A message arrives at 2 am—sent by Markus Nikolaus, who is currently on the other side of the pond, in the United States of America, and about to play his first gigs in the land of the free and the home of bravely divided politics.
«Do you want to present my new single?» he asks—and the question might very well be rhetorical. Of course, we do.
Markus Nikolaus, singer of Lea Porcelain and the embodiment of general creative craziness, already starred in a previous premiere. With Hartes Porzellan—a collaboration with Simon Kaiser—he delivered the rumbling All In Your Head. And solo, Nikolaus made it even in our 2023 best list with the heartfelt Never Let You Go.
With his new song, Pure Tears, Markus Nikolaus stays on the soft and gentle side, similar to Never Let You Go, and yet, the composition has a unique vibe. Recorded with a great deal of room for the sound to expand, he kept it as stripped-down, as reduced as humanly possible: a flamenco guitar, a voice.
«Pure tears are the nicest way to die before your eyes»
However, the profound beauty of Pure Tears reaches deeper than its simplicity. It is an intimate feeling that the song is created while you are listening—a sonic stream of consciousness, underlined by its DIY-styled, lo-fi production, which, for once, does not feel like an act but a deliberate choice to facilitate immediacy.
