The Notwist - The Devil, You and Me

 

For those that don’t know, The Notwist, a band that started out in Germany in the late 80s are in their third decade together. Having released their grunge debut in 1989, The Notwist have proved to be masters of reinvention and currently pioneers of post-Radiohead angst rock. Their efforts to unite off-beat pop with darker, electronica tinged post-rock were perfected on 2002’s Neon Golden. Now after a six-year hiatus The Notwist are back, but can they follow their own footsteps?

The answer is… sort of. Let’s just imitate the real, until we find a better one sings Markus Acher on album opener Good Lies and unfortunately, this rings true for most of The Devil, You & Me. The Notwist just haven't progressed, they haven't arrived at anywhere better and instead their new album is another Neon Golden, no better, no worse. The familiar minor-keyed, mid-tempo numbers are all here as expected, split into acoustic pop ballads (Gloomy Planets, Gone Gone Gone and the title track) and more experimental, heavier, electronic influenced tracks (lead single Where In This World and On Planet Off). They both work, but hey, we knew that already.

New single Where In This World is perhaps the most complicated track The Notwist have produced to date, a haunting, heavy song that mixes electronic beats with celestial orchestration. It has an almost other-worldly quality to it, and is one of the strongest numbers on the album. Similarly, On Planet Off is an oppressive, dark track reminiscent of 90s era Massive Attack, that contains the not very reassuring and slightly disturbing chorus lyric I would never beat you up, made somehow acceptable by its trip hop surroundings. Slow-burning, atmospheric album opener Good Lies sounds like Interpol at their finest, and mixes perfectly the bands talent for acoustic and epic, whilst the brilliantly melancholic Hands on Us is another highlight, boasting simple, sombre strings and stuttering beats.

But The Notwist do acoustic to. Gloomy Planets, probably the most pop track here, is a beautiful guitar song laced with scratchy vocals. Changing tack halfway through it turns all epic instrumental with a wave of abstract electronic instrumentation, and is all the better for it. The title track, another sincere and uncluttered piano/guitar balled, is one of the album’s best songs and proof that it is at their most stripped back that The Notwist are at their most effective.

However, the downside to the kind of music The Notwist make is that it can become monotonous, and, dare I say it, (go on.. say it, hell I'll even underline it - Ed) boring. Gone Gone Gone is a slightly nondescript album close and on Boneless the strange electronic instruments threaten to become too much. Sleep is just plain, well, sleepy.

It must be depressing for The Notwist to have to follow and album like Neon Golden that was so well received, and it's disappointing that what they've produced is by comparison, alright. Newcomers to the band may well love this, but I suspect that most long term fans will be left disappointed. However, it's unfair of me to judge The Devil, You and Me in relation to what came before it, so lets forget about all that and just call it.. pleasing.

Laura Rodwell

Get The Devil, You and Me from Play.com

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