Stillste Stund

Stillste Stund
Origin	Germany
Genres	Darkwave, Avant-garde, Electronic music
Years active	1998-present
Labels	Alice In... Dark Dimensions
Members
Oliver Uckermann Birgit Strunz
Past members
Inanis Kurzweil
Notable instruments
Keyboard Synthesizer Piano Cello Contrabass Percussion Guitar

Stillste Stund (German: Stillest Hour) are a German musical group. It was formed by Oliver Uckermann and female vocalist Birgit Strunz in 1998. The lyrics are written primarily in German, supported by male and female vocals. The band's name comes from Friedrich Nietzsche's most famous book: Also sprach Zarathustra.  Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Second Part - Die Stillste Stunde.

History

Stillste Stund released a Demo-Version of Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum in 1999. They signed a record contract with music label Alice In... of the Dark Dimensions label group shortly thereafter.

There were originally two supporting female vocalists: Birgit Strunz and Inanis Kurzweil. Inanis appeared on the band's first three releases.

Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum, the band's debut album, was released in mid-2000. In May 2002, Stillste Stund was nominated as Best Newcomer Band by German music magazine Orkus. The ever-popular "Der Untergang" from Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum, was featured on four different compilations, all in two years. Some of the lyrical content is inspired by legends and fairy tales and the thoughts of such notable German philosophers and novelists as Friedrich Nietzsche, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Joseph von Eichendorff, and Hermann Hesse.

In 2001, the band released their second full-length album Ursprung Paradoxon. Its release gained Stillste Stund much popularity throughout Europe and even parts of South America. The music consists of theatrical, classical, and industrial influences. The band's album artwork and sleeve design and website design is all made by Birgit Strunz. This album featured the first part of the Alice Trilogy named "Alice (Der Spiegeltanz). Originally the track was written for the anniversary of their label Alice In... and was inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Their next album Biestblut - zwei in einem (Ein Gedankenkonstrukt in sieben Szenen) appeared in late 2003. The musical content of this concept album has a much more classical influence. "Nebelland", "Golem", "Weltwinternacht", "Sublunaris", and "Wo die Wirklichkeit schweigt" are among some of the notably popular tracks from Biestblut. This was also the last album featuring additional female vocal support from Inanis Kurzweil.

In 2005, Stillste Stund presented their fourth album Blendwerk Antikunst as a worthy successor to Ursprung Paradoxon. The lyrics are written mostly in German, with the exception of three songs in English: "Apocalyptic Noon", "Darksomely", and "Obsessed with Purple".

The most recent album Von Rosen und Neurosen - Eine erlesene Sammlung grausamster Albträume was released on March 14, 2008. The standard edition features twelve tracks all sung in German. The limited edition of this album includes a bonus disc named "Alice EP" with ten tracks that continues and ends the very popular story that began on the second album Ursprung Paradoxon with the track "Alice (Der Spiegeltanz)"(amongst other titles the EP features a rematered version of Alice (Der Spiegeltanz) and unshortened versions of Alice II and III).

Ending

Stillste Stund, being a "project" instead of a band released the information that once Alice III was written the project had finished and had not other reason of continuing, small talk about other music being created under a new name was mentioned but no further information was released.

Line-up

Current members

• Oliver Uckermann - Since Oliver has been active as a musician for many years and worked with several other bands and projects, the band's debut album Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum consists of earlier material from the late 80's. The lyrical content, much of which is written by Uckermann himself, is inspired by legends and German fairy tales. "Ebenholz, Schnee & Blut" from Ursprung Paradoxon is based on the Brothers' Grimm fairy tale Snow White. Uckermann has explained in an interview with Rock-E-Zine that the thoughts of people like Friedrich Nietzsche and Hermann Hesse are, in part, his inspiration for philosophical lyrics. "Furchtbare Herrin," the prologue from Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum comes from Friedrich Nietzsche's novel: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which is where the band's name came from.

• Birgit Strunz - Joined the band alongside Inanis Kurzweil when it was formed in 1998 and has been working with cohort Oliver Uckermann since then. At first, she only provided vocals to the project, but soon began to co-write the lyrics and contribute her own song ideas. Together, she and Oliver wrote the lyrics for "Unter Kreuzen," on Ursprung Paradoxon and the two songs "Darwin," and "Nebelland," on Biestblut. Birgit also happens to be the artist behind the visual concept for the Stillste Stund project. She independently wrote the lyrics for the songs "Apocalyptic Noon," "Ananke," and "Obsessed With Purple" and, most recently, "Tiefenritt" on the band's fifth and newest release Von Rosen und Neurosen - Eine erlesene Sammlung grausamster Albträume.

Former members

• 1998-2003: Inanis Kurzweil — female vocals

Discography

Official albums

• 2000: Ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum
• 2001: Ursprung Paradoxon
• 2003: Biestblut - Zwei in Einem (Ein Gedankenkonstrukt in sieben Szenen)
• 2005: Blendwerk Antikunst
• 2008: Von Rosen und Neurosen - Eine erlesene Sammlung grausamster Albträume

Promotional releases

• 2005: Blendwerk Antikunst EP

Compilation contributions

• 1999–present: Compilation contributions by Stillste Stund

Miscellaneous releases

• TV series: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, episode 7x02 Beneath You - Von der Tiefe (inoff. Remix) (2002)
• REMIX for album Cabaret/Variete by Das Ich - Cabaret (2006)
• HÖRSPIEL (Radio play) Schattenreich, Folge (episode) 04 Nachthauch - Darksomely (2007)
• Mindradio.de 13.03.3008 21.00-23.00h cet, Radio Special with Interview, Songs etc. (2008)

References

1. "14. März 2008: Alice gründlich tot?" (in German). 2007-12-09. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070818091042/http://www.stillstestund.de/web3/index.php?page=neu&subnavi=navneu. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 

2. "Stillste Stund ab 26. November 2007 mit Hörproben und Previews auf MySpace" (in German). 2007-11-26. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070818091042/http://www.stillstestund.de/web3/index.php?page=neu&subnavi=navneu. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 

3. "Fünftes Album im Anmarsch!" (in German). 2007-05-31. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070818091042/http://www.stillstestund.de/web3/index.php?page=neu&subnavi=navneu. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 

4. "Neues Das Ich-Album mit Stillste Stund-Remix erscheint am 24.03.2006" (in German). 2006-03-04. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070818091042/http://www.stillstestund.de/web3/index.php?page=neu&subnavi=navneu. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 

External links

• Stillste Stund Official website (in German), with downloadable clips: Der Untergang and Sublunaris
• Stillste Stund on Myspace (in German and English)
• Stillste Stund on Musicbrainz
• Official Stillste Stund Fanclub-Forum (in German)
• Stillste Stund lyrics at Blue Lyrics