Maximilian Hecker

Known in his native Germany more for his jaunts along the catwalks than his angelic voice, singer/songwriter Maximilian Hecker's whispery debut album is brimming with gentle piano-driven lullabies of longing and depressing beauty. Doing all of the arranging as well as instrumentation, Hecker's fragile whispers on songs like "The Days Are Long and Filled With Pain" are reminiscent of Neil Young in his Harvest era. It quite obvious he's set the qualitative bar high for a sophomore album. The music complements the album's somber mood better than most artists attempting similar results to pay off. If there is any knock against Hecker, it's the fact that the songs are fairly interchangeable with the lyrical content provided -- dreary, dark songs quite apparent just by certain titles. The thrashing of guitars in "Cold Wind Blowing" is the only variant throughout. Regardless, though, Hecker's obvious talents are far from the posing in his other profession. ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide