Herman Düne: Switzerland Heritage

I bought this at the January 2004 Track and Field 'Winter Sprinter' gig, the same night as I got St. Thomas's EP, and I mentioned there how I thought Herman Düne were the best of a great night's entertainment. In particular I remember David-Ivar Herman Düne doing a heart-rending solo song accompanying himself on ukulele. As a gesture of our appreciation, Lucy and I both bought Herman Düne CDs after the show — direct from the hands of David-Ivar himself. Lucy got Mas Cambios, which he said was the newest and a favourite, while I got this one.

Now, Lucy and I had been seeing each other less than six months at this stage, and in the early days of a relationship it's important to copy all the good albums in a girl's collection as quickly as you can, so that, if it all goes wrong, at least you've got something to "remember her by". So I ripped Mas Cambios onto iTunes, and I've listened to that album much more than Switzerland Heritage, the album that's 'mine', which I never ripped. (Listen, I know it's technically illegal in the UK for me to rip any CDs, but if you're from the BPI and you're reading this, just bear in mind that there's a copy of Mas Cambios in the same room as my computer, so, PR-wise, it won't look good if you sue me.)

I agree with David-Ivar: Mas Cambios is the better album, but this one has its highlights too, including Martin Donovan in Trust and Two Crows.

It took a while for Herman Düne to grow on me at first. They did six Peel sessions in all, and I heard most of them. But it was an evening when I was living in my 'loft space' in Phipp Street that they were on John Peel's programme again (Phipp Street was 2003, so it must have been this session), where suddenly the penny dropped that there were some fantastic tunes.

I went to the Winter Sprinter again this year, just three weeks ago. Lucy was ill, and it was a different venue — but still hot and very smokey. Not such a good evening.

MusicBrainz entry for this album