I often get asked if I've heard any new music lately and if I can recommend something. Most of the time, I end up talking about music that is a bit different from what is in the usual, familiar listening portfolio. Sometimes I receive gratitude for that, but often also polite distance. Do people really want to discover something new, or do they just want to hear a new song in an old guise?
I had heard about the band TRÜMMER from time to time, but until now, I had only politely acknowledged it, remembered it, and then pushed it to the back burner. Where so much already lies. However, the band's third album from northern Germany is now coming out, and I finally manage to consciously and fully concentrate on the compositions.
Upon first listen, I was quite overwhelmed. What is being sung is more than just lyrics. It is poetry! Such a way of handling the German language. This is truly great art. What is being sung is quite casual yet so demanding that one must wonder how it doesn't come off as overly intellectual or like it was written by a literature student. However, one should not confuse this casualness with sloppiness. The band is serious about what they sing. I cannot imagine these moving lyrics any other way. Every line, oh what...every word hits the mark.
The music comes out of the speakers so buttery smooth and charming that you almost feel like you're wrapped in a lovely cotton cloak or in a ball pit. On top of that is the voice of singer and guitarist Paul Pötsch, which fits perfectly. While listening, I sometimes think of bands like Die Sterne, Kettcar, or even the darker songs of Tocotronic. However, it would be too simplistic to categorize the band within the Hamburger Schule. If I had to place them, I would say Love A meets Element of Crime.
The music is almost mainstream, not in the commercial sense but rather in the sense that it belongs to the educated bourgeois family who thinks, 'This is really something.' They don't realize (or maybe they do?) that many songs are about exactly these people. People who have their income, their prosperity, and their pretty bubble. When not much happens, it's comfortable. Is stagnation nice? No, stagnation is death! How are we supposed to resist societal change, engage in climate change, and really make a difference if we don't move? TRÜMMER shakes us awake, albeit with a gentle voice.
TRÜMMER also brings out songs like "Weißt du noch" that hit really hard.
Do you remember how it was back then,
when there was no 'back then' yet.
Can aging and the midlife crisis be described any better than this?
Movement knows no age. Get up, go out, do something! No matter how old.
Each of the eleven songs on "Früher war gestern" is a small masterpiece. Especially in terms of language use, the lyrics, the rhythm of speech, the timbre, this is great art. I haven't heard anything like this from any German band before. Perhaps I praise it so much because the lyrics resonate with me.
TRÜMMER fit more into the feuilleton than Slime. For change, both are needed. The street fight, direct action, and also the bourgeois class. As much as I would like to categorize TRÜMMER there due to their sound, that would be wrong. Because, not who screams the loudest is right in the end. The gentle, quiet tones are often the ones that touch more. TRÜMMER touches.
