It’s a Friday night in 1984. You slide your tape into the deck of your metallic midnight blue Mustang, press play, and what you hear next is the title track from Burn the Night Away by STIEGLITZ.
We connected with Andreas Stieglitz to learn more about the artist who is STIEGLITZ and the making of the album Burn the Night Away. Andreas told us he wrote the chorus for the title track on a long drive during a tour with his heavy metal band – Speed Queen – which was originally set to a different melody that later became “Carbonite Coffin” from STIEGLITZ’s debut Future Summer in a Distant Past.
Burn the Night Away was very close to being released as two separate EPs with artwork and tentative titles ready to go. One EP was tentatively titled Blood Moon with the darker, hard-hitting tracks reminiscent of STIEGLITZ’s prior releases, such as For Love of the Living Dead. The other EP was tentatively titled Electric Star with the more pop-oriented arrangements. Zak at Jet Set Trash Records suggested merging the two EPs into one album.
When the time came to name the album, Andreas said, “Burn the Night Away was the obvious choice for me. On the one hand it represents life and love in the nighttime, the main themes in (and inspiration for) the upbeat tracks on the record. On the other hand, it also fits the more violent “burn-it-all-away” attitude in the heavier tracks.”
These themes are highlighted in the cover art, with a hint of nostalgia in the worn record ring. Andreas did the cover art himself. He said once it was finished, he felt the whole concept for the album come together.
Burn the Night Away navigates the tunnels underneath the city streets and occasionally surfaces in a horror movie or night club and, sometimes, a horror movie set in a night club. The album has been on my heavy rotation for some time now. It taps into 70s and 80s classic rock, dark wave, synthwave, dark synth, and even dances with disco and funk in places. It’s overflowing with hummable melodies, hard-hitting beats, and dazzling synth and guitar licks.
STIEGLITZ’s capacity to blend styles into creative arrangements impresses. “Lost in Transit” gets funky with a groovy bass line, catchy-as-hell disco, and a piano solo that might make you pull out that old Doors vinyl and spin it later tonight. “Midnight Menace” brings together lead synth melodies and guitar riffs that play off each other through time, fighting for center stage, tangoing a bit in perfect synchrony. The synth plays like keys from the classic rock era alongside crunchy guitar riffs with a gritty metal and industrial character. “Aradia” features dark, gothic keys and big, energetic synth melodies that lift and transport you to a new, brighter space.
Andreas told us his style is deeply rooted in synthwave and 80s music, including hard rock and new wave. He has also been influenced by song writing and instruments from the 1970s, including the bass lines, organ, and electric pianos, all of which shine on Burn the Night Away, colored with a dark synth flavor.
Burn the Night Away was written in 2019 at Andreas’ home studio using a combination of real and virtual instruments, including the Artuira Microbrute analog synthesizer to create the lead synth and bass lines in most songs. The electric guitar used throughout the album is a Godin G1000, which Andreas said he picked up at an “insanely low price in a pawn shop” and fixed it up with some new parts. He went on to say it “has been my main axe for recording ever since.”
Andreas began playing guitar in 2010 and started cranking out demos in 2013, learning the ins and outs of programming MIDI instruments, recording, and mastering. In 2015, he first heard Carpenter Brut and that sent him down the synthwave rabbit hole many fans of the genre know all too well. And from this rabbit hole emerged STIEGLITZ.
Burn the Night Away has plenty of heavy hitting. For example, “Electric Star” is built around variations of the lyric ‘Electric Stars in the Night’, initially low and haunting before Andreas belts it out, and, at once, the industrial character of the album is unleashed. The grinding of the guitar riffs and ferocity with which the vocals are delivered in places bring the industrial pioneer Ministry to mind.
“Perdition” is ominous and reminds us of the dark synth core of Burn the Night Away. The bass line and industrial guitar elicit a feeling of being dragged down a spiraling dirt road only to be left to race round a track at high speed without warning. The horror sound effects chip away at your subconscious like being chased down the hallway by a stranger in your home.
The song writing and arrangements are diverse on Burn the Night Away, yet the album feels incredibly coherent. This coherence stems from how Andreas approaches song writing. He said he often uses the same sounds in a release to help tie the tracks together yet inspire new ideas with the sounds. Andreas shed more light on his creative strategy as well. He likes to get everything down the moment he thinks of it, including the sound design, writing, recording, and mixing, although he masters separately.
Burn the Night Away inches toward its end with “Obey,” a track that showcases a synth solo that lifts and spins like the smoke from a cigarette burning away in an ash tray, paired with a guitar solo to match. STIEGLTIZ gives just enough to leave you wanting more. The dark wave vocals on top of a chunky bass line also shine on “Obey.”
The album closes with “Bedroom Eyes.” The opening guitar fades in from the emptiness, a space to be consumed by a guitar riff and vocal melody dredged in melancholy that periodically bursts into intensity. “Bedroom Eyes” closes out what the opening track started – we set out on the night, and then we burned it away.
The future of STIEGLTIZ is bright. The artist will be making more music with vocals and pushing the boundaries of his music. He is also thinking of putting together a live show bringing together “elements of both the electronic live scene and more traditional band-oriented performances,” which would be quite the energetic experience.
Until then, burn the night away.