Much Better, Thank You - The House is Moving (12" Vinyl-Album)

Dissonant melodica clouds float above stoic guitar chords, underpinned by a threatening bass line. Much Better, Thank You opens their second album with a powerful and wild opening.
The band first attracted attention in 2015 with “Concrete Memories,” their single “against forgetting – on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.”
Now the five musicians present nine new songs, including two cover versions that, unlike their original compositions, feature German lyrics. One almost gets the feeling that the band is using these songs to position themselves somewhere between "Das Model" by Kraftwerk and "Zu Asche, zu Staub" from the series Babylon Berlin. The originals aren't exactly songs you'd imagine a guitar band would play, but MBTY have expanded their musical vocabulary so much that they seem to master it effortlessly.
"The House is Moving," the album's title track, impressively reflects the band's artistic potential. It begins in the living room, or at least that's what the intro, played on a lone acoustic guitar, sounds like. Timidly, searching at first, then clear and powerful, a violin joins in, then an electric guitar. A long time passes before the drums and bass enter, and the door to the song's sound fully opens.
Heidi's voice, haunting and deeply sad, carries through the sparse lyrics. From the third verse onward, a blood-red, sawing guitar intensifies the intensity. The good feeling quickly fades; the violin doesn't provide energy, but rather absorbs it. At some point, you no longer know: Is this one violin, are there two? Is this pure beauty or dissonance?
“Two Yellow Lanes” dreams in 5/4 time. The offbeat of “Summerland Suite” invites you to dance between lust and melancholy. “Kite Runner” sneaks up on you with a hint of a tango and soars – between thoughts about people and their reference groups – into a pompous wall of sound in which a bass clarinet breaks through the walls of guitars and lets in Irish melodies and French chanson. At times you'll be surprised to hear something, for example when an archaic automatic accompaniment from the 70s sounds in “Hot Deal”. “Fishtank”, a somewhat conciliatory waltz, closes the circle – happiness comes only at the bottom of a bottle, when you forget that you had bigger dreams. You always wanted more than this.
Afraid of stylistic breaks? No, never! The band has consistently developed a compact sound that knows how to challenge its listeners but never overwhelms them. Skillfully arranged guitars, dynamic drums, driving bass lines, and, above all, the ethereal voice of Heidi Engel.
Much Better, Thank You have landed, miles away from their origins, but happy in their daily unhappiness.
The house is burning, my head is spinning. An album full of power and disturbing beauty.

01 Secret Service
02 The House Is Moving
03 To ashes, to dust
04 Summerland Suite
05 Kite Runner
06 Hot Deal
07 Two Yellow Lanes
08 Model
09 Fish Tank