German indie music Vol. 1: Junges Glueck
HAMBURG – Hamburg is like Portland. And although I’ve never been to Oregon before, this coherence is a fact that I’m pretty sure of. At least when it comes to the local music scene.
And because of the somehow interconnected dozens of hundreds of thousands (!) of bands, artists and songwriters working and creating in this beautiful German seaport city that I am blessed to call home, I’m more than happy to welcome you to… the first part of a series about Central European bands and singers! (Imagine a flourish or a fanfare at this point, please.)
Let’s get started smooth and easy today with some newish blokes on the blocks of Hamburg – Junges Glueck (Myspace). Even though the band was originally founded in 2001 they had a few, well, changes in their line-up going on and have just released their second album called Raus aus Flüsterleben (which could probably be translated to “Out of a life of whispering”) a few months ago. So, they still feel more than unconsumed to the listener, I reckon.
It’s quite an excitingly unusual blend the three guys have gathered with their plain instrumentation: 12 songs oscillating between impellent instancy and laid-back lovesickness. Sometime – even if this might be a bold statement – they remind me of Bloc Party, but without the disco-attitude. And even the early Shins seem to have left some marks, somehow.
There’s no whinging and wimpyness on the album, fortunately. Instead you are treated with the individual conditions of average lads in their late twenties. And the best thing: Whenever Niclas Breslein (guitar and vocals), Ingmar Rehberg (bass) and Lars Watermann (drums) switch into the rocking mode, you can be sure that they put all their energy into the song.
Don’t be afraid of the language barrier, by the way, because as always “it’s the gesture that counts,” as we Germans tend to say; or in case of this series “it’s the melodies.” So just lean back, turn the volume up and give it a go!
Junges Glück – Fluss
Junges Glück – Technicolor
Junges Glück – Herzkommando