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Nachtzug

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Nachtzug (subtitled Seven Songs Composed For a Night Train) is a mini-album by Hardy Fox, released by Klanggalerie on May 29th 2018. The second solo release under Fox's birth name, Nachtzug is a short musical suite derived from sketches made by Fox for what eventually became The Residents' 2017 album The Ghost of Hope.[1]

The suite, which uses trains as a "metaphor for life", was inspired by a real-life train trip from Vienna to Zurich, as well as a major heart surgery Fox was scheduled to undergo at the time of the album's composition.[1][2] Intended to stand as his "final comment" in the event he died during surgery,[2] Nachtzug instead became Fox's penultimate release prior to his death from brain cancer on October 30th 2018.

In July 2019, Nachtzug was posthumously reissued by Psychofon Records, in three limited edition vinyl variants.

History

Background

"It was nothing special. I needed to be in Zürich for a show and caught the last train leaving Vienna. Eight hours of rolling down the shiny tracks. Plenty of time to think. Too much time to think. Nachtzug, the night train, understands beginnings. Nachtzug, the night train, comprehends ends."

Hardy Fox, 2018[1]

Hardy Fox ca. 2018, photo by Steven Kloman

In the time prior to his retirement from the group in 2016, The Residents' founding producer and composer Hardy Fox began work on a conceptual project inspired by trains and historical train accidents. This album would later be completed by The Residents following Fox's retirement, and released as The Ghost of Hope in 2017.

Following the release of Fox's first solo album under his birth name, the self-titled Hardy Fox (also known as Heart), on Valentine's Day 2018, Fox and Walter Robotka of Austrian record label Klanggalerie planned to release the original sketches for what became The Ghost of Hope without further embellishments, as an instalment in their TOOK series of limited edition releases.[1]

However, Fox deemed this idea "not challenging enough",[1] and, wishing to distract himself from an upcoming major heart surgery,[2] instead decided to use the sketches as the basis of an entirely new project. The resulting mini-album, Nachtzug (or Night Train in English) is a short conceptual suite inspired by a night time train trip from Vienna to Zurich near the end of Fox's time with The Residents (as described in a short story included in the album's liner notes).[1]

Production and recording

Nachtzug consists of seven tracks (all titled in German), and has a duration of less than 22 minutes. In the lead-up to the mini-album's release, Hardy Fox noted that he had long arranged his works in suites of approximately this length, citing Residents albums such as Fingerprince and Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen, which each consisted of two separate suites.[1] The mini-album's tracks are heavily augmented versions of Fox's early demos for The Residents' album The Ghost of Hope, originally recorded around 2016, however Nachtzug is conceptually distinct from that project.

Fox was assisted in the production of Nachtzug by Walter Robotka, who had previously acted as co-producer on Heart.[1] In an interview shortly prior to the mini-album's release, Fox described working "outdoors at a picnic table" using headphones.[2] Nachtzug also features guest contributions from Fox's friend and long-time Residents collaborator, guitarist Nolan Cook, who is also a credited contributor on The Ghost of Hope.

Fox underwent open heart surgery near the time of Nachtzug's release. He admitted that he had intended Nachtzug to stand as his "final comment" on his life, also noting that, since he survived the surgery, the final recording "loses a bit of the punch it would have if [he] had died". Fox described the suite's concept as a metaphor for life: "Trains run on tracks and you just go along with them until they have gone as far as they are going. I knew I didn't have much choice other than what train I got on to start with. I could die from my faulty heart valve, I could die in surgery, or I could die later from unknown problems if surgery was a success. The tracks all go to the same place but the routes vary."[2]

Release

Although it was originally planned as a limited edition TOOK release, Hardy Fox declared the suite "too precious to be a limited edition, too good to be heard only by a few."[1] Nachtzug was therefore given a full CD release by Klanggalerie on May 29th 2018; Fox promoted the CD in the third issue of his mailing list newsletter, "up", two weeks prior to the release.

Fox went on to release one further album, Rilla Contemplates Love, in September 2018. That month, Fox was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He composed a final suite of music, 25 Minus Minutes, in the two weeks prior to his death on October 30th 2018; it was released posthumously by Klanggalerie on Valentine's Day 2019.

Nachtzug was posthumously reissued on July 15th 2019 by German label Psychofon Records under license from Klanggalerie, in three limited edition 12" 45 RPM vinyl variants; blue, clear and black.

Cover art

Original color photograph by Michael Knudsen, later cropped and tinted to become the Nachtzug cover art

The cover art for Nachtzug consists of a cropped and blue-tinted edit of a color photograph by Michael Knudsen, featuring four trains with glowing headlights in a Denmark train station at night.[3] The dramatic image is one of a set of similar photographs by Knudsen which have circulated on social media (often without credit to the photographer).[4]

A black-and-white variant of the photo used for Nachtzug has also circulated; it was possibly this version of the image which Fox altered for the mini-album's cover. Knudsen has not been credited for the photograph on any edition of Nachtzug to date. Package design is credited to H. Fox on the original Klanggalerie release, but this credit is missing from the album's 2019 Psychofon Records edition.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Hardy Fox.

CD edition (2018)

  1. Die Jugend Hinter Mir (4:08)
  2. Einmal Gehen, Zweimal Gehen (2:58)
  3. Paralysiert Von Den Lichtern (3:20)
  4. Drei Am Morgen (2:13)
  5. Zu Lange Vernünftig (5:14)
  6. Nicht Gelangweilt (1:13)
  7. Gestern Wird Zu Morgen (2:28)

Vinyl edition (2019)

Side A

  1. Die Jugend Hinter Mir (4:08)
  2. Einmal Gehen, Zweimal Gehen (2:58)
  3. Paralysiert Von Den Lichtern (3:20)

Side B

  1. Drei Am Morgen (2:13)
  2. Zu Lange Vernünftig (5:14)
  3. Nicht Gelangweilt (1:13)
  4. Gestern Wird Zu Morgen (2:28)

Credits

Original release (2018)

Liner notes

Detail from Nachtzug cover art (photo by Michael Knudsen); from up no. 3, May 10th 2018

My taxi dropped me at the Vienna Hauptbahnhof near midnight. A mist hung in the air, the souvenir of an earlier rain. My train would leave for Zurich in half an hour. I only had one small bag so I walked directly to the platform.

As I passed the wheels, steam hissed loudly emitting a stench of stagnant water mixed with oil. The odor made me want to pee so I boarded the next car I passed. After finding my seat, I pulled a book from my bag, Bill's Ghost, though I didn't feel like reading. The lights flickered and the car shuddered, lurching forward. Though nearly empty, a youth selected a seat directly behind me. He smelled of cigarettes. I decided to move.

I selected a compartment and turned the lights to their lowest level hoping I could sleep.

Unfortunately my privacy was invaded; a middle-aged man came in and sat opposite me. He had a nervous quality. He patted his jacket pocket every few minutes like there was something in that pocket that he had to constantly reconfirm was still there.

I could tell he wanted to talk and eventually he broke the silence telling me he had boarded in Budapest. He apologized for the way he was dressed and assured me, that he was not a criminal, which seemed to be an odd way of starting a conversation with a stranger. He said he was a citizen of Slavania, but he had never been to Slavania. That he became a citizen by email.

Before dawn I was awakened by a wrinkled old man rambling in German to a couple seated across from me. My penis had become erect while I slept and was compressed in an uncomfortable position. Lifting my hips slightly from the seat, I attempted to make more room. As I did, the man reached over and playfully poked my erection through my pants while muttering something and laughing loudly. The young couple seated across from me smiled. I gathered my belongings to leave the compartment. The guy opposite me said in broken English, "It's okay, it was a compliment." I managed a feeble smile as I left.

I stood in the hallway outside the compartment. The window was open a few inches letting in a cool fresh wind on my face. I knew we were getting close to Zurich. The air had gained a crispness. Faint light in the sky showed promise that the trip would soon be over.

Oddly, when the train did pull into the station, I felt a reluctance to leave my temporary home with its cast of quirky residents. On the train I had an identity. I was the lost American. But here in the real world, my identity was far more difficult to comprehend. I had to trust the tracks. They knew where I should be.

Yesterday had become tommorrow, yet again.

See also

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Hardy Fox, "NACHTZUG - NIGHT TRAIN", up no. 3, May 10th 2018
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Leaving The Residents & New Paths", Musique Machine, May 16th 2018
  3. ↑ Facebook post by Bored Panda, December 13th 2016
  4. ↑ Post by Awab Ab in Liminal Spaces Facebook group, February 28th 2024
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