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THE GENTLE LURCH |
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Lars Hiller: Guitar, Vocals, Lapsteel, Harmonica, Banjo |
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Frank Heim: Guitars, Vocals, Lapsteel, Strings, Beat |
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Cornelia Mothes: Piano, Vocals, Organs, Melodika, Accordion |
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> Presskit |
In the early nineties “Alternative Country” was created as a musical genre, that combined Desert Rock, strange varieties of Folkmusic and Country. Later “Americana” was established as term for new music with a strong reference to traditional North American roots. Already the album title “From Around A Fire” by the trio THE GENTLE LURCH from Dresden, Germany, bears the smell of the prairie and buffalo dung. What´s special about this album is maybe not the fact, that you could convidently file it next to Giant Sand and Smog in the CD-shelf. What´s really special is this contemplative rumbling that is inherent in the music; a sound like a muffler falling off an old Chevrolet. Or, as the band puts it: “Songs like rotten wood or a genuine meal or something which a crow would land on.”
Singer and guitarist Lars Hiller conjures up the dusty beauty of winding country roads with his dark and murmuring voice. The songs of THE GENTLE LURCH are little treasures like you might discover while clearing out a loft. A single guitar melody, which stops and starts anew, the ignition of a lighter, a tiny piano appreggio – everything sounds somewhat yellowed, like pictures of a long gone summer. The recordings sound very spontaneous, like first-takes, with every note and word eventually tumbling into place – “gently lurching” so to say. Here the cleverness of their debut “From Around A Fire” reveals itself. In the course of the album the sound spectrum is gently enlarged. The leading instruments, guitars, harmonica and drums are joined by piano, organ and accordion and last but not least by the beautiful second vocals of piano player Cornelia Mothes. Halfways through the album suddenly a cacophony of sound bursts in, like all the instruments have run wild at once, including the rattling of forks and cups and a parody of cowboy-jippiehs. But the broken romantic atmosphere is kept alive. So the album is bumping along like an ox cart and we´re looking forward to every single pothole and broken spoke. Just a little like we are happy about an unstraightened riverbed.
On their second album "The Beat of the Heart is the Beat of the Boss", a double CD, the chamberlike coziness of the predecessor has made room for more elaborated, epic anthems, sometimes leading into rather dark and dusty areas. The album is again covered with this certain old patina, which characterizes the band´s music, without ever sounding retro or cliché. Every mumbled word, every crooked piano note and banjo plunk perfectly fit where they are.
Live on stage the trio often expands it´s line-up by members of the befriended bands bergen and Garda, also from Dresden, to form a little folk orchestra.
Photo: Björn Günther
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