in a long list of precious, fragile, heartbroken artists to emerge in the lastyears maximilian hecker whispers the most precious and fragile heartbreak of them all. (new york times) an anaemic fragile songman about to asphyxiate on piano misery. it comes as quite a surprise to discover to some that maximilian hecker is a german man. musicians from that part of europe are usually dreadful. the scorpions, they were german. so was nena and her balloons, david hasselhoff (sort of). all terrible. so imagine the shock in discovering that the author of these tender, eloquent and beautiful albums comes from the land of ruthless efficiency and moustachioed nail sex. no wonder he’s depressed. he has one of the most astonishing voices, all wounded and quivering and he contorts it expertly across all sorts of deft desolation. in short… outstanding.

official website | myspace site | english info | german info | presspics
download free mp3 from our podcast: summer days in bloom | white

maximilian hecker – live radio sessions
remastered live recordings from his amazing radio concerts in bremen and helsinki.

mp3/wav: itunes | finetunes | musicload | boomkat

maximilian hecker – lady sleep

on his third full length, the spotlight is fully on maximillian hecker’s voice. it brings to mind a drowsy joe pernice or david gates from bread. y’know, it’s that sort of voice that just starts the hearts a-melting as soon as he opens his mouth. hecker’s backed by the full elegant pop assemblage of piano, strings … soooo lovely! lady sleep captures the deep ache of lovelorn yearning and loss. it’s a box o’ tissues listen. he’ll probably also draw many comparisons to the grand swooping likes of radiohead or coldplay, and fans of those bands (particularly the latter) would do well to check hecker out. the only song that steps outside of the hushed beauty comes late in lady sleep. “yeah, eventually she goes” is the tenth of the album’s eleven songs, and it jars with it’s sudden barrage of guitars which push it into that tired ol’ quiet/loud camp. we can say this album is absolutely haunting and heartbreaking. (aquarius record)
frail piano torch songs delivered as though melancholia is both symptom and cure. the gap between useful catharsis and total heartbroken collapse is cigarette paper thin. the vocals are pitched high – not so vulgar as to be full of whine and shriek, rather these are careful whispers offering a close-up of a soul weighed down by this world where swords will always be crossed rather than melted down. this is a heart always full of life and love. it is like a resigned sigh expanding its musical repertoire, but when the guitars crash on ‘yeah eventually she goes’, the woe becomes emphatic. (vanity project)

mp3: finetunes and emusic

lp: kitty-yo popstore

maximilian hecker – rose

in the first three minutes, a lovelorn hecker bemoans how he’s spent seven days without a glance from kate moss. but if the former busker has something of the stalker about him, he’s not one of those men who have bad fringes and still live with their mum. ‘rose’, hecker’s second lp, is as beautiful and barbed as the flower itself and proves that sinister can also be suave and beautiful. while his sexless germanic vocals threaten to get smothered in drippy melancholy, he’s wise enough to ease off with the string quartets as things progress, transmuting his snail pace into the kind of pin-drop quiet electro fischerspooner would make after a pint of heroin. lovely.

mp3: finetunes

lp: kitty-yo popstore

maximilian hecker – infinite love songs

the debut album by maximilian presenting his unique singer- & songwriter skills to the public. native berliner and sometime fashion model, this 23-year old could well be the finest german export since michael owen’s match ball. like recent “uncut” fave kevin tihista, his métier is beautifully-sculpted, 24-carat melodies, deceptively simple arrangements and a voice so eerily spectral it’s in danger of vaporisation. hecker’s creamy falsetto sails somewhere between tiny tim and nick drake, with all the breathy allure of joe pernice. the trip-folk of “green night” suggests what might have been had nick drake graduated from the same bristol bloodline as massive attack and portishead; “sunburnt days” is impossibly gorgeous, summer-meadow piano, while “over” is a thrilling ride over a waterfall of acoustic guitar. at certain points, he sounds almost beloved-esque. most of the time, it’s just plain otherwordly.

mp3: finetunes

maximilian hecker – infinite love song
a piano-driven lullaby of breathtaking beauty

7″: kitty-yo popstore