Manchester's Hartheim Arrive With 'Yellow' Masterpiece

Words: Linn Branson


Hartheim's 'Yellow' is both a track and a video that stops you in your tracks, there is no doubting that. Right from the opening chords/opening shots, there is a sense that this is going to be something you'll want to hear/see right through to the end - and then go back for more.

The new Manchester five-piece recorded the track with Martin Hurley at the Sways Records Bunker in Manchester. "We're part of their family, but cousins more than sons - we're not exclusively a Sways Records band."

From listening/watching 'Yellow' in all its six-minutes-plus glory, there's a clue ('Plan Yellow' was Germany’s plan for attack on Western Europe in May 1940), together with their name, Hartheim, that this has some significant meaning. "Our name is derived from Hartheim Castle, one of the most contrasting historic buildings in modern history," state band members Gary Devreede and Mike Emerson. "It was built in the 1600s to be a purely beautiful Rennaissance masterpiece, it was later turned into an asylum, and then a pre-Holocaust 'euthanasia centre'. We're massively interested in the juxtaposition of beauty and darkness, and the contradiction in its timeline."



Making 'Yellow' their debut is certainly kicking things off in a big way. The track is available free digitally and as a run of 100 limited edition cassette tapes ("50 of those were tied up outside Soup Kitchen in Manchester for Independent Venue Week and vanished within an hour") - which also contains a remix from renowned Manchester producer, BLCK LNG - whilst the video is pulled together in contrasting black & white/sepia/colour, "simply collaged from stolen footage of our favourite films, but we've arranged it in this way as there's a strong, slightly masked narrative in there."

With its poignant last refrain of "Your God has so much to answer for", you get the impression that this is a song with deep resonance. "The track is ultimately an extremely personal one, and references living, and coping with addiction and disease - written in a way that it wasn't too explicit. We'd rather people take what they want from it. The end line served merely as an opener to this theme, yet has grown to become much more. We've started to use this as our whole message really, and there are many plans we've made centred around it."

They have also uploaded to Soundcloud an almost equally mesmeric track called "Nothing Is Wrong".



"We're managing ourselves at the minute and have quite a few 'things' going on very soon, but obviously, the initial press and overall coverage is the real tricky bit, and we want as many people to see and hear it ['Yellow'] as possible."

We think they'll be doing that, without doubt. Take note of Hartheim. This could be the start of something big.

'Yellow' can be downloaded free on Hartheim's SOUNDCLOUD page.