Wintersleep
Rathausmarkt/ Alster, 2012
More than two years ago we shot a session with Wintersleep playing on a freezing cold day at some urban wasteland in Vienna. The circumstances couldn’t be more different now: The five lovely Canadians are digging into boxes of vinyl when we meet them at Michelle Records (http://www.michelle-records.de/) after one of their three gigs at Reeperbahn Festival. It’s a pleasant September evening, and after everything is done at the venue we go for a little walk towards Hamburg’s city center. Accompanied by a bunch of fans we move past Binnenalster and Jungfernstieg and finally set up right in the heart of the city, on the steps down to Alster river in a quiet corner of Rathausmarkt. Some swans quickly approach and cast curious eyes on the scene. They witness nothing less than a stunning acoustic performance of “Nothing Is Anything (Without You)”, a melancholic love song from Wintersleep’s 2012-album “Hello Hum” with infectious vocal harmonies. The lights of the town hall sparkling in the background set the perfect ambience for this last session of our Hamburg series.
Rathausmarkt/ Alster
Rathausmarkt is Hamburg’s central square. On its south-western side lies the 19th-century town hall with an impressive neo-renaissance facade. The building was constructed after the old town hall fell victim to the great fire of 1842. Rathausmarkt is usually busy all year and filled with local residents as well as tourists, who enjoy the many events and markets taking place there. A more quiet place to hang out are the stairs down to Alster river at the northern corner of Rathausmarkt. If the weather allows it people sit down here to relax, feed swans, or watch an impromptu session with Wintersleep…