''Thin Air'' is British singer-songwriter
Peter Hammill
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...
's 32nd solo album, released on his own
Fie! Records
Fie! Records is a record label founded by English singer-songwriter Peter Hammill
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der ...
label in June 2009. It was additionally made available as digital download through Burning Shed Records.
As on his previous release, ''
Singularity'', Hammill played all instruments, wrote all the songs and produced the album.
The main theme of the album is disappearance, as Hammill told British music magazine
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
in February 2009: "it became apparent fairly quickly that strong thematic links were running through the songs' lyrics: disappearance, change, loss, dislocation in various forms were stitched through all of them."
Another topic reappearing in several songs is the one of the
World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
along with images of
planes, though Hammill denied "any direct" reference to
9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
.
According to François Couture of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, ''Thin Air'': "... may be less experimental than ''Singularity'', but bleaker – and a more cohesive, consistent artistic proposition." The songs contain "almost no percussion, just acoustic guitars, piano, some gnarly electric guitar lines, bass, and those massed and intertwined back vocals that have become his signature".
The album's cover was again created by Paul Ridout, using stills from his video work "Minutely Observed Horizon".
Track listing
All tracks composed by Peter Hammill
#"The Mercy" – 6:21
#"Your Face on the Street" – 5:21
#"Stumbled" – 4:48
#"Wrong Way Round" – 2:40
#"Ghosts of Planes" – 5:23
#"If We Must Part Like This" – 4:38
#"Undone" – 4:25
#"Diminished" – 6:11
#"The Top of the World Club" – 7:03
Personnel
* Peter Hammill – vocals
Technical
*Peter Hammill – recording engineer, mixing (Terra Incognita, Wiltshire)
*Paul Ridout – design, photography
Your Face on the Street
While living in
Bath, Hammill had the inspiration for the song "Your Face on the Street" from the disappearance of
Melanie Hall in the same city. Some of the song's lyrics were written at the time of Hall's disappearance, and when the album came out, the discovery of her remains had yet to be made.
Notes
External links
Notes and information on Peter Hammill's website*
{{Authority control
2009 albums
Peter Hammill albums