Seven years after their last work "Das Geheimnis", the Hessian prog quartet releases a new album. It is called "In Oculis Meis" and has in common with the last Opeth-Opus not only that it has a Latin title, but also that it is available in a mother tongue as well as an English version. The latter is a novelty for Traumhaus. We talked to front man Alexander Weyland about the new opus.
Weyland is in a good mood when we meet him, visibly happy that a new album of his band is finally on the market, and very curious about how the idea of releasing it in two languages will be received..
eclipsed: The last Traumhaus album was released seven years ago and was very well received - so why this long break?
Alexander Weyland: Oh, it had personal, professional and family reasons, so it had nothing to do with us as a band. We got new blood, built houses, changed or developed professionally. So there was just not that much time for dream houses. But at the same time we also set up a studio in my house, which took some time, but gave us the opportunity to work intensively on the new material there.
eclipsed: When did you start the album?
Weyland: That was also some years ago, we took a lot of time and worked on it bit by bit, together we developed the songs on location. The exciting thing is: When you listen to the sixth track "Der neue Morgen", you still have the old dream house sound, simply because it was the first song we started. Then things became harder, more aggressive, which should be the basic attitude of the album. These are difficult times and that should illustrate this harder pace. "In Oculis Meis" has become a dark album.
eclipsed: Which you also publish in a German and an English version, whereby both are only available together on a double CD.
Weyland: Yes, I am quite honest about that and say that we have been looking at the international market without giving up our basic attitude, that we see ourselves first as a band with German lyrics. That was not necessary at all. But in the last few years there were always people who didn't come from the German-speaking countries, who said that they would like to understand what we sing about or simply had problems with the German singing, because it is so unusual for them. So we recorded the English language CD for this part of the audience.
