Harriet

Taunus was formed by the Berliner steel string guitarists Jan Thoben and Jochen Briesen in early 2001. They were joined by several guests playing percussion, banjo, harmonium and vibraphone at live concerts. Since their first long-player Malinche (Schinderwies-Production, 2005) Taunus' lineup keeps changing a bit and is heading towards a more flexible ensemble conception. For the new album Harriet (Ahornfelder, 2007) Derek Shirley, Michael Thieke, Wilm Thoben and F.S. Blumm were invited to play along at the recording sessions. Taunus play acoustic (mostly) instrumental music - you can find elements ranging from folk, finger picked minimal structures to improvised and more open forms in their music. The first record Malinche by Taunus was mostly focused on minimal, interlocking folky guitar patterns. Harriet on the other hand features more contrasting elements: Strictly composed passages, which are rigid and static in character, are combined with free, fluid and improvised parts. Dissonances enter a framework of open tuned folk-harmonics. And on top of the warm and immediate sounds of acoustic instruments an artificial voice generator talks about the inconstancy of concepts and theory. By bridging and sometimes even blurring these contrasts and differences, Taunus expand their way of musical expression. Harriet successfully explores new ways of composing interesting, reflective and charming music based on finger picked guitars. The album is named after Darwin's lady freshwater turtle Harriet, which died in 2006 at the age of 175 years. She was mistakenly thought to be a male exemplar of her species for most of her life.

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