That’s Desire / Here We Are EP
Fragile - Visual Album
12-inch vinyl EP and digital download
Out now on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/--14I6ajk5c
Tracklist:
A1 That’s Desire (featuring Ash B.)
A2 Fast Lane (1986 recording)
A3 Anderes Osterlied
AA1 Here We Are
AA2 Naive Me
AA3 Warm Star (Porto / Bogotá Edit)
Directed and photographed by Wolfgang Tillmans, this 27 minutes film features performances by Hari Nef, Karis Wilde, Ash B., Matthew Salinas, Bashir Daviid Naim, Rachel Guest, Christopher Olszewski and himself as well as band members Juan Pablo Echeverri, Jay Pluck, Kyle Combs, Tom Roach and Daniel Pearce.
Participants danced and improvised in Los Angeles and New York to the music, without previously knowing it. Whilst editing the footage with Michael Amstad in Berlin, it became clear, that what was planned to be cut into six individual videos, should not be separated, but should remain as a consecutive sequence of six different moods.
Explaining the motivations behind the visual album Wolfgang Tillmans says: "Four songs have been written and recorded this summer in Fire Island and New York, in a time now marked as 'post Brexit / pre Trump'. New Jersey’s Ash B.’s performance and improvised rap on That’s Desire blew us away. The song was recorded in 30 minutes. Two vocal takes by myself, one by Ash B. That was it. Warm Star was written and recorded in Porto in January this year. Principally a love song with political undertones, some lines of the lyrics later made it onto my pro EU / anti Brexit campaign posters. Fast Lane is a recording from 1986, myself 17 years old, an electro-punk piece inspired by cold war angst and nausea at political indifference with the now more than ever poignant line ‘we take the fast lane into the dark’. I wanted the overall feel of the EP to be reflecting the desire to carry on and live our lives in a quest for personal happiness, whatever the circumstances are. We need to protest and campaign, but this shouldn’t stop us from reaffirming love and life, here and now. Anderes Osterlied is a song written by Swiss liberation theologian Kurt Marti in 1970. Even though I find it hard to believe in organised religion, I was and am deeply touched by this song ever since I first heard it in the early 90ies. Here We Are is about a moment of personal love and Naive Me is about the shock of realising the unimaginable happened on June 23 / Nov 8"
"I’m grateful for the trust and openess each dancer, actor, performer brought to this project, - giving everything in a white blank space to the sound of a boombox. A set of coloured gels in front of the window being the only production props”
The accompanying EP will be out on Friday Dec 9 on 12” vinyl as well as digital download, distributed by WordandSound on Beatport, Traxsource, Juno, iTunes and other download sites. Streaming from Dec 9 on Spotify, Soundcloud and iTunes.
FRAGILE
Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans is a visual artist who lives and works in Berlin and London. In 2015 Tillmans reignited a dormant passion and started to make music again. Under his name he released two EPs over the summer: „2016 / 1986 EP“ and „Device Control EP“. In September, Tillmans's band, „Fragile“, performed at Fire Island Performance Festival, and at Union Pool in Brooklyn. „That’s Desire / Here We Are EP“ is a result of Fragile’s collaboration during the summer.
Juan Pablo Echeverri
Juan Pablo Echeverri is a Colombian Artist working with photography and video. Exploring identity and gender issues through self-portraiture, his work has been included in shows at The Photographers' Gallery in London, The Havana Biennial in Cuba, and MoMA PS1 in New York among others. He currently lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia.
Jay Pluck
Jay Pluck is a musician and visual artist in New York City. His leads art pop band George Sand and also accompanies psych folk legend Ed Askew on keys. Both groups will release new albums and tour in Europe in 2017.
Kyle Combs
Kyle Combs is an artist who primarily works with music and sound. Based in New York, Combs's multidisciplinary practice ranges from immersive sound installations to fractured and propulsive electronic music. Combs's debut LP will be released early 2017.
Tom Roach
Tom Roach is Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bryant University. His first book „Friendship as a Way of Life“ emphasizes the vital role friendship plays in queer history and politics. His forthcoming book, „Screen Love: Queer Intimacies in Social Media“ explores queer relationality in the age of geosocial apps. He recorded and performed as the bass player of Lifter Puller from 1995-1999 and now resides in Providence, RI and Provincetown, MA.
Daniel Pearce
Daniel Pearce is a drummer and writer who lives in New York. He has performed, toured, and recorded with numerous artists in both New York and the Bay Area, including John Vanderslice, Luke Roberts, the Broken-Trap Ensemble, and the Magik*Magik Orchestra. He teaches in the Undergraduate Writing Program at Columbia University.
Music production credits:
That’s Desire (featuring Ash B.)
Vocals, lyrics, melody by Ash B. and Wolfgang Tillmans
Bass by Tom Roach
Guitar by Juan Pablo Echeverri
Synthesizer by Kyle Combs
Keyboards by Jay Pluck
Drums by Daniel Pearce
Saxophone by Nikki D’Agostino
Recorded by Alexis Berthelot at Studio G, Brooklyn, 2016 assisted by Matt Labozza
Additional production, percussion and arrangement by Tim Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Additional guitar by Klaus Knapp
Additional percussion by Alfred Mehnert
Mixed by Tim Knapp and Klaus Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Written by Ashley Byrd, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tom Roach
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans and Tim Knapp
Fast Lane (1986 recording)
Vocals, lyrics, melody and effects by Wolfgang Tillmans, 1986
All harmonies, instruments and programming by Bert Leßmann, 1986
Recorded at Barlachweg, Remscheid, Germany 1986
Restoration of original cassette recording and reconstruction of original music and instruments, played 2016 by Tim Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Additional arrangement by Tim Knapp
Mixed by Tim Knapp and Klaus Knapp at Trixx Strudios, Berlin
Written by Bert Leßmann and Wolfgang Tillmans, 1986
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans
Anderes Osterlied
Lyrics by Kurt Marti, 1960ies
Melody by Peter Janssens, 1970, published by Peter Janssens Musik-Verlag, Telgte / Westfalen
Vocals by Wolfgang Tillmans
Drums, percussion and synthesizer by Kyle Combs
Guitar by Juan Pablo Echeverri
Keyboards by Jay Pluck
Recorded at FIOW, Fire Island Pines, NY, 2016
Mixed by Klaus Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans
Here We Are
Vocals, lyrics and melody by Wolfgang Tillmans
Guitar by Juan Pablo Echeverri
Bass by Tom Roach
Keyboards by Jay Pluck
Synthesizer by Kyle Combs
Drums by Daniel Pearce
Violin by Dylan Neely
Saxophone by Nikki D’Agostino
Recorded by Alexis Berthelot at Studio G, Brooklyn, 2016, assisted by Matt Labozza
Additional production, percussion and arrangement by Tim Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Additional guitar by Klaus Knapp
Mixed by Tim Knapp and Klaus Knapp at Trixx Strudios, Berlin
Written by Wolfgang Tillmans, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Jay Pluck, Tom Roach, Kyle Combs, Daniel Pearce
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans and Tim Knapp
Naive Me
Vocals, lyrics by Wolfgang Tillmans
Guitar by Juan Pablo Echeverri
Bass by Tom Roach
Keyboards by Jay Pluck
Drums by Daniel Pearce
Synthesizer by Kyle Combs
Violin by Dylan Neely
Recorded by Alexis Berthelot at Studio G, Brooklyn, 2016 assisted by Matt Labozza
Mixed by Klaus Knapp at Trixx Strudios, Berlin
Written by Wolfgang Tillmans, 2016
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans
Warm Star (Porto / Bogotá Edit)
Vocals, lyrics and melody by Wolfgang Tillmans
Guitar by Juan Pablo Echeverri
Bass by Ricardo Martins
Keyboards by Jorge Costa
Drums by Edys Da Silva
Recorded by Nuno Pereira at Stage Studio, Porto, 2016
Heidelberg Speedmaster XL printing press recorded by Wolfgang Tillmans, 2011
Additional arrangement and production by Tim Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Mixed by Klaus Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Edited by David Cardenas at Sonido Azulado Studio, Bogotá, Colombia
‘We don’t know where...’ lyrics line from Strange Angels by Laurie Anderson
Written by Juan Pablo Echeverri and Wolfgang Tillmans, 2016
Produced by Wolfgang Tillmans
All tracks mastered by Klaus Knapp at Trixx Studios, Berlin
Cover design and photgraphy by Wolfgang Tillmans
Special thanks to All at Wordandsound, Armin Lorenz Gerold, Konstantin Gebser, Dan Ipp, Branwen Jones, Rachel Jennings, Fiona Eltz at David Zwirner, New York, Morgan Bassichis, Faris Al-Shathir, Esteban Hernandez, Anders Clausen, Jim Greene, Josephine Ebsen, Sean Mellyn, Alexis Berthelot
Fragile is a Wolfgang Tillmans band project in varying constellations including:
1985/86 Bert Leßmann
2016 Porto: Juan Pablo Echeverri, Jorge Costa, Ricardo Martins, Edys Da Silva, Nuno Pereira
2016 New York: Juan Pablo Echeverri, Kyle Combs, Jay Pluck, Tom Roach, Daniel Pearce, Tim Knapp, Ted McGrath
Released by Fragile