It\u2019s not too often that a German folk pop duo (with hints of reggae and electronica thrown in for good measure) crosses the Atlantic to lodge a single on the Billboard charts and on radios all over. And yet, Milky Chance has done just that with \u201cStolen Dance,\u201d a shambling, charming, hooky track that\u2019s as hard to classify as the duo behind it. Made up by vocalist Clemens Rehbein and DJ Philipp Dausch, the duo hails from Kassel, Germany, where they were schoolmates and played in a jazz band together. <\/p>\n
Hot on the heels of \u201cStolen Dance,\u201d Sadnecessary <\/i>was released in the States just recently, though it\u2019s been out in their native Europe since last year. Theirs is a strange sound: lo-fi but energetic, gentle acoustics intermixed with churning digital beats. Meanwhile, their lyrics sound as if Bon Iver was filtered through an online German-to-English translator, twisted poetry that captures more of a mood than any precise sentiment.<\/p>\n
Opener \u201cStunner\u201d sets up their sound with its flickering electronica underlaid by languorous guitar strumming. Rehbein\u2019s throaty, so laidback they\u2019re almost slurred vocals pull everything together into one unified whole. While it\u2019s hard to capture any deeper meaning to these tracks, they sure sound cool (indeed, the Milky Choice moniker itself was chosen because of its sound, not any particular significance.) I have no idea what Rehbein means when he sings, \u201cWe were young souls on the junk-yard \/ Now we are stunned minds full of junk-goods\u201d on \u201cFlashed Junk Mind,\u201d but somehow, the duo captures a wide-eyed, optimistic atmosphere through the jittery, plinking instrumentation and warm harmonies. <\/p>\n
While the album\u2019s first two cuts are more uptempo, much of the rest of Sadnecessary <\/i>slows down into a more contemplative but still dynamic vein. \u201cRunning\u201d reminds me of Mumford & Sons crossed with a Weezer guitar line. Infused with banjos and echo-y, molasses-slow vocals, it percolates and morphs into an eerie, double-tracked wash of harmonies and Rehbein\u2019s plaintive lyrics. A couple of songs in the middle here get a little muddy: \u201cIndigo\u201d is a minute-long mood piece consisting of Rehbein repeating \u201cWhere are you? Come to me\u201d over a slurry of acoustic guitars, while \u201cFeathery\u201d and the title track just don\u2019t seem to stick. <\/p>\n
However, the second half of the album soars on the wings of second single \u201cDown By The River,\u201d my favorite cut \u201cSweet Sun,\u201d and of course, the penultimate \u201cStolen Dance.\u201d \u201cRiver\u201d is emblematic of Milky Chance\u2019s genre-blurring sound: alternating between roiling and swooning, the guitars provide a nice complement to the reggae looseness of Rehbein\u2019s voice. It\u2019s just weird enough to sound unique but with a song structure that keeps it catchy. Meanwhile, the ubiquitous \u201cStolen Dance\u201d has the sentiment of a ballad but unspools into a rollicking chorus as Rehbein\u2019s voice moves from hushed to assured: \u201cDancing on, do the boogie all night long \/ Stoned in paradise\u2026shouldn\u2019t talk about it.\u201d <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s \u201cSweet Sun\u201d that I\u2019ve had on repeat for a week now, soundtracking my walk to work to give it some excitement. It\u2019s overflowing with sheer kinetic energy and lyrics that are nonsensical but somehow sensual (\u201cYou push me up to the inglorious shadows of a craving \/ And if we fall we blow up like exponential assembly.\u201d The instrumentation shivers and shimmers, and when Rehbein croons, \u201cMmm, you\u2019re my baby \/ I want to lay you down and see how you amaze me,\u201d it\u2019s about as straightforward as the disc gets. <\/p>\n
Sadnecessary <\/i>as an album title doesn\u2019t quite capture the whole scope of the Milky Chance sound \u2013 it\u2019s more downbeat than sad \u2013 but the \u201cnecessary\u201d part has been feeling more and more apt as I continue to spin this batch of offbeat, endearing songs. If you\u2019ve heard and liked \u201cStolen Dance\u201d or just want to see what Germany has to import in terms of folktronica, check this duo out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":32170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9521],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43921","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-milky-chance","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43921"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}