FLIM
GIVEN YOU NOTHING

TOM18 | released: 29/04/2002 | CD
  via Anost (Europe)
  via SCD (USA)

01 Hell
02 Plural
03 Linker
04 April
05 My Czesko Guitar
06 Linker 2
07 This Is A Lush Life
08 Am Rande Gesehen
09 Paspell Unten
10 The Grass
11 Given You Nothing

The man behind Flim is Enrico Wuttke, a new artist from Dresden, Germany who has been working all quietly over the past years in his homerecording studio to develop his unique sound. His debut CD "Given you nothing" surprised us very much because it is somehow pointing back to the very first Tomlab release Visor - both with evident references to Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" album.

"Given you nothing" is a very playful, warm and acoustic sounding release, far away from the bespoken Visor CD and hard to compare to anything around. The piano plays an important role for Flim, sometimes he plays almost classical pieces that are only very sparsely arranged with other instruments like "Hell" or the title track "Given You Nothing". In pieces like "The Grass", an outstretched organ piece of a rare intensity, his influence from Talk Talk's infamous "Laughing Stock" and its sensitivity becomes most obvious. Overall the album has a childlike, melancholic feel - like the end of summer. The vulnerable innocence of pieces like "My Czesko Guitar" or "April" has a lot in common with the Electronica genre but they are much more austere in their character.

The first Flim album is certainly one of the most intriguing new discoveries from Tomlab...

"...Good, simple tunes and the unsteady rhythm of an actual human being make 'Given You Nothing' a record with a lot of heart" Mark Richardson for Pitchfork Media (USA - 8/2002)

"...Minimalism in a pop dress hasn't sounded as fresh, warm and beautiful since 'Laughing Stock'. Fantastic!"
Klaus Smit for Jazzthetik (D - 4/2002)