ARBEIT
"The song is the focus" by Hanno Ehrler (DLF):
Like the core of an atom which every thing else revolves around the song
as such represents the centre of all creative activities, and fascinates
the band to the outmost. The song pictures the initial point of the projects,
and the work space for extended creativity in terms of composing. It also
serves as a formal pattern that is used to embed the musical results.
The tight connection to the popular and to a high degree traditional art
form in no way means that the band from Frankfurt is moving around within
the boarders of a conventional, familiar or simply entertaining territory – on
the contrary: The musicians take all freedom of modern composing into account.
This can be for instance the option not only to use modern, contemporary
tunes, but any available material, including folk songs, “Schlager” (genre
of German pop songs), or an art song. These songs are either implemented
like a kind of quotation or as rearranged sound fragments. In this way the
original context of the song blurs and opens itself to new interpretation
and new ways of composing and rearranging the tune of the title, the harmony,
or even the impression.
For their projects the band picks out special themes that can be found in
their source songs. Only those subjects are selected which in the band’s
opinion are relevant today:
They use German folk songs to digest the field of “Heimat” (“home”).
Hereby they make their contribution to the public dispute over this subject,
which is determined by debates about patriotism, discussions on a film by
Edgar Reitz with the title “Heimat”, and much more.
Under the headline “Marx”, the band tracked down and studied
socialistic and propagandistic songs to reflect the idea of communism, which
apparently is falling apart a decade after the Fall of the Wall. This and
all other themes have a socio-political character. The artists work on the
blimpish or progressive, the dogmatic or utopistic content of the respective
songs. They project it onto today’s society and incorporate their personal
experiences. Concerning the “Marx” project this process led to
a panorama of a satirical GDR (German Democratic Republic) nostalgia, criticism
of socialism and sentimental contemplation of one’s own teenage utopia.
This panorama is determined by a kaleidoscopic complexity with strictly educational
qualities.
The work of the band is based on a close connection between content and music.
The artists choose a subject, to which they devote themselves for a while.
Investigating the chosen topic in detail, every member handles the accumulated
material including text samples, references, and sounds by himself. The result
of this process - comprising individual creation of variations, collages
and tones - is an evolving pool of material which becomes the heart of exchange
and improvising, and leads to the “final products”. Thereby,
the artists tear down the boarders of the concept of “work”.
It is all work in progress: Every step is followed by another step, but the
individual methods of realization differ from one another.
The musicians of “arbeit” form a band, but at the same time they
see themselves as individuals. This balancing act provides them with their
creative tension. Regarding the matter of esthetical sound qualities, there
are elements all band members prefer likewise, for example the excessive
use of noisy, electronic distorted sounds such as crackling, clicking and
rustling. What they do not share are their preferences for special working
methods and types of music. The latter covers almost everything from popular
tunes and melodic vocal elements to radical noise experiments that are made
use of in a quotation-like way.
Breaking with the restricted options that the term “song” – at
first sight - offers concerning its connotation, the band from Frankfurt
and its unique working field of sound redefines the genre in a modern and
fresh way.
Hanno Ehrler
more reviews
"The song is the focus" by Hanno
Ehrler (DLF)
"Der heimliche Aufmarsch" -
Video! Click to watch!
Order CDs
Bernhard Reiss
Picture