 BAUCHKLANG |
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6 heads, just as many mics, and a good healthy bunch of vocal chords each – that’s it, almost.
For if there wasn’t this extra bit of intrigue about them, Austrian vocal groove project Bauchklang might not have turned out to be this outstanding success story with a new album called „Many People“ under their belts already.
Following the release of their acclaimed debut album „Jamzero“ in 2001, Bauchklang marathoned through all of roughly 160 gigs. According to numerous well-documented eye-witness accounts, apparently Bauchklang concerts are well-attended, beguiling affairs which involve richly coloured tapestries of sound being woven and unfurled in a completely natural way. As a rule, the puzzled audience, after having wriggled free of their initial disbelief („Is it all real?“), are collectively left grooving.
One concert organizer from Lower Austria had become so aroused by what had heard he felt the urge to confess to all the people in attendance that yes, he had used this music as a soundtrack for his baby-making endeavours. Which should bode well for the ongoing efforts to counter falling birth rates among Western Europeans.
Of course, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Recording the sophomore album has proven quite taxing. The band had to cope with personnel changes and the ensuing acclimatization phase. On top of it all, the pressure to prove themselves a second time around, to banish any notions that they were one-trick ponies, weighed more heavilyon their shoulders with every passing day. The lengthy, arduous labour that preceded the completion of the new album renders the fact that Bauchklang come across perfectly at ease on „Many People“ all the more perplexing.
Bauchklang’s songwriting and arrangement skills have clearly matured, yet still their hooks and choruses are so abundantly playful and multi-faceted that all one’s attempts at pigeonholing them are doomed to fail. There’s just too much happening within the space of this record. The group‘s experimental approach in the studio clearly has paid dividends, with the new songs allowing each of the band members to show off their live prowess to the fullest of their abilies. Truly, the frenetic rhythms of drum’n’bass stomper „Navigator“ and the exquisitely lush vibing on „12/8“ couldn’t be further apart from each other, and still they complement each other perfectly in illustrating Bauchklang’s finely-tuned versatility. In between all this the band have even found the space and time to take political observations into account, too, and are thus treating their listenership to an extra-generous helping of brain food.
The collective have elevated „Many People“ to a demonstration of how the aesthetics of pure voice can build a bridge between sound, soul, and mind. As the search for a purpose in life keeps us in constant motion, similarly the quest for the essence of tongue makes us aware of the goings-on and the changes within us, it sharpens our ear for the unexpected, it heightens our sense of excitement, and it fills us with joyful anticipation of what might happen to us in the future.
And „Many People“ is nothing less than just that: A helping hand in our attempt to get this elusive, impossible grip on our future. |
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