Recorded in the tunnels beneath Castle Cottenau, first destroyed circa 800 AD, and rebuilt countless times - home to robber knights, napoleon's troops, countless guests of an inn now gone, pensioners, and who knows how many others. At the time of this recording the structure atop these tunnels was inhabited by Bruno Kramm and his wonderful family, who treated me with hospitality and warmth I treasure to this day.
For two weeks I found myself sleeping above these tunnels, carved from solid rock, the result of a venue closing unexpectedly during a tour with Faith and the Muse in 2009.
Night after night the knowledge of the ancient labyrinth carved in solid rock beneth the structure some thousand years ago haunted my dreams, and after many days of blissful quiet in Oberfranken, I could resist no longer and with the gracious help of Bruno and the recording gear at Danse Macabre Studios, I descended into the depths on the very last night of my stay , fortified by the beer served by the volunteer firefighters of the town, whose antique engine was housed next door and accompanied by my musical family. The first five tracks are recorded with Julia Cook and Geoffrey Bruce, playing anything they could grab, including a whiskey bottle and the walls of the tunnels themselves. The final track was recorded a few days earlier, in complete darkness, with Monica Richards spontaneously breaking out into song some 30 yards or so down a tunnel hem from solid stone.
The reverberation you hear is the sound of these tunnels and their countless stone facets chipped away by picks from the living stone in ages past. The sound was unearthly. I called it the Altar of Echoes. I have never played music like this before or since, and this recording is perhaps as close to mystery as I have made it in this weird quest I cannot seem to shirk. If you listen closely you will hear a burp, a fart, the cork being pulled from a whiskey bottle and a cry of surprise when I glimpse something just beyond the candle flame I cannot say was real.