Skönhet — The Princess and the Newsreporter

“The Princess and the Newsreporter” is the latest slice of Audrey Hepburn obsessed HNW from this Swedish  based  project. As with all of this projects work this is based on one of the films of Ms Hepburn career, and this time its 1953’s  Roman Holiday which paired her with Gregory Peck, and told the story of a bored and sheltered princess(Hepburn) who escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman(Grant) in Rome.

This release is a c2o tape with a  single ten minute track per side of tape. It comes in a black and white sleeve that features an aged and forlorn picture of Hepburn & Peck embrace each other, and this shows off a rather more melancholic and sad side of the Hollywood dream.

So taking up side one we have a track entitled “A wonderful Day” which starts out with a distant/elegant piano wonderings & dialogue snippet from the movie featuring the two leads talking. Then in just over a minute  we’re down into the noise ‘wall’ which finds Skönhet  feeding a billowing ‘n’ bass drilled drone with a smaller skipping static element into a brutal ‘n’ thick yet slightly forlorn ‘wall’ of noise. The 'wall' remains solid and unmoving, yet trance inducing in it’s feel through-out.

Over onto side two and we have the track “No Please….Nothing” and this starts once more with a sample from the movie, and this time it's mournful yet romantic orchestration swoons and minimal dialogue from Hepburn and a male character.  Then in just under the two minute mark we’re into the ‘wall’ which is more fast paced and urgent than the first sides wall- it's  built around a very rapid bass lined boiling judder that’s smarted and bruised by hacking 'n' static sub-tones. Again it’s another rewarding track, but it’s more brutal than trace inducing in it’s frenzied attack.

So “The Princess And The Newsreporter” offers up both entrancing & frenzied HNW attacks, it just a pity it’s all over so quickly.! Here’s hoping that one day we’ll see the reissue of the great early and lengthy Skönhet box sets like “Wait Until Dark” & “My Fair Lady”.