The melodies, draped in piano, French horn and strings, tick all the right boxes and Hecker's let his breathy whisper fall to a world-weary sigh for a more contemporary sound. His voice caresses the words of Snow White and floats through the whimsy of Silly Lily, Funny Bunny, but for Hecker, love is bound up with a masochistic optimism.  Full text...

With five years and three albums already under his belt, this is the latest release from the German indie crooner and former busker. If you're familiar with his previous work, he needs no introduction. If you're not, then think of it as along the lines of Air, Rufus Wainwright and Thom Yorke with a distinct whiff of Coldplay here and there.  Full text...

Singing in English but sounding, if anything, Irish, Hecker crafts gentle, sensitive songs. The opening Snow White is a beautifully still lullaby that reflects a naive worldview that some will find grating.  Full text...

At its core is a gloriously naïve, hopeful, flower-in-the-breeze loveliness, a little sub-Teenage Fanclub perhaps, the kind of just-short-of-twee acoustic pop that Goldrush used to massage out before they got distracted running Truck, especially on the lilting ‘Your Stammering Kisses' and sauntering to a trot alt-country ‘You Came To Me When I Was Born'. But nothing gets out of control, everything is very comfortable, like burying your head in an oversized pillow, closing your eyes and forgetting where you are.  Full text...