After some long years, die einstürzende Neubauten finally released a new studio album. Perpetuum Mobile. There was also last year’s release of the live album (ab – brussels 2000) But an album consisted of new material hadn’t been released since 1999’s Silence is Sexy.
The Neubauten never obey "the rules".(they even invent their own instruments) But they always deliver excellent albums, which you can listen to over and over again.
This time, In the making of the album, they relied on their loyal fanbase. Many of them registered on their website (www.neubauten.org) In exchance for a contribution of €35, they got an email adress, an exclusive disk, and the opportunity to chat with the band members, as well as a chance to give their feedback concerning the new album. And it has to be said: this was a very succesful cooperation. A strangely calm, mysterious, somewhat sad-sounding, but hopefull record is the result of it.
When we take a closer look at the lyrics, it’s not difficult to notice that change, moving & travelling seem to be the main themes. (“ich gehe jetzt”, “perpetuum mobile”, and even several phrases in other songs like “ein leichtes leises Säusein” and “ein seltener Vogel”) Blixa continues his extraordinary writing style. He is one of those musicians that has actually got something to say. But even when his songs are very deep, they are still easy to listen to. And once again, there are wordgames ("youme & meyou"), biblical references ("Arrarat") and more of that kind. These offcourse give the music another extra dimension, making it stand out, far above the mediocrity.
As always, the artwork is excellent. Although the illegal distribution of cd’s was never so easy and popular, you would want to actually buy the original cd, only because the beauty of it. And for the listeners among us that don’t understand German: an English translation is provided in the booklet.
Perpetuum Mobile is one of those albums that at first hearing you consider to be a very good album. But after a (very short) while it turns into a masterpiece, which you would rather never have to miss again. It seems that leaving Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds was not a bad decision.
Thank you Neubauten, it was worth the wait!
