DRANGSAL

In the organizer's words:

"You sing and it becomes": In the wake of a breakdown, Max Gruber killed off solo artist Drangsal and founded the band Drangsal. At the end of the tunnel is the album "Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönixemporgestiegen", which will be released in June 2020.Max Gruber has been navigating the zigzagging path of Drangsal through the German pop landscape for over ten years now: "Harieschaim" from 2016, "Zores" from 2018 and most recently "Exit Strategy" - whichtook him to number 6 in the album charts in 2021 - were largely conceived by Gruber alone. And then there was something else after his "Exit Strategy": a breakdown. Max Gruber no longer knew whether and if so, how he wanted to continue with Drangsal, published his literary debut "Doch" with Ullstein-Verlag , founded Die Benjamins, brought Hans-A-Plast frontwoman Annette Benjamin out of retirement together with Charlotte Brandi, Thomas Götz and Julian Knoth and recently reactivated the duo Die Mausis, which he founded with Stella Sommer in 2016.And yet, from inside and outside, the question of a new Drangsal album kept coming up, and Gruber realized that if there was to be another one at all, he would have to fundamentally change the way Drangsal songs were created. After all the struggle came what was unavoidable: the reset. Max Gruber killed the solo artist Drangsal and founded the three-piece band Drangsal - together with two fellow musicians who broke him out of his habits: Lukas Korn and Marvin Holley. The former is a guitarist and producer, plays in the band Lyschko, most recently produced the album "silber" by Mia Morgan and has played bass in the Drangsal live band since 2020. The latter studied jazz and classical guitar as well as composition in Stuttgart and Vienna, performed on stage with Sam Vance-Law and Fil BoRiva and arranged for film and theater. Lukas Korn and Marvin Holley have ensured that the central figure in the Drangsal cosmos is divided into three parts, and making songs in a band constellation has burst all fears: Driven by euphoria, Gruber, Holley and Korn recorded a number of song sketches from the end of 2022, forming the basis of a seventeen-part album. After creative vacations on the Polish border and the Baltic Sea, a fourth Drangsal LP was produced by Max Rieger and co-produced by Lukas Korn. It bears the heavy title "A phoenix has never risen from any of my bridges that lie in ashes" and will be released in June 2025. Gruber, Holley and Korn have agreed on the credo"as little as possible, as much as necessary" - and thus manifested a radical change in the Drangsal sound cosmos that brings with it completely new dynamics. "A phoenix has never risen from any of my bridges that lie in the ashes" is a work that resists empty spaces; instead of synthesizers, acoustic guitars are at the center of the album, which repeatedly stroll along the border to blues and jazz. Where on "Exit Strategy" in particular, over-sugared synth-pop was still in full swing, now piano can be heard; organ, clavinet and harpsichord; xylophone, violins and cellos; flutes and saxophones played by Ralph Heidel ; in between three episodes in which gospel choirs and techno beats spread out. Max Rieger motivated the trio to allow authenticity and imperfection at the moment of recording - and played a major role in ensuring that "A phoenix has never risen from any of my bridges that lie in ashes" offers a realistic portrayal of the trio. The mood? In contrast, more of a rollercoaster. Max Gruber sings of self-alienation, of the pros and cons of standing still, of surrendering and throwing oneself away - sometimes in German, sometimes in English, sometimes tenderly, sometimes disgustedly.Gruber's voice sounds more purposeful after the thirty-one-year-old's classical vocal training. Hugs like "Ich hab von der Musik geträumt" and"Inkomplett" meet storm clouds à la "Mein Eid" and the Sophia Blenda feature "MeinMo(nu)ment". "Bergab" (Downhill) takes you, me and Max Gruber on a rigorous gutting and witch hunt. For large parts of the record, he is on the run from himself, the old ghosts, the tiresome waking state: " If only I had never woken up, I'd sleep in eternal happiness". Gruber searches and searches: For inner peace, for grace, for unburnt ground, for new versions of himself - and in vain. Memories always seem to blur with time: Gruber's words - to himself and to the world - sound softer, more forgiving, more summing up in the back of the record. A key moment? The monologue-like sound poem"Rosa" recorded by actress Rosa Lembeck- "It's like this: you sing and it becomes."

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