Review Summary: Wir wollen doch nur was erleben
Frankly speaking, it’s been a while since I’ve listened to a new band I would categorize as just “indie rock.” When I type it out like that, it sounds like I’m using it like some kind of derogatory term, but I promise that’s not intentional. It’s just what happens when a sound becomes overdone. The thing about “indie rock” is that due to its rise in popularity however many years ago, it’s become so nebulous a term/genre. It encompasses so much and describes so little. What was once a broad label used to describe bands outside the major label system is now used as a “genre” to describe any band that sounds even slightly left of the dial or uses an instrument other than guitar, bass, and drums. One that’s been described as “it’s the kind of music an obscurity-obsessed, holier-than-thou hipster would listen to,” while at the same time being used to describe some of the most successful major label acts of our time. This frustrating dichotomy keeps me up at night, I assure you.
All this to say that it’s always nice to be reminded once in a while why “indie rock” became so frustratingly ubiquitous in the first place. It can still sound pretty good (even great) sometimes, if done right. Germany’s Kaufmann Frust started life out as a slowcore band, before changing it up ever so slightly for their punkier 2018 debut record,
Aus Wachs. While perhaps not an overwhelming success, it undeniably housed some great songs within it. With
Im Blau, they once again take another small step, adding in elements of synthpop, new wave, and art rock to their sound. While there are still remnants of that initial spacey sound from their first few outings, they’re all but window dressing on this record. No, this is a much more standard indie rock affair. “Indie rock,” again, meaning a hodgepodge of a bunch of other genres. I wouldn’t say Kaufmann Frust managed to knock me off my feet with this album, but I do think that they pull off this sound a hell of a lot better than similar bands of their ilk.
Title track “Im Blau,” one of the album’s highlights, is a proper tense, goth-lite rocker that jumps effortlessly from Deutsch wailing to dulcet Glockenspiel bells. “Variationen’s” steady, deceptively-simple beat is one I found myself being surprisingly drawn to. In fact, the 1-2-3 late-album combo of “Variatonen,” “Blaue Lippen,” and “Kinder” ended up being my favorite stretch of songs on the album. If the band does anything well on this album, it’s finding a hook/idea and building on top of it. Sometimes that tactic works, like on the aforementioned tracks, but as a direct result,
Im Blau ends up feeling quite samey (aside from the inexplicable addition of the practically avant-garde “Du antwortest dir selbst”). Nothing wrong with that if the album’s good, but I never felt like they reached the highs of their last album here because of how calculated and overthought every track feels. If they could somehow merge their past spontaneity with this more catchy sound, I really think they could make a breakthrough. As it stands, this is still a very solid outing for a band that seems to still be trying to find their footing even a decade into their career. So don’t let the nebulous “indie rock” label scare you off. There’s still a few rough cobalt gems to uncover.
