Whiteout (2016)

WHITEOUT. When sky and snow-covered land merge at the horizon and you can‘t see anymore where the land ends and the sky begins. Or you are lost in a dense fog that removes all contours and hides all shapes around.
This describes the feelings of Isgaard over the past two and a half years since her last album ”NAKED“, when she faced the chaos of our present time.Then what makes more sense for a singer than to translate these feelings into music?
Together with her life-partner, producer and co-musician Jens Lueck, Isgaard has written 13 pieces of music that never compromise the compositions or the lyrics.

Somewhere between Art-Pop-elements, folk-inspired acoustic parts, Rock-fragments and string-orchestra ba- sed sections, you will find Isgaard‘ s versatile voice flying through the songs and merging all to a style of her own. Sometimes fragile and tender, then powerful, she covers a wide range of sounds and in the song ”Tikdabra“ (inspired by Alberto Vázquez Figueroa‘s novel ”Tuareg“) she dives into the ethno-segment.

The arrangement of the pieces give a wide richness of detail and an invitation to careful listening. Among several other studio-musicians producer Jens Lueck plays drums and keyboards and sings backing vocals and in order to search for a warm sound, many real strings have been recorded.

The center of the album is the three-part title-track WHITEOUT (13min34), that tells the story of a young woman who starts reading a book that seems to describe her present life. As she reads on, reality fades out and the things that she was thinking of as an integral part of her life then disappear. In a wider sense the WHITEOUT in a human life.

”You didn‘t fall“ is a bow to women like the Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, who stand up for the rights and education of girls in fundamentalist-islamic countries despite all threats and reprisals.

Another important role in the lyrics is the influence of art in our lives and the nature as a place of refuge and a haven of peace in a world that is at a crossroads.

At the time of the album-release (18th of november 2016) there will also be a videoclip available for the radio-edit of the single ”YOU DIDN‘T FALL“.

ISGAARD – WHITEOUT

Isgaard – Lead- & Backingvocals
Jens Lueck – Drums, Keyboards, Percussion, Backingvocals Ingo Salzmann – E-Guitars
Katja Flintsch – Violins, Violas
Annika Stolze – Violoncello
Dieter Koch – Acoustic-Guitars
Volker Kuinke – Recorders
Joachim Schlüter – Slide-Guitar

Produced by Jens Lueck

Lyrics

Prologue
Music & Lyrics: Jens Lueck

All the world is turning to a madhouse
'round the sun still spinning round
The doors have all been been locked
Their keys all thrown away
one day

Now the world is burning from the surface
And Universe wipes out its trace

Worlds will collide, disappear and
Finally they vaporize
Souls come and go leaving traces
A human-made devise

All the universe is made of stardust
Open your eyes and you will see
Just keep it in your mind
Aware of what you'll find
behind

And still the world is spinning round
Still the world is spinning round
Round.
 

No Man's Land
Music & Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

So I am here on my knees
And all I know I had to leave behind

Kinds of feelings
Are playing hide and seek
They're hurting me imprinted on my mind  

Eyes have stopped crying
Ears quit denying
My feet are walking on
To cross the night until the dawn  

Dusty skin longs for winds to blow away
The junk that tells the story of my past 
No way back to The place where I come from
The ties are torn And now the die is cast  

Heart keeps on beating
Psyche starts up cheating
I feel completely numb
Dejected deaf and dumb 

No-man's land
Border fence
Turn back home
Across the ocean across the waves 
An empty space to roam   

Hold me
My heart is sinking fast
Faintly
I can't go on at last
Where's my way out?
To leave this human drought  

Hold my hand
High hopes end
Turn back time
That I can face the world
The world of mine 

Night falls covers up the land
But I'm awake I cannot fall asleep 

Thoughts come up and Vaporize at once
But I don't care it`s just a mental leap

So I am here on my knees
And all I know I had to leave behind
Kinds of feelings
Are playing hide and seek
They're hurting me imprinted on my mind

You didn't fall (I am your witness)
Music & Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

They wanted to erase your life one shot – bull's eye
But the tide has turned and now the world can see
That you could not be hushed by guns and fire
You raise your voice again to break free 

Your eyes have seen, seen it all
You couldn't stand it
But you didn't fall
Your body feels, feels it all
You cannot stand it
But you won’t fall 

Anxious but with head held high you`re moving on
a million other girls in fear for you
Wide is the range of daunting dangers
To detain your second life to be true 

I'm standing side by side with you all along the line
And even though I'm far away I say your world is mine
I'm your silent witness
 

Shine On
Music: Isgaard/Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Jens Lueck

Where are all the poets – don't you hide
Please enchant the world with all your verses 

Line by line will gild our days and
opens up some truely new ways
Please shine on   

Whenever we've been too blind
To see what is real you free our mind
Please shine on or all the beauty's gone  

Cover up the hush with all your songs
Break the wall of silence with your wordplay 

Overcome the borderline that
ignorance will soon decline so
Please shine on  

Whenever we've been too blind
To see what is real you free our mind
Please shine on or all the beauty's gone 

A grain makes a tree one day
Up to the sky – no need to pray
Please shine on or all the beauty's gone 

Dreamers and fools come on and dive into
a secret world that's only made for you 

Silva
Music: Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

Once upon a time there was
A tale about a girl
Who'd been hiding
In the woodlands

The elders said her crib was made
Of leafs and limbs and grass
And she'd grown up
Without parents

Silva hold on and wait for me
Don't hide, I need you, I'm on my knees
Cause I want to dive into your universe
I long to leave this world that's well-rehearsed

As one day someone went astray
And fell asleep inside the woods
About Silva
He was dreaming

She sang for him with a foreign voice
And after waking up
He couldn't find out
`bout its meaning

Silva hold on and wait for me
Don't hide, I need you, I'm on my knees
Cause I want to dive into your universe
I long to leave this world that's well-rehearsed

And every day he was planting a tree
A tree for Silva
And every day he was crossing the lea
In search for Silva
And day by day he was sharing his goods
In remembrance of Silva
But never again he'd enter the woods
The woods of Silva

Fly Away (Fly Part II)
Music & Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

Sherds and sorrows cover virgin land
A bunch of flowers graces home sweet home
Crowded places
But I feel all alone lone lone

Black and white can you choose your side
Between left or right there's no place to hide so
Please get me out of here

Let me fly, fly away
From this insane world
I came here to stay on

I want to turn, turn away
I want to close close my eyes
And keep it all at bay
No matter what you say

Bloody kisses seal off trembling lips
Underhanded laughter burns our children's ears
Oppressed and branded
Throughout all these years

In between there is no forth and back
I reach out my hands just a void to grab so
Please get me out of here

Silent Stranger
Music: Isgaard/Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

Down in the world of darkness
You're covering me tight
Moon shines and makes me sleepless
I stay awake all night

Tears and sadness
I chase it all away but
Scars from the old days still stay

A silent stranger holds me at bay
Keeps on hiding
Call for him day by day
We're waifs and strays

Words try to leave my lips but
Silence remains
Something below the surface
Keeps me in chains

A silent stranger holds me at bay
Keeps on hiding
Call for him day by day
We're waifs and strays

Silent stranger don't hide your face
Take my hand and give up your chase

Silent stranger we walk side by side
Be my lover I am your bride-to-be

Into The Great Wide Open
Music: Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Isgaard/Jens Lueck

Days come and go
Like raindrops
That wash away what's real

Thoughts come and go
Leaving traces
I am here but I can't feel

I'm awake, my heart is beating
My feet are losing ground and I
Can hear that I'm still breathing

It's me
It's me?

Into the great wide open
I'm drifting away
Longing for silence
Into the great wide open
But emptiness spreads out its wings

Time's standing still
No-motion
Rotation in my head

Trembling skin
Enfolds me
I'm alive but I feel dead

I cannot move it's like I'm frozen
I move my lips but there are no words left
Life is plain but there's a rose in
That blooms, still blooms

Whiteout
Music: Jens Lueck/Isgaard, Lyrics: Jens Lueck/Isgaard

Part 1: The Book 
Memories flash burning pictures in my mind
Fading silhouettes chasing words across the lines
Don't remember where I bought it
And I don't know where it comes from
But I can feel this book belongs to me
So I keep reading on.
I meet Sue and Mike, Mom and Dad
And even my sweet cat
But when I turn the page it feels so strange
As if they all were dead 

So I lay down my head now 
Try my best to fall asleep 

Doubts come up, what is real and what is not
The book still in my hands as I try to join the dots
I check my mobile, search for names, no entries
found inside 
It pulls the rug out from under me an abyss black
and wide. 

I will leave this day now
Hope to find a way back home    

Part 2: Shifting World 
Staring at my feet from way up high now
But I can't see the ground below my soles
I sneak along the doors of my apartment
search for well-known pictures on the walls 

Push back my fears one by one
Bring back the light, leave the dun
I feel the past is burning
Reality is turning – rise and shine!
This shifting world is mine  

I won't give up the past that I remember
Morning light will wipe out my despair  

Part 3: Whiteout 
I'm feeling like a snowflake inside a summer-storm
That's melting from the outside as I am sinking down
The center of a white-out that I am standing in

And white dust settles down on my skin 
It seems I cannot move inside this space without contour
I cannot make a step all is surreal and I'm not sure
Where this leads me to and where it all comes from
I'm stepping out of time, but time moves on 

I'm crying, dying
I'm shying away 
I'm crying, I'm trying, 
Complying now 

If R-A-E-L's really real I cannot find it out  
I can't see my cocoon instead I'm covered with a shroud
My head is almost bursting my thoughts are spinning round
So finally it seems I'm downed 

The past that I believe in is locked up in my head
The real life that I'm looking at shows emptiness instead
Perhaps I have gone crazy perhaps I've lost my mind
The white-out is in front approved and signed  

Shine On (Reprise)
Music: Isgaard/Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Jens Lueck

One day there'll be no-one left
The surface scratched and full of clefts
A cold void lies down to cover what's alive 

And if there's no spark below
To revivify creative flow
This story will end as a tale of woe

Tikdabra (Dried-Out Land)
Music: Isgaard/Jens Lueck, Lyrics: Jens Lueck
Made of sand
A wide open land
Strong dusty wind hurts his eyes

Landscape blurs
Reality fades out
The plain spreads out in disguise

Sunlight burns
He creeps across the ground
And leaves no footprint behind

Shapes so strange
Break in as he wipes out
The warnings sent out through his mind

Dried-out land
Foe and friend
Merge in the end

 

Back to news list