In
'Strobl' Bombay1 have returned
with something completely unexpected.
From the Hinterlands of obscure
German electronica arrives a beautifully
realised album that has more in
common with Kings Of Convenience
than Kraftwerk. For their second
album, gone are the electronic
soundscapes, techno anger and glacial
atmospherics of 'Me Like You' (2003).
It's time for soul-bearing, raw
heartfelt songwriting and a quantum
leap forward in terms of musical
empathy.
But
first some history.
Bombay1
are old friends Kurt Dahlke and
Stoya, both from Kraftwerk's home
town of Dusseldorf. Dahlke prefers
to be known as Pyrolator ("Because
he likes to set things on fire," explains
his musical partner, deadpan) and
has an impeccable background in
German alternative music. A founding
member of D.A.F., the original
electro-punk band who laid a blueprint
later followed by everyone from
Skinny Puppy to Nine Inch Nails,
he left after one album and formed
Der Plan.
Because
their lyrics are in German, Der
Plan aren't much known outside
their own country but at home their
amalgamation of Residents-style
surrealism and Visage-esque electro-pop
garnered a strong following throughout
the 1980s. Since then Dahlke has
been running the futuristic Ata
Tak label (home to Oval and Holger
Hiller, amongst others) as well
as producing the next wave of post-rock
electronic acts such as To Rococo
Rot and Kreidler. Dahlke is the
man who manipulates the machines
in Bombay1.
So
what of Stoya? Stoya is the voice,
the wordsmith, and known only by
his single name. In his time he's
been a record shop owner, a Brixton
squatter, a musical collaborator
with Gang Of Four's Andy Gill,
a DJ at Germany's most famous punk
club, a member of the band Trash
Museum whose 'I'd Rather Die Young
Than Grow Old Without You' was
a John Peel favourite, and he's
currently a successful painter
(one of whose exhibitions was named
after the King Tubby album 'Dub
Like Dirt').
So
how do they end up with an album
that sounds variously like Syd
Barrett, Bright Eyes, Nick Drake,
Love & Rockets, Snow Patrol,
Julian Cope, Leonard Cohen and
even the Pet Shop Boys? An album
comparable in quality, even, to
some of the above.
"We
went to a house for a month in
a little village called Strobl,
hence the title," Stoya explains, "It
was by a lake in the mountains
in Austria. It had a grand piano
so we took a microphone, a computer
and a sampler and composed. We
brought back what we had created
and changed the samples for real
sounds - a string orchestra, guitar,
bass, horn-player. Then we went
to London's Mayfair Studios to
mix the album with Alex Silva who
has also worked with the Manic
Street Preachers."
So
those are the bald facts but they
still don't explain how a gnarly
electronic agit-prop duo can reappear
with an album that opens on sparse
piano'n'cello-accompanied heartbreakers
about relationship disintegration.
"In
the countryside," ventures
Stoya reticently, "I was much
more comfortable putting out lyrics
that are personal. Over four weeks
the birds, the wind, the rain led
to a much more directional songwriting.
I wanted this album to sound as
natural as possible without any
gimmicks, nothing - just plain."
The
truth was that Stoya's longterm
romantic relationship, a relationship
with two children, had faltered
and nearly broken. The album
starts from this premise and
is permeated by "the fight
for love to come back, to get
my loved ones back." It
is the songwriting of a man who
has nearly lost everything, a
man who has peered into the abyss
of loneliness and cannot live
with what he sees there. And
all in his second language!
"To
me it's easier to write personal
lyrics in a foreign language," Stoya
admits, "I can step outside
myself and take a look at what's
happening. It's not my mother language,
it's my writing language."
Although
things start out bleak, however,
'Strobl' is all about coming back,
about returning to joy, and by
the time the listener reaches the
Lee Hazelwood growl and jaunty
strum of 'Brand New Day' things
are surely on the up.
"We
recorded that the morning after
we'd had a late night session in
Strobl," laughs Stoya, "'Quick,
Quick,' I said, 'I have to sing
now because by lunchtime my voice
will be back to normal.' On that
song it's my hangover voice."
By
the time the song 'Lost Souls'
bursts into life, Stoya's children
are even featured as backing singers.
Many albums claim to be journeys
but, while not all specifically
about Stoya's life, 'Strobl' really
does travel (via some completely
unrelated and entertaining stopping
points), from stark separation
to opulent elated love songs. It's
not heavy, it's not gloomy, it's
just life and a sprightly forty
minute album to revel in from beginning
to end.
So
finally, why the curious name Bombay1?
"There
are places in this world you've
never been," says Stoya, "places
you'll probably never go. To us
Bombay, like Beijing, is such a
place. You have an idea, an exotic
idea what those places are like,
a dream reality to reach for. We
want Bombay1 to be like that..."
A
dream reality to reach for? Are
you ready... |
