare Susurrate album and had got in touch with them while he was in Prague, setting into motion what became a session recording for his programme in February 1993 which led to a UK deal with Go! Discs. Thirteen Years In Noises tells their story between 1991 and 2003.

The Ecstasy Of St Theresa evolved in January 1991 from earlier bands involving founder Jan Muchow when he discovered singer Irna Libowitz. At that time they became a noisy post-punk band, influenced by Siouxsie and the Banshees with early Cocteau Twin-type vocals and a layer of muddy My Bloody Valentine distortion that may not have been totally by design. This period is represented by the first two tracks, taken from their debut EP Pigment, and To Alison, from the following year's full-length Susurrate.

The Peel session, which later became their first British release as the FluidTranceCentauri EP for Free Records, is included in full and is followed by Her Eyes Have It which was recorded in London in August/September 1993 for the album Free-D (Original Soundtrack). By this time the band had become more experimental and spacey, and the album title was telling, as Jan Muchow was to work on film and theatre projects when version one of the band departed (For That Moment comes from a film called Samotari). An EP of remixes from Free-D was to follow in 1995, glorying in the title AstralaVista, represented here by Vacuum Blow.

By 1999 the Ecstasy Of St Theresa was resurrected as a duo comprising Jan Puchow and actress-singer Katerina Winterová, who first appeared on record with the group on 1999's InDust3, hence presumably the title 1+1=11. The drum and bassy Neon, from the album, was the lead single and represents the first time Katerina had entered a recording studio.

From 2002's Slowthinking they were augmented by a number of musicians who provide woodwinds, brass, cello, double bass and "noises", bringing together real instruments and a subtle array of electronics. The shoe-gazing elements of the mind-nineties have been superceded by a glitchier psychedelic soundscape and fragile child-like vocals that bring to mind Hanne Hukkelberg, Emiliana Torrini or Múm. The singles from the album were Local Distortion and I'm (Not Really) Optimistic, and Sensor is also included.

The final track is an oddity: a British Sea Power song called A Lovely Day Tomorrow that, according to their website, is "concerned with a moment in Czech history, one that was by turns inspiring and tragic. As the lyrics suggest, the song looks back to a time in 1942 when men flew through the sky from England and on over Bohemia and Moravia, intent on halting the devil in his Mercedes-Benz". This Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa remix (done mostly by Katerina) comes from a limited edition single of, appropriately, 1942 copies, which was only available in the Czech Republic, from British Sea Power's April 2004 UK tour or through their official web-site.

Jan's liner notes end by saying, "We're not at the end of the story but at the beginning of the next chapter." As he seems to be a past master of re-invention, I do not doubt it.

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