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The Devil You + Me

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The Notwist

 
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The Devil  You + Me
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Avg: 3.5 (161 ratings)

Sublime German indie band showcase sharp lyrics and sweet melodies underpinned by a dark experimental tendency and a melancholy soul.

  • We Say...

    If The Devil, You + Me was your first exposure to German indie band The Notwist, you would probably be forgiven for not realizing that they started life as a heavy-metal outfit. The pared-back, unshowy but sun-dappled instrumentation that recalls American Analog Set on songs like “Good Lies” is about as far from the virtuosity and brash showmanship of your average metal band as you can get. This said, little flashes of their origins still remain. Cuts such as the sublime “Gloomy Planets” are shot through with jagged shards of buzz-saw guitar, but they're not designed to overwhelm the listener so much as to throw the rest of the song into sharp relief. This uneasy listening experience is a particular gift of main songwriter Markus Acher — who beguiles with sweet and simple melodies and heartfelt lyrics only to subtly subvert the listener’s experience with creeping anxiety. The ambiguities of crackling electronics and glitchcore techniques pull the rug out from under the listener in slow motion, making The Devil, You & Me a little gem of an album.

  • They Say...

    After all that time spent developing, or (to be more kind) bouncing from place to place, beginning with scraggly post-hardcore (The Notwist, Nook) and then moving to relatively streamlined and occasionally melodic post-hardcore (12) and then abstract electronics (Shrink), the Notwist delivered a smart and song-oriented synthesis of the organic and synthetic on Neon Golden. And then, for six years, nothing, unless a remix EP and a soundtrack contribution count. The length between Neon Golden and its follow-up was twice the length of time between any two other Notwist albums, a gap that can be partially attributed to the members' several outside projects. Despite involvement in a number of varied recordings since their last album, The Devil, You + Me is as much a natural extension of Neon Golden as Nook was an extension of The Notwist. As subdued as ever, all the while retaining a sense of tension that has been a constant throughout its discography, the band makes only slight refinements. The most notable change is the incorporation of the 21-member Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, who add further intensity to tightly wrapped songs like "Where in the World" (where escape is sought but impossible to achieve) and "Hands on Us" (which might be the album's most affecting and downcast song, despite its lyrical vagueness). The album could pass as a slightly more dramatic, comparatively spindly, and male-fronted alternate of Scary World Theory, the excellent 2001 release from central Notwist member Markus Acher's Lali Puna. It has that same slightly unnerved but ultimately comforting effect, and like Neon Golden, you might want to take it everywhere with you, even when you can only replay it in your mind.

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