Bongen’s - Fragebuch (CD)

Cologne–Wuppertal–Lennestadt is Bongen's geographical triangle. And rock–indie pop–singer/songwriter the musical element. With their third studio album, "Fragebuch," they deliver a lovingly arranged and gruffly eloquent powerhouse. Three years were spent writing, arranging, recording, changing, discarding, and re-recording. But in the end, the trickiest question of all was the one about the album's title. And yet it was so obvious:
"I've had a notebook like this ever since this band was founded. I fill it with lyric ideas, loose thoughts, words I like. And questions. Always questions. And at some point I wrote 'My Question Book' in capital letters on the front cover," recalls Mario Bongen, the band's singer and songwriter. The coinage then made it into the lyrics of "360°" and eventually onto the cover of the new record.
So let's get to the questions. An album production like this, for example, raises a lot of questions: about the sound. The right attitude. About the song selection. How to send the listener on a journey. How, in the 2010s, you can still manage to wrest 45 minutes of attention from someone. And then there's the question of financing. The four musicians found a contemporary answer: crowdfunding. With the "Bogen's Vier und ihr" (Bogen's Four and Her) campaign, they raised the necessary funds to independently and uncompromisingly create exactly the album the four had in mind.
The result is a record with a lot of light and a lot of shadow.
Warm and raucous. Emotional and furious. Unafraid of old-fashioned genres (country, folk) or newfangled instruments (beer bottles). The main thing is that it serves the song, its story. And so each story gets the backdrop it deserves: the rumbling walking bass in "These legs will never be able to hobble again," the haunting organ hook in "This is it," or the eerily beautiful brass ensemble in "Dig a Grave." The lyrics are free of platitudes and artificial posturing. Instead, they feature personal anecdotes, kitsch-free love songs, and crudely crafted everyday poetry.
"Why am I here? And what percentage of me?"
Lines like these point simply and precisely to the bigger picture and to the truth that always lies somewhere in between – questions never lie. This opens up a clear view into the songwriter's inner life – at least as much as one would expect from someone who prefers to ask questions rather than give answers. The "question book" does, however, provide at least one answer: In the final song, the mantra is "Follow the signs." And for Bongen's, all signs are currently green.

1. The Last Song
2. Boxers
3. These legs will never limp again
4. This is it
5. Where I want to go
6. 360°
7. Dig a grave
8. At the saddest bar in the area
9. Krzwrtrtsl
10. Black Eye
11. Closed society
12. The one in the yellow rain cape
13th character