"Chapter Two" is the title of the new album by the sibling duo Benni & ich from Hiddenhausen (North Rhine-Westphalia). Released on August 21, it is the third album by the brothers Sebastian and Benjamin Hinz – and their second full-length album in German.
What can you expect? A colorful, diverse album full of stories, observations, humor, and criticism – wrapped up in catchy songs that are as stylistically diverse as their topics: aging superheroes, declarations of love, tennis players in broom closets, anthems for people with heavy bones, or paradisiacal cities like Bielefeld. When writing, it's important to the brothers that their songs work just as well with two voices and two guitars as they do with a full band. While everything on their albums is produced in a band arrangement, at their concerts they focus on the essentials: their lyrics and melodies. Drums and bass were recorded for this album in Australia by Daniel Farrugia and Luke Hodgens, who otherwise provide their services to the successful Australian sibling duo Angus and Julia Stone. Together with other guest musicians, they have created an album that the brothers are very proud of – and which is a lot of fun to listen to.
Band biography: Brothers Sebastian ("Batta") and Benjamin Hinz from Hiddenhausen (Herford district, North Rhine-Westphalia) have been making music together for a long time. Since 2017, they have been doing so with their own songs and lyrics under the name Benni & ich. Their first album, "Jukebox," was released that same year. Just one year later, they followed up with their second album, "Kapitel Eins." While the previous album was entirely in English, with "Kapitel Eins," the siblings made the logical switch to German lyrics. These lyrics address everything that concerns the two songwriters: joy, pain, love, friendship, the sometimes crazy everyday life, and the comedy that surrounds it all. The musical influences of the two multi-instrumentalists range from pop and rock to folk, country, and jazz—and this diversity can also be found on the albums produced in their own studio.
They arrange their pieces as a band and play all the instruments themselves—with a few exceptions. On stage, however, the duo performs their songs as they were written: with two voices and two guitars. With their program full of catchy melodies, Benni & I have been touring Germany regularly since 2017.
01 Hey Sabine
02 Paris
03 You belong to me
04 Stop the world
05 Over and Done
06 Everything you need
07 Heavy in order
08 Just like that
09 Bonnie in a dress
10 Around the World
11 telenovelas
12 Back to Bielefeld
