hypersongs

Sibylle Baier

The German singer-songwriter whose home reel-to-reel recordings from 1970 to 1973 appeared as Colour Green in 2006, opening with "Tonight".

Tapes in an attic

Sibylle Baier is a German singer-songwriter and actress who sang and played guitar, and played piano as a girl. Her first song, "Remember the Day", was written after a road trip with a friend across the Alps to Genoa by way of Strasbourg. She appeared as the Woman on Ferry in Wim Wenders's Alice in the Cities; Wikipedia's text dates it 1973 and its filmography table 1974. She chose not to pursue acting or singing and moved to the United States.

From November 1970 to January 1973 she recorded songs at home on reel-to-reel tape, in her attic while the family slept, about fifteen songs in all, according to Far Out. A few of them were used in Jochen Richter's film Hugs and Other Things (1975). About thirty years later a CD copy reached J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, who passed it to the label Orange Twin; Far Out says it was given to Andrew Rieger of the label. She was initially upset when the tapes were played at a gathering: I am embarrassed, I'm livid, I'm angry.

Colour Green

Colour Green was released by Orange Twin on February 7, 2006, 32:42, as an LP, CD and download, mastered by Derek Almstead. It is mostly voice and nylon-string guitar; only the last track, "Give Me a Smile", adds strings and electronic organ with a steel-string guitar. AllMusic gave it 4 stars. Double J called it one of the purest distillations of classic folk songwriting ever recorded in 2015, The Monthly in 2009 described an artefact that offers the pleasures of its songs and the mysteries of the tomb, and Kim Gordon wrote in the New York Times in 2015 that she wrote one record, and it's stunningly beautiful. Critics compare her with Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell and Vashti Bunyan.

In April 2008 her site announced two new recordings, and "Let Us Know" was released that September for Wenders's film Palermo Shooting. Her music was used in Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama (2026), with "Forget About" in its final scene. Speedy Ortiz covered "I Lost Something in the Hills" for Rookie Magazine in 2014, and Joustene Lorenz and Luluc cite her as an influence. We found no tours or concerts: she keeps out of the public eye. We give no birth year, since sources disagree.

Albums

  • Colour Green 2006 · Orange Twin Records

    Her only album: fourteen songs recorded at home on reel-to-reel tape and released more than thirty years later.

Songs

  • Tonight Colour Green · 2006

    The opening track of Colour Green, a short narrative of coming home hurt and seeking comfort.

Sources

  1. Sibylle Baier, Wikipedia
  2. Colour Green, Wikipedia
  3. Celebrating Sibylle Baier's Colour Green, Far Out
  4. Sibylle Baier press, Sibylle Baier