Flood

Thomas Klein, Alexander Paulick, Andreas Reihse, and Detlef Weinrich assembled in Düsseldorf in winter of 2018 for recordings, and then continued with further sessions in Berlin. Starting with around a dozen sketches, the band produced eight pieces, including "Flood I-IV" and "Flood V", an ensemble of five songs that - in LP terms - fills the entire second side of the album. But let's start from the beginning. Side One - still speaking in LP terms - begins pleasantly enough with the gentle roll and slight murmur of "Eurydike". Borrowed from Greek mythology, the title refers to the pretense of affection as a means of abandonment. The wistful saxophone, the bass notes, the slight trembling in the sound all speak of her awakening from disillusion. "Celeration", the second piece, seems to accelerate. But the pace of "Eurydike" is actually maintained. The tone becomes sharper, the rhythm creaky, the rolling more energetic, the sequence calls for a sacrifice. A shimmy, a scuttle, a quarter step: "Nesindano". The voice you hear is Khoes, alias Nesindano Namises; the language we hear is Khoekhoe/Damara. A gong, a CR-78 joins, a clicking, a flicker, words flutter, a bass booms, the voice rises up to the hook line, an FM synthesizer picks up the pieces and carries them along, percussion rattles. Agit-Pop! "Flood I-IV" is not about modesty or humility. It calls for always demanding the maximum -of oneself and for oneself - which also means to give, and that each may set their own limits while respecting others, accepting them and helping where help is needed. Ricardo Domeneck takes on "Flood II" while looking out over the sea in Brazil, his feet in the sand for a few minutes, recalling a conversation with a geologist. "Flood I-IV" involves synthesizers, strings, rusty percussion, guitars enter into dialogue, a collaborative negotiation, a swelling and descending, a showering in transparent layers, banging on shore, heads are rolling, liquefying hierarchies not structures. "Flood IV" is a dance that flows into "Flood V", taking with it it's instrumentation and mood, and moving it into a state between an easy-elegiac thoughtfulness and a concentrated contemplation. Kreidler, this four-headed hydra of a continental pop music that captures Bach, disco, postpunk, club, and krautrock in varying proportions with an elegant lightness. On Flood the band playfully expands it's approach with two renowned voices.