connection terminated
the tracks
1 the sleeper's voice of sorrow (8:23)
2 tonight's good bye (3:26)
3 pain (4:52)
4 waiting for the storm (8:16)
5 heartbreak avenue (6:24)
6 connection terminated (9:57)
7 night-time sky (5:19)
Listen to an mp3 promo here:
the concept
The main story of »Connection Terminated« is about an individuum struggling not to get lost within a fast and emotionless world, trying to find an own identity and to get »disconnected« from pressures of a weird society.
During the years of the writing process of »Connection Terminated« - even though the album was entitled quite late and the lyrics were almost written at the very end - it soon became clear that it would become a concept album.
the music
»I had some bits and pieces recorded already and realised that I was not able to write some 3-minute-and-a-few-seconds-songs to express what I wanted to express. So I decided to create a whole story and a certain atmosphere with my music instead.«
During the jamming and recording sessions more and more material was put together to accomplish that kind of vibe that hopefully would become a dark and emotional album.
Working out the proper sequence of the songs did not seem to be a problem, also conceiving the ambient sounds - to bring the desired atmosphere into being - turned out to be easy. But creating, i.e. recording these sounds however was found to be a quite challenging project...
»I wanted to use my very own ambience recordings on this album to have it precisely the way it was intended to be. And that way was anything but easy!
The breaking glass at the end of »Pain« for example was recorded in the corridor of my former home. I was smashing nearly a dozen of light bulbs onto the floor just to end up sitting in a fairly dimmed home after considering myself satisfied with the recordings...
More difficult was a part of the sound recordings for »Waiting for the Storm«. Staying outside at night in a heavy thunder storm to record the very same left me favourably impressed by mother nature...«
The soundscapes were not only needed to create a specific atmosphere but were also used to »glue« together part of the tracks to make the whole story come to life.
The instruments used on the album are sort of classic lineup: Drums, clean and heavy guitars, bass, Hammond, Mellotron and Moog sounds, as well as synthesizer, acoustic and e-piano sounds.
the lyrics
»Eventually I had all the music and it was time to write down some lyrics. I had the story and the feeling about it somewhere in mind already. Some of the words came very easily, for other parts I had to work on quite hard - though I wrote some from a very personal point o view...«
Indeed parts of some of the texts were laid down months before but most of the lyrics were written and recorded at the end of summer 2011.
You can download the booklet with the lyrics here.
the artwork
After writing the lyrics, recording the vocals and mixing the album, creating the layout and the artwork for »Connection Terminated« was the final job to get done.
The atmosphere of the album and the distress of the main character should be illustrated by the artwork as well. The obscure and broken facility with the pair of empty chairs was a perfect scenery for the front cover. The lost mask in the pouring rain embodies the main character's effort to tear of the disguises and to find himslef.
All in all it took about three months only to finish what had begun more than four years before.