Pleil - Die Spur des Kalenders (CD)
Marco Pleil has been performing since 1990 and, after countless concerts, finally landed at "Rock am Ring" in 1996 with his first band, "Strange" (file under: Pop-Punk), and their self-titled debut album (and later in the US). Starting in 1999, after Strange's dissolution and a creative hiatus, he released four albums as/with "Cloudberry" and a brief singles stint with EMI. He played shows with Editors, Nada Surf, Breeders, Ash, and Rivals Schools, including adventurous sleepovers on shared apartment floors and backstage sofas. Rolling Stone magazine wrote at the time about Cloudberry's last album, "The Closer We Get": "...sounds a bit like an attempt to combine Britpop and US college rock. Contemporaries might think of it as a rougher version of Miles."
In 2011, after the implosion of Cloudberry, Marco finally decided to go on stage alone. How? Somehow! Electric guitar & (from now on German) vocals. He put together a digital EP in the studio ("Punkt. statt, Komma"), then simply played a few shows, testing out the different stages: large, medium, and small, cafés, clubs, and festivals. The concerts became numerous, including with major artists like Therapy? (acoustic tour), The Wedding Present, Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Tito & Tarantula, and a visit to the renowned Maifeld Derby. The idea of making a solo album matured.
A first attempt with producer Ekki Maas of the band "Erdmöbel" yielded two songs ("Zerstörer," "Gemeinsam Einsam") and a DIY CD single, which Pleil eagerly promoted at concerts. "Like Kettcar solo," says the Flight2 mailorder company. "I recommend these songs to anyone who loves David Bowie's Changes and is open to Tocotronic and Britpop," writes the online magazine "Musicampus." In 13, Marco then sent an email to Christian Bethge (productions for Messer, Laura Carbone, Gewalt, Stella Sommer, among others).
After a phone call and a night's sleep, the decision was made: he would record his first PLEIL album with him! In May 2019, they spent five days at the RAMA Studio in Mannheim. Pleil and Bethge worked with a decidedly minimalist approach to the production, completely forgoing acoustic guitars and percussion; only a few overdubs and Marco's doubled vocals filled atmospheric gaps. "The Trace of the Calendar" is lo-fi, raw, and direct.
01 High Energy
02 Everything remains different
03 Human Zoo
04 The Trail of the Calendar
05 In the course
06 Open Channel
07 Melanchronics
08 Immediately after receipt
09 Among Sheep
10 No-Machine
11 Little Man
12 The Last Song