HAUS FÜR POESIE

But his new fourth album Take Me Back To Nowhere (February 2026) contains even more than that. In contrast to his third album, Mushroom Cloud, released in 2023 and dominated by an immersive apocalyptic mood (for which he was awarded Songwriter of the Year and Best Lyrics of 2023 by Far Out Magazine), the new one includes more bright moments.

The different approach A. S. Fanning took to this fourth record came about more because of a broken wrist than deliberate searching. The impairment meant that he couldn’t write his songs while playing the guitar – so instead of letting the guitar lead him, as it always had, lyrics took a more active role in creating the music. And during that process, the lyrics were reams of paper scattered all over the floor, probably while the singer was: “sitting in a dark room staring at the wall talking to ourselves”.

A huge influence on his writing was not only reading speculative fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin and J. G. Ballard, which led to more synth-driven sounds in his otherwise mostly folk and rock music, but also a feeling of internal chaos and a lack of connection. This relates not only to his inner world but even more so to a world in which global conflicts and wars dominate, combined with social media and artificial lives. No wonder there are lines like “No one is coming to save us”, or “Today is for forgetting” – a mood that “fits me like a hand in a glove”. At the same time, instances of light are never far: “I’ve been out in a wilderness of heartbreak and bitterness, and I don’t fear hell or heaven above”, leads right into a simple “she smiled at me and now I’m in love”.

On this evening, A.S. Fanning will perform solo some of the songs of his new album Take Me Back To Nowhere and will talk with Dave Gordon, owner of the bookshop Curious Fox in Berlin, about songwriting, reading, and immersing yourself in the “dear sweet nothing”.

The event will be held in English.