The Narcissus Effect
Electronica / Pop / Indie
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"Alle Sterne sind diesbezüglich meine Genossen"
Winsen (Aller), Niedersachsen
Germany
Profile Views:
12976
Last Login:
12/1/2008
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http://www.myspace.com/thenarcissuseffect |
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| The Narcissus Effect: General Info
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| Member Since | 4/20/2006 | | Band Website | myspace.com/thenarcissuseffect | | Band Members | Hugh C. Freiherr von und zu der Tann: lyrics, lead and background vocals, arrangements, synths, piano, polivoks, organ, harpsichord, beats, acoustic guitar, zitherized harp, tracking, recording, mixing.
Hitchcock Blonde 'Stomp Your Brain' remix courtesy of DJ Benno Block.
Mummified 'Choral' and 'Parasitic' remixes courtesy of Boi Eats Noize. Water 'Lo-Fi' remix also courtesy of Boi Eats Noize.
Hitchcock Blonde 'VertiGo-Go' and Red Light 'Shy Aperture' remixes by The Narcissus Effect.
| | Influences | Anything non-linear, Franz Schubert, David Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux, The Creatures, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Nepali music, Charley Pride, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, chants, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, Blind Willie Johnson, Kate Bush, Eartha Kitt, Garbage, The Ramones, Muslim calls to prayer, Diamanda Galas, Jeff Buckley, the sound of water cascading, Crystal Gayle, Placebo, Goldfrapp, my cats purring, Janis Joplin, radio static, Portishead, Patsy Cline, Big Maybelle, Rilo Kiley, Willie Nelson, Nick Cave, Johann Sebastian Bach, whirling dervishes, Kronos Quartet, Tammy Wynette, The Clash, Nina Hagen, Ella Fitzgerald, Madonna, The Eurythmics/Annie Lennox, MANNEQUIN+, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, The Sneaker Pimps, Bush, Cartland, Atari Teenage Riot/Alec Empire/Hanin Elias, Akira Yamaoka, Hank Williams Sr., people in busy airports, Björk, Nicolo Paganini, NIN, Barbara Lewis, Mel Street, The John Butler Trio, Tony Bennett, Henry Hall and His Orchestra, Concrete Blonde, George Jones, Milla Jovovich, Suzanne Vega, The Doors, Billie Holiday, Ladytron, Dolly Parton, Depeche Mode, The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack, Loretta Lynn, The Divine Comedy, Freddy Fender, The Smiths, Pete Seeger, Chris Cornell, Louis Armstrong | | Sounds Like |
[Listener comparisons have included]: David Bowie, Tori Amos, Siouxsie Sioux/The Creatures, Goldfrapp, Ligeia, Porphyria's Lover
| | Record Label | Unsigned | | Type of Label | Major |
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The Narcissus Effect's Latest Blog Entry
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Dereliction of Duties?
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The Narcissus Effect featured in undiZcovered Magazine
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'White Christmas'
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Benno Block's 'Stomp Your Brain' Remix
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Mariah's 'Spieldose [Music Box]' video short....
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| About The Narcissus Effect |
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Listening to The Narcissus Effect’s distinct brand of music, one understandably finds it hard to believe that, as a child, Hugh v. d. Tann was reared on the likes of Pete Seeger, Ofra Haza, Flip Wilson records, and Janis Joplin - interspersed with the near-entire catalogue of classic country music tunes. "Real country,” he will quickly clarify, “as in Hank, Patsy, and the Carter Family. That was about it. Modern rock and pop - Bowie, Michael Jackson and Madonna - were pretty much forbidden territory until I was eleven or so.”
Equally puzzling are his pre-teen stints with school ensembles, touring church choirs, and a scattering of children’s parts with touring opera companies. But Hugh will explain that these were his ‘cocoon’ years. “I wasn’t ‘me’ for years. I loved music, and always loved performing it, all the way back to my earliest memories. There was always a song going on in my head. But it was always someone else’s music. Not mine. I was generally concerned with pleasing someone else – other people’s expectations. So I was careful to stay within the lines.”
It was not until a move to Washington, D.C., paired with a subsequent family tragedy, that he began questioning the status quo. “I was attending a huge school, working in the theatre department, hearing lots of stuff I’d never heard before. I heard Siouxsie and the Banshee’s “Peek-a-Boo” on the radio around that time, and said to myself ‘I want to do that.’”
Then Hugh’s brother, his wife, and their five children died in the crash of Thai Airways flight 311. “That was ’92. I think. They’d worked in Nepal as Christian missionaries, and had recently started the Collins Children’s Home in Kathmandu. We flew there for the memorial services and to attend to the children’s home. I discovered Nepali music during that trip - chanting, sounds of the temples. It was totally non-linear music, with lots of repetition, and really beautiful. The idea of religion had become sour for me, but I was able to appreciate the sounds.”
Back in the US, life continued to frustrate. “It’s really standard stuff; I’m sure everyone feels the same about their teen years. But I had a really, really hard time; I was left-of-center, never fitting in. I knew that I wasn’t straight, but I wasn’t gay. Straights thought I was too odd, and all the gay people that I knew thought that bisexuality was just a form of slutty leprosy or something. And I’d been trying so hard to fit into some group." The breaking-point came with a violent sexual assault just before Hugh's 15th birthday. "I needed help, and there was none. I needed someone's support; I had too much in my head. Something was going to break soon. So I finally said, ‘Fuck this. None of it’s worth this much trouble, and life’s not going to get easier. I’m not happy. I haven't been happy. So I’ll work on that.’ And making music was my way to straighten everything out.”
Surprisingly, the deep South supplied the musical freedom Hugh had been seeking. "We moved, and my dad hired a private vocal coach. He was this old-fashioned crooner, and had been on the Lawrence Welk show a few times. He tried to turn me into a guitar player, however. And that just didn't fly. In college, I was studying classical voice, mainly performing arias. I did well, but the department head kept accusing me of turning Schubert into Edith Piaf during my recitals. And I was driving my professors crazy with the piano-pounding tunes I wrote during practice time. The music was a mish-mash of everything that affected my musical sensibilities. So it was understandably psychotic, and hard to label. But a lot of other people listened, and liked the sounds.” A string of bands followed, supplying the bliss of musical companionship paired with endless frustrations and many accusations of ‘musical narcissism,’ but always enough room to grow. "I was in 4 different bands. We did the touring thing, and made some great noise along the way. But I was steadily growing more dissatisfied with the idea of compromise, especially in music. So I quit, and swore off the band dynamic."
Now based in Germany, and working solely as The Narcissus Effect, Hugh has supplied the soundtrack for an ‘unremarkable’ Romanian art film, worked on a large number of collaborations, and has garnered airplay and ample recognition for his work, including his lush but sometimes-quirky cover tunes. But you won’t find his face on t-shirts or his albums in the shops any time soon.
“The thing that life has taught me is that lasting happiness and contentment only come from your own efforts; that’s all you have in the end. So I write music for myself - it’s what I want to hear; if someone out there enjoys it, Wonderful. I’ll still write and perform, regardless. But there's no PR. I’m not here seeking validation - and I’m not about to start writing pop anthems to please the masses. There are plenty of corporate-suit-sucking pop-phenomenon’s out there doing that as it is.”
[Bio text courtesy of Vault Print Media]
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