gullbuy music review

Seelenluft

title

The Way We Go

label

Klein Records

format
CD

Seelenluft CD coverOn their first album, The Rise and Fall of Silver city Bob, Seelenluft came across as a darker, edgier, less peppy cousin of sampling masters Tipsy. They took the easy listening sounds of the 40’s and 50’s and brought them into a modern, electronic context, adding a somewhat atonal underbelly.

On their second, Synchroschwimmer EP, they mastered their craft. The pieces were slicker, yet more enjoyable. It was a beautiful collection of instrumentals with a slight edge and some originality to them. It was like Hawaiian flavored offbeat jazz with the sticking melodies and the tasteful electronic flavorings of Beat Soler, the brains behind Seelenluft.

I don’t know what happened. This is perhaps the worst piece of pop trash I’ve even been tasked with reviewing. I tried hard over three listens to find anything redeeming about the album and I was able to find… 3 songs that I liked, two instrumentals and one with lyrics.

Strings of Silvercity is a mini-masterpiece. A brilliant pop instrumental that holds your interest, stays interesting, and wins you throughout with gorgeous melodic lines and pristine production.

The other instrumental is a welcomed departure from the syrupy sweet, empty, lame attempts at pop-stardom contained on this disk. I include in that description the guest vocal appearance of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid on I can see clearly now where his lyrics almost seem to mock bad pop. Pardon me if there was a joke here that I’m just not getting;

cool, it aint cool
yeah it’s cool, it aint cool
hey it’s cool, it aint cool, really cool

I hope they didn’t have to pay him for this.

It’s bad enough that they go forth with lyrics, as on Pleasureboy

will you be my sex machine /
will you be the whipped cream in my dreams /
will you be my pleasureboy /
and will you come drown in secret joy

Even worse, on Baby baby;

you’re my superstar /
this is what you are /
I will always be your baby baby

But then they actually have the gall to print these lyrics on the inner sleeve. They really leave themselves wide open here. I can’t help it. Brittany Spears herself was even more clever about saying the same things.

The best tracks are the two instrumentals and one with French lyrics, Mes Amis, a catchy tune with some nice hooks and somewhat of a new wave feel. But really, since I couldn’t understand the lyrics, I was able to stomach it. Based on the rest of the album, I don’t think I want to hear the translation.

While the bass lines are interesting and the synth sounds are brilliant (even a bit retro), the rest is hard to swallow. Or too easy to swallow. Either way – The way we go was maybe the right way to go for Beat Soler’s wallet, but musically, a tragic turn.

---Brian Cleary, August 10, 2004