Stefanie Boltz is a storyteller: own, strange, invented stories or the embellished ones, on long midwinter evenings. In her "Midwinter Tales", she tells of a love that does not survive the winter ("I'm Schnee verbrennen") and one that starts there ("April Skies"). It is about silence and contemplation ("Midwinter") or their depressing effect ("The Sound of Silence"), the awakening from the winter rigidity ("Sehnsucht"), but also the deceptive salvation in hibernation ("Narkose"). "Christmas Card From A Hooker" by Tom Waits is the transfigured retrospective of a prisoner and her view of the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, an album, released right in time before the Festival of Love can't do without love. For the tender implementation of these song pearls, the established singer has secured high-profile colleagues. With Martin Kursawe, who is able to perform magic with a wide variety of soundscapes with his guitars, and Sven Faller on the warm double bass. She merges with them into a homogeneous trio that can breathe together but can also shine individually. As guests she has invited three individual sound artists: cellist Fany Kammerlander creates chamber music moments, she puts lyrical lines and fine plucking in the service of the songs. Drummer Tilman Herpichböhm shines with groove and exotic instrumentation and guitar master Paulo Morello contributes a sassy, cheeky blues solo. "Midwinter Tales" moves beyond categories and clichés. With ease and depth, Stefanie Boltz and her band conjure up a program full of nuances and dynamics in which groove and intimacy, virtuosity and humor, German & English, warming and entertaining find their place.