Notwist

Leave me paralyzed, love

Leave me hypnotized, love

There are records that are impossible to define. Not so much for the complexity of their arrangements or the choices behind them, but because they are essentially unique, singular in every respect.

The comet in question emerges as a surprise out of the Acher brothers' hat in 2002. Both multi-instrumentalists, the two had already been leading Notwist for twelve years by then. Hardcore, punk and metal reflexes, and even jazz, combined with a never-hidden pop urge, are at the root of their output. So, at that point, nothing, or almost nothing, suggested the arrival of a star that would mark not only their career forever, but also the foundations of the European indie(tronic) melting pot for at least the following fifteen years, laying out clear escape routes from the more or less blatant mimicry of ideas that, up to that point, had largely come from the States, sometimes with bands like Dinosaur Jr acting as the ideal container to fish from here and there. In 2002, Markus Acher, his brother Micha, Martin Messerschmid and Martin Gretschmann thus decided to set off on a path that would effectively make them an unrepeatable case in the history of indie rock, and of art-pop in general.

Before the beloved golden neon began to glow with its seemingly faint light, yet one steeped in unprecedented nuances, it was Radiohead who first provided brilliant ways out, with the last unquestionable masterpieces of their career, namely "Kid A" and "Amnesiac", released one and two years respectively before "Neon Golden".

So: electronics finally put at the service of dazed, evocative indie-rock progressions, conveying a fragility that becomes liberating depending on the arrangement. This is more or less the recipe devised by the Germans from Weilheim, in Upper Bavaria. An eccentric yet all-encompassing melting pot right from the strings of "One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand", which open the ten songs of a record that would inaugurate what is still commonly known today as indietronica, or folktronica for the more nostalgic among us.

Indeed, because American folk, like its English counterpart, is for the Acher brothers a reference glimpsed from a distance through an entirely new electro programming, joined by Ullrich Wangenheim's clarinet and saxophone, Sebastian Hess's cello, Bibul F. Darouiche's congas and Robert Klinger's double bass. And also cajón, canjira and darabouka brought into the studio by Saam Schlamminger, Roberto Di Giola's keyboards and Johannes Enders's second saxophone. With this rich palette, the Bavarian band brings to life songs that, in theory, revive the alchemy of kraut-rock while packing it with unusual suggestions.

The first gem of "Neon Golden" is "Pilot". The progression, kraut in spirit, blends perfectly with the electronic carpet and Marcus Acher's understated vocals. As if Eels were playing with Neu! while Stereolab handled the arrangements. It's the first of a series of moments in which the band's melancholy becomes an emotional driving force for a sonic search that has no equal. On this point, Marcus himself, in an interview for KindaMuzik, explained the intentions behind "Pilot": "We tried to give this song a dub feeling, even though it's not an actual dub part, just a mood. We always try to create certain moods that evolve out of certain musical styles. We don't try to imitate those styles. We won't be playing reggae-rock". Words that attempt to explain the formula, while the lyrics say much more about Notwist, giving back, in the verses that follow, an inner quality that will recur repeatedly throughout the album.

Not a word to compensate

Not a sentence to describe this desperate state

Not a picture to compare

We step into a room of opaque air

Could be enough

If only we are pilots

Once a day

Could be enough

If only we are pilots

Once a day

Escaping with melancholy from everything and everyone. Fleeing away, along the tracks of a train that has already left while another is about to arrive. In "Neon Golden", Notwist embrace the future while chasing the past. The first of the record's two most famous moments appears on the third track, with the unforgettable melody of "Pick Up The Phone", which anticipates its equally memorable glitch beat, framing one of the most beautiful love ballads of the early 2000s. The animated video would soon become an absolute cult item, just like the banjo that opens the dance in "Trashing Day", joined by a vaguely trip-hop arrangement, in a Tricky vein so to speak, delivering another wistful, sweeping ballad. Certainly more nervous and less easy to grasp is "This Room", with Acher sounding like Stephen Malkmus as he sings over a high-voltage, experimental Red Snapper-like backing track.

The almost funereal pace of "Solitaire", with its electronic base sounding as though it were assembled from scattered scraps of metal waiting to be sorted in a machine shop's storeroom, stands in complete contrast to the melody, steeped as ever in melancholy and backed, inevitably, by strings in the background.

We never ever lie

From ten in the morning we are honest till nine

We are overcute

We never will manage to be rude only twice

"Neon Golden" is, in its own way, also a damn cinematic album. In an interview for Corriere, given to the undersigned before a Notwist concert held in Naples on November 21, 2019, Marcus Acher, referring to Paolo Sorrentino's choice to include "One With The Freaks" in the final scene of the film "L'amico di famiglia", states: "It's an extraordinary film, just like its director, who apparently is also a connoisseur of good music, as also shown by the soundtrack of 'The Young Pope'. 'One With The Freaks' has an energetic sound and a cheerful mood. And its lyrics question one's conscience, and can also carry a deeply liberating meaning, just like the film's plot. We love cinema. And its composers. We're fans of Ennio Morricone: his music will always be relevant". Reflections that attest to the cinematic spirit of Notwist's music. Starting with the title-track itself, the dustiest episode of the bunch, with banjo and percussion evoking a "westernized feeling", to borrow the words of Bugo.

It's the prelude to the last song on "Neon Golden", or rather to its gem. "Consequence" certainly needs no words. It is light and tears. It is the perfect love song. Everything revolves wonderfully around Notwist's enchanted music box. It's almost as if the previous tracks had been storing up energy to make the heart vibrate on one of the most moving finales in popular music of the new millennium. The hypnosis Acher longed for is the final spell of a masterpiece that would weigh so heavily on the band's career as to lead to a long silence lasting almost the entire following decade, interspersed with important parallel projects such as Lali Puna, before the release of the eagerly awaited "The Devil, You + Me", a work with which the Bavarians would attempt to match those same astonishing heights, only to end up trapped in a rather lackluster self-referentiality.

Other attempts, more or less worthwhile, would follow. But nothing could ever match the unmistakable glow of that golden neon, an undisputed beacon for a well-nigh incalculable flood of indie productions from the early 2000s to today.

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23/06/2024