Giant Normal Dwarf by Dennis Versteeg Studio Album, 1990. Recorded after the bass player, Joke Geraets, had to leave the band because of a muscle disease. The album was recorded as a trio, with no external guests No guitars were used, most of the bass is from a keyboard, but some was played by the singer.. Henk Hofstede: lead and backing vocals, keyboards, bass, painter of artwork Robert Jan Stips: keyboards, backing vocals Rob Kloet: percussion, backing vocals The album has some sort of central theme about a few people going on a quest for the radio shoes. They meet all types of weird people and go to strange places. The lyrics are often somewhat cryptic, so it's hard to determine what they often are about. Also a fascination with science is very much present in the lyrics. The map on the first pages of the album booklet shows the main locations in fountain land and people they meet, including the telephone lake, the fountain man, a boy in a tree, periscope snakes sugar river, the apple orchard, the birdhouse and the night-owl. The map is actually the map of Holland turned sideways (my parents actually live at the border of the telephone lake, which is of course not called that in real life). Radio Shoes The quest for the radio shoes begins. The lyrics tell the story of some friends who go on their journey after their told the directions by a snake who's emerging from a lake. At the end they all disappear throug 'the infinte shoeblack' and enter a fairytale-like world, called Fountain Land. This was the first single of the album, with a hilarious video in which the singer digs a hole and ends up in Australia where a very fake looking kangaroo greets him. The typical sounds that start of this song are symbolized by a boiling and whistling kettle of water. Ice Princess The first person they meet is the ice princess, a girl in a wintery landscape. The song also seems to feautre some childhood memories. Boy in a tree The next one they meet is a boy who has climbed up in a tree and who is watching the world from above. He also thinks of his mother getting older. There from here A song about leaving, ariving and finding your way. This seems to be about the journey itself. The illustrations show the path of a thrown boomerang and high jumpers on the moon and earth to indicate movement. Sugar River The journey leads across he sugar river, which is called like that, because the water is sweet! The letters S-U-G-A-R all indicate features of the river. Around the fish An abstract song about swimming, with the fishes around you. Fountain man The strangest person they meet is the fountain man. He's a person who thinks he's a fountain and who is able to make water go through all its physical states: ice, water and vapor. They also meet a birdhouse, who has an orange mouth (a beak) that offers them help to find their way. The b-side on the radio shoes single 'solid to gas' deals with the physical states of water and ties in to this song. Apple Orchard Here the story of the journey through fountain land gets a bit deviated from. The apple orchard mainly symbolizes various physical effects. It mainly concerns with light, condensation and gravity. The paintings in the booklet show various scientific 'experiments'. Long forgotten story A 'future history'. The singer reflects in 2040 of his time in Greece in 1989. He bought a red vase on his trip to the island Hydra (see night owl). There is a b-side called 'de rode vaas', which is dutch for 'the red vase' and that also deals with this subject. Looking through the red vase is used as a metaphore of looking into the past. Another b-side called 'the yellow hotel' deals with the meeting with the old woman who got stood up by her lover, which is also mentioned in this song. This was the third single of the album. The video showed the red vase and the band playing the song on stage. Giant Normal Dwarf A love song. The Nits hardly ever write love songs, but this one is incredibly beautiful. It describes the feeling of feeling very small compared to the one you love. This was the second single of the album. The video was amazingly elegant and pretty with the singer and a female figure skater skating on a very straight frozen ditch in a strange Dutch landscape. The b-side to the single, king of belgium' is about the queen of holland being very sad because the king of belgium is dying. Moon moon The first part is about chimney sweepers. The second part of the song deals with a girl who probably got a broken heart two years ago and still cries when she sees a wedding. The third part is about someone returning home. The night-owl The singer and his Finnish friend, called Seppo, went on a pelgrimage to the Greek island Hydra. This is the island where Leonard Cohen lives. When they arive at Cohen's house and they knock on the door no-one answers. He's not home. Now only the journey itself remains as a memory. House of the sleeping beauties We're back in the journey through Fountain Land. The sleeping beauties are a group of people who live in holes that are dug under the streets of a city. The infinite shoeblack The conclusion to the 4 hours and days quest for the radio shoes. They find them in an abandoned house with a laboratory. The shoes need to be shined so they can disappear into the infinite shoeblack again, probably to get back to the 'normal' world. A song called Torni was released on a promo single and expands the musical theme of this song and also introduces new themes and some old ones, lating about 10 minutes.