THE NOTWIST

In the organizer's words:

On Vertigo Days, The Notwist's first album in six years, one of the country's most pioneering indie bands presents itself in the here and now. Curiosity and openness have always been the driving forces behind The Notwist's music, but rarely has this been more evident than on Vertigo Days. Musically, this openness is conveyed in an amalgam of melancholic pop and sparkling electronics, hypnotic krautrock and floating ballads. Conceptually, it is reflected in the fact that The Notwist have expanded their core line-up (consisting of brothers Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck) to include guest musicians for this album: "We wanted to question the usual concept of a band, but also to soften the idea of national identities," explains Markus Acher. "That's why we also gave space to other voices and languages."

Six years have passed since the last album(Close To The Glass). Years that the band members have dedicated not only to their other bands (e.g. Spirit Fest, Hochzeitskapelle, Alien Ensemble, Joasihno), but also to running their own record label (Alien Transistor), composing several film scores and curating compilations (most recently Minna Miteru) and an annual festival (Alien Disko). All of this has left its mark on the new album. It is reflected above all in its structure, which is the result of an open, collectivist process: improvisations became songs that often intertwine. The result is extremely lively music, whose cinematic quality is also reflected in the artwork by Japanese photographer Lieko Shiga. The rediscovered openness is already evident in "Ship", the first single from the album.

A driving, herbaceous groove serves as the foundation for the disarming voice of Saya, known as the female half of the Japanese pop duo Tenniscoats. Another guest is the American multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay, who also wrote the lyrics for "Oh Sweet Fire": a "love poem for today's times" that tells of lovers in the turmoil of a political protest march. Jazz musician Angel Bat Dawid lent her clarinet playing to the slightly spacey dream pop of "Into The Ice Age". Finally, Argentinian singer and producer Juana Molina contributed vocals and the electronic parts of the arrangement for "Al Sur". Saya appears again on this track, but this time as part of the wind ensemble Zayaendo. Meanwhile, The Notwist allow the music to develop in ever new, often unexpected directions - just as they do in live performances.

The polyphony of ideas, styles and participants grows together on Vertigo Days into something truly coherent. Diversity forms an album in the best sense of the word, one that gains even more when listened to as a whole. The song lyrics are also interwoven: as Markus Acher says, they create "the feeling of a coherent poem." The (geo-)political uncertainties of recent years have been deeply inscribed in these multi-faceted lyrics: "The fact that things we thought impossible could become reality at any time was a topic we were more familiar with from our private lives. But the situation changed dramatically during the recording of the album. Suddenly, these things that we thought were impossible were also happening outside, on a global political scale," explains Markus, who confronts this experience with the poetic means of abstraction, but does not see it as a one-way street, but as a multi-directional movement: on Vertigo Days, global connections sometimes extend back into the private sphere. Everything is up in the air, the only certainty is that nothing is certain. "Perhaps it's primarily about a learning process and the fact that you never really arrive anywhere," says Acher. "Facing this uncertainty requires courage - but at the same time it fills us with a strong sense of vitality." Vertigo Days is an album that is bursting with vitality. Open-minded, full of enthusiasm for music and for ideas of community. An album that dares to dream with open eyes.

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