| An accident happens, and love and life are over. Pierre (Michel Piccoli) flies off the road in
his Alfa Romeo, just as he has decided not to end his relationship with Hélène (Romy
Schneider) - indeed to marry Hélène. A thought that came to him at the sight in passing
of a happy wedding party. . . Film scenes from Les Choses de la vie / The Things of Life,
which brings us now, almost fifty years later, to the present record, a start at the end:
Chanson d 'Hélène , an original by Philippe Sarde, in the film performed by Romy and
Michel Piccoli, sets the final accent on this latest song track from Munich's
Hochzeitskapelle (Wedding Band). Without words. We can think it over, imagining the
group in that film cast which lets drivers lost in thought roll their cars over. Imagine that
the Hochzeitskapelle provides the 'Bande Sonore' ('soundtrack') for the weddings of
those who rest in eternal peace.
Almost half of the composers and original authors of the songs collected here are already
swinging in the hereafter. So it's definitely morbid and moribund, what the indie pop
greats Micha & Markus Acher (The Notwist) , Evi Keglmaier (Keglmaier, Zwirbeldirn) ,
Mathias Götz (Le Millipede) and Alex Haas (playing in about twenty bands) , with
sousaphone, trumpet, drums, viola, tuba, organ, harmonium, trombone, glockenspiel, toy
piano and banjo do so well. And at the same time it is also sublime. Basically sitting in
concert, without light and without electricity, to say nothing of a stage, and eating and
drinking between the songs, they unfold a musical cartography, on which they travel
around the world more than once, bringing the old and the older, the far-away and the
even further closer to us - with a permanently grounding and canonizing effect. But when
listened to attentively the route of the new album leads into abysses!
The central theme If I Think Of Love sounds like a mild morning after a long, bad storm,
or like the first rays of sunshine after a deep, hard winter. The piece harmonizes gently as
if it were created by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was however written by the
Italian-American Lisa Germano , her lyrics (as heard on her '98 album Slide, or in the
version of her band-project OP8 with Howe Gelb, Joey Burns and John Convertino)
buzzing with thoughts that abruptly open up the darkrooms of the big topic - love.
Self-doubt, naked fear, loss, separation - that's what she stands for - love. And then it is
clear that in this gentle mildness much exhaustion rests - no, in the first sunlight we will
perform no euphoric dance of joy, we will just sit there and regenerate ourselves.
Anohito , a composition by the Tenniscoats from Tokyo also invokes this moment. This
friendship, which has already resulted in the common and ongoing project Spirit Fest ,
here again bears a delicate flower.
But oh, those dancing feet! Whether swinging in the Peruvian Cumbia of Sonido
Amazónico , or calling the Voodoo from Trinidad - the fire and fever of the eternal lust for
seduction! Dangerous! The Night Of The Vampire had been banned by the BBC as
' unsuitable for those with weak nerves ' in the version by the Moontrekkers produced by
Joe Meek when it appeared in 1961. Consequently, René Aubry's Prima Donna is a
dance of the dead - in the mechanical turning of music box music we can hear the
rhythm as rattling bones - wedding music? There we have it - the bitter-black humor of
the Hochzeitskapelle.
To stop or not to stop, that is the question. We find more stopovers in Northern, then
Southern Americana from the last millennium in the songwriting of Elliott Smith , who
receives a special dedication here - the Kapelle has interpreted two of his dark, dreary,
but much loved compositions ( Between The Bars and Waltz No . 1 ). Of course: In 2003
the composer succumbed to the stab wounds that had arisen in his love fight. Or the
search for a stopover in the songwriting of Laura Veirs and her Nightingale , which is
conjured in deep sadness, she may come to sing her song, rather is not to sleep and
dream in the dream. And maybe only she alone can stop, the Rainbow Connection ,
written by Paul Williams and sung by Kermit the Frog in the Muppet Movie. So far there
should have been no Hochzeitskapelle concert, as there are no tears in this song. . .
This new collection of songs - like their debut album The World Is Full Of Songs that
was so enthusiastically received by audiences and critics - was recorded by Andreas
'g. rag' Staebler , and likewise it is also published by the house of Gutfeeling . Those who
have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the joyful temporary 'marriages' in Munich
between the Hochzeitskapelle and G. Rag y Los Hermanos Patchekos or G. Rag &
The Landlergschwister knows that this is the budding of an extended family - a family
which is truly united in their love of music.
Oh yes, the end, the beginning: Film music frames this album! To close we enter the The
Windmills Of Your Mind , Michel Legrand's famous melancholy melody from The
Thomas Crown Affair. And yes, after all, the Hochzeitskapelle with good reason has
been nominated for the 2019 German Film Award in the Best Film Music category
( Wackersdorf, director: Oliver Haffner) & they won it! |
