(T & A) What can you tell us about the new album?

"Fassade" is a conceptual album in which the three movements talk about the superficiality of the society in these days, and our place in it is the topic that uses our minds.

People is bombed with information, when the deep, the worth values and the feelings are not asked for never more. Almost all have forgotten how to communicate each other and how to show their feelings, consequently they become alone. We have a society in which the content has less worth than the external, everything is prepared by the media and people accept everything as the easier way to go on and match in the society. One need much strength and courage to be different, and so that we miss of people with their own individuality. People have forgotten how to listen themselves, how to understand their feelings and necessities, so that they accept everything, they wear the same clothing, they only see entertaining things, and all the great and sensational things showed by the media. They do not care if they are capable of bearing their feelings or how to show them, consequently they cannot keep a stable relationship, and they became more and more cold and egotistical. The other side of “Fassade” is the way of facing ourselves compared with the mentioned before, and the necessity of keeping and activating the communication of feelings and opinions.

Musically, there are three acts that support the lyrics and stress the precise moment with different instruments and well planed choirs, and in special moments all the elements come together. For the orchestral parts we take good care of matching a perfect sound of the drums and the electronic sound. Joined to this, our singing is extremely emotive, guiding the listener from one emotion to another, and expressing all the meaning of each one of our songs. The emotions become stronger for each listener and it is what we want to transmit with our music. All the chapters are told in order with regard to the others; the themes are represented with repeated variations, and sometimes they are played with different instruments.

"Der Morgen Danach" is a letter, its content is opened. So, there is a space for the individual observation. Although we need a lot of sensibility in order to read between lines what is the true meaning of the lyrics. Musically is a continuation of the theme "Am ende stehen wir zwei" that ends the "Elodia" album. This is one of our favorite songs, spiced with very melodic choirs and sensual harmonies, leaded by a flute. There is another version in the single, which is very close to us because it catches a lot of vibrations and has more melodic lines.

"Senses" is the opposite of the last one, it is an expression of being justified alone, but having the power of love in mind, which gives you strength to overcome hard times. Musically is very internal with minimalist elements based only on the vocal line that are accompanied only with electronic instruments that give it a profound atmosphere. Between the chapters of "Fassade", the listener is given with a little breath and catch positive energy preparing him to the following songs that push him again towards stronger emotions.

"Liebesspiel" is a hidden track in "Fassade", where the choir is musically the same than in the theme "Fassade 3" but arranged in a different form, as it was a connection between the different themes and the three acts of "Fassade". Beyond "Liebesspiel" is a song in which not all is as it appears at first sight, but you have to see back and notice how are the things truly. The lyrics are the opposite to "Fassade 3", and teach how open we are, the sexuality is a natural part of everybody and no one should be embarrassed of talking about it, in that way we would have one problem less.

"Stumme Worte" in absolutely one of my favorite songs, though I need to breath deep each time I listen the song as if it really leaves you without breath! A really sensible song that we use for a quartet of strings, and played so wonderfully that touches your heart, adding Tilo's voice which is exceptionally emotive and profound that we don’t need another introduction.

(Tilo & Anne) What inspires you to compose Lacrimosa's music?

We have an interior necessity of writing the lyrics, which is a manner to reveal our feelings, a way of working those special moments that have touched our hearts. And when we read the lyrics, some of them create free melodies in our minds, is when we need to compose, make a song of a special moment in our lives. In some situations, some movies very emotive inspire us a new song, but that is less common, most of the times the inspiration come from our own lyrics.

(T) Is the love one of your main reasons for writing your songs? Or what is?

All kind of things that are profound, but the love is the most wonderful thing on the earth, is a kind of machine which makes us going on.

(T) Is there any song that is hard to sing for you? Sentimentally speaking, any song that makes you feel very sad or melancholic?

"Stumme Worte" of the new album, it captured me in the recording studio.

(T & A) Where does Lacrimosa's name come?

The name comes from the Latin and means "tears running". On the other hand, it is a part of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's requiem, which in our opinion is one of the most beautiful parts.

(T & A) What does Lacrimosa's logo mean?

It is the visual point in which the music is centered; one can see laugh and crying in the eye from who is entertaining us, who tries to make happy the others, but if you could see him after the show, you’d see that also there are problems. And about those problems we talk with open-mind.

(T) Is it true that Christian Dörge took part in the "Angst" and "Einsamkeit" albums? And in case it is truth, why does not appear him in the credits?

No, it is not true.

Lacrimosa is a duet. Tilo Wolff found the band on 1990. He was born on July 10th, 1972, in Frankfurt City, in Germany. Anne Nurmi was joined to the Tilo's soloist project on 1994. She was born in Tampere, Finland, on August 22nd, 1968. In the recordings we use many studio musicians, and alive we sometimes use different musicians. This is because we want to keep a great flexibility in order to complete our ideas and dreams always, that wouldn't be always possible in a band with many different opinions and musical limited abilities. We develop our style rapidly and this demands a lot from a musician, so that we keep us independent and use invited musicians.

(T) At what age did you begin to write your poems and short stories? Why?

I think I was 10 years old, and I wrote stories on vacation in order to express myself and to entertain the rest of my family by reading them.

How did you create "Hall of Sermon"? With your parents help? Or by yourself?

By myself, I worked long days in a factory before having the economic solvency to start with Lacrimosa's albums.

(T & A) What kind of music do you like? And who are your favorite composers?

We like listening to many different kinds of music, including 80's gothic, metal bands, classical music and pop only if it is well done. Our favorite composer is still Mozart.

(T & A) What would be your work if this wasn't music or something related to?

Tilo: Movie Director or screenwriter.

Anne: I think I could be happy designing unusual clothing, chef or photographer. This is part of my interests and I am happy of having them as hobbies joined to my main work that is the music.

(T & A) What do you think about religion, the beliefs in God and what is your religion?

Both of us believe in God, and we think that without God's blessing we couldn't do our music. None of us have studied formally, but whatever one does with all his heart will have this blessing, and before or after everything work as it has, if someone has the power of being patient and doesn't loose his beliefs even when things are wrong, this belief give us strength and that is important at the end. Religion could be positive or negative, if someone’s beliefs are extremist he can confused the sight of good and evil.

(T & A) What do you think about the culture and people of Mexico?

Your culture is one of the most fascinating and impressive, your roots are sensational. The Maya people and their history have left us fascinated, and it is amazing to learn more about their life-style, which is not comparable with any other nation. We have visited several Pyramids, Maya Temples and ruins in the jungle. It is really impressive know how this culture was/is so special in the traditions of Mexico. Besides, the modern culture is fascinating, though sometimes is so hard to live in Mexico, especially in Mexico City with a lot of inhabitants, but also in small towns, where life is hard, with nature's catastrophes, torrential rains and then long periods of time of drought makes almost impossible to live in some parts. In spite of this standard, you have been always extremely warm with us, and you always show us your feelings, and that is something we respect a lot. You have a lot of strength and too much love to give, and you always see the positive side of everything, and it is not common to find people like you that show in such a wonderful way your feelings as you do in other places we have visited. We really feel your love in our concerts; a very thankful audience is the best a musician can expect.

(T & A) Which is your concept of gothic culture? And how do you see the Mexican gothic culture?

We have our deep roots in the first Gothic, when it began to develop from the Punk. Our idols were bands like: Joy Division, The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, etc. For us, the 80's was the most important decade for the gothic; the feeling has never been the same since those days as if people has lost a little "the gothic life-style" that was more than only listen to music or appearance, it was a complete life-style. He haven't had in a close touch with the Mexican gothic scene so as to know how has been developed, or better said, we don't know how it started and then we don't know how deep are your roots, but it seems to be fresh, since they are people open-minded and without prejudice before listening or seeing the things with their own eyes. Besides, they don't take the language as a barrier and we are very happy because they accept the lyrics in German and leave the music speaks by itself and feel the emotions that our music wakes you up. Unfortunately, this is no the case in Europe. I hope the Mexican gothic movement will be fortifying and also the music for the heart, the melancholy of the soul that in most of the cases is positive, and this is what we offer to the gothic music and think this is why we will have a place in people's hearts for a long time.

(T & A) How did you be involved with the gothic scene?

We have constructed and helped several bands with our recording studio HALL OF SERMON, and we've also helped in acts, on stage and tours. The scene is very close to our hearts and we have always tried to do all the possible to continue.

(T & A) Do you have any deadline for leaving Lacrimosa?

At the moment, we are concentrated in the recordings that will be finished soon, and to release the single on August. We are starting our tour on October 18th, and we are visiting Mexico in December again, something that makes us very happy.

* This interview was made before the edition of "Fassade" was completed, and now we know that "Liebesspiel" is not a hidden track.