by Jason MacNeil 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Distributed By – EFA – EFA 55253-2 Pressed By – DOCdata Germany Mastered At – Calyx Mastering Design [Additional Design] – alorenz Mastered By – Bo Kondren Painting [Cover Painting] – Liisa Lounila Photography By [Photographer] – Niina Rinne Producer – Maximilian Hecker, Tommi Eckart Written-By, Performer, Recorded By – Maximilian Hecker A foldout lyric/photo booklet is contained in the cover. Barcode (Text): 7 18755 52532 6 Barcode (Scanned): 718755525326 Matrix / Runout: YELL KY 01053 Mastering SID Code: IFPI LL88 Mould SID Code: IFPI 5221 Rights Society: GEMA Label Code: LC 02816