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TAUNUS |
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Jochen Briesen: guitar, vocals |
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Jan Thoben: guitar, vocals |
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Malinche, the debut album by Berlin-based band TAUNUS is an ode to warm and pleasant guitar music. For anyone with a penchant for well-versed, yet unobtrusive picking on a steel-stringed acoustic guitar, this album is a definite recommendation. Although there are vocals on only one out of ten tracks, what one gets to hear on Malinche are basically songs. But then Taunus do not content themselves with simple songwriting; their music is a world in itself that draws its influences from the giant cosmos that is the recent history of music: Postrock, electronica, minimal music, American folk – all this one can glimpse in almost every of the tracks on Malinche. Sometimes, the music is disarmingly simple and lucid, while at other times its tricky and interlocked patterns seem to flow into one another. The sounds we hear are almost exclusively played on acoustic instruments. Nothing and no one makes a racket here; bass, banjo, drums, singing, feedback noises and field recordings – everything is in its place with a matter-of-factness as if it had always belonged there.
One can simply dream oneself away in the flow of Taunus music. Its only on intent listening that the complex structures and the sly play with rhythm and melody become evident. Still – and this is the special thing about Taunus – this music does not display anything overly mathematic or formalistic. Taunus do not show off their virtuosity in complex arrangements, but are more interested in working with the stylistic device of restriction. They focus on the essential. The result is a general mood of warm and cosy melancholy, which is most carefully and meticulously created. Taunus was formed in 2001 by Jochen Briesen and Jan Thoben who are occasionally joined by Wilm Thoben and Sören Schrader. These four guys are also members in various other projects like KINN (with F.S.Blumm), GASTON and SEMUIN.
Photo: Sören Schrader
New TAUNUS-Album "Harriet" available on AHORNFELDER
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