“Tiere is a very Teutonic electronic rock album where Q2 transforms simplistic hymns into monuments of catchy EM”
1 Wolf 7:09
2 Schmetterling 3:53
3 Bieber 3:50
4 Fledermaus 4:42
5 Loewe 7:48
6 Kuh 5:39
7 Kater 7:15
8 Adler 4:51
(CD/DDL 42:25) (V.F.)
(Vintage kind of E-rock)
When I looked at the artwork of TIERE, I had a movement of astonishment. And not in the good sense of the word. Drawings of animals, since Tiere = Animals, frozen on paper by childish hands! Admit that it's kind of unusual. I had the impression of looking at the first drawings of my children. A bit as if we were projected years back. And that's kind of what awaits us with the German duo Q2's second album. Frank Husemann and Sunny Vollherbst have put together an album where simplicity is the basis of everything. TIERE is very Teutonic electronic rock where Q2 transforms simplistic hymns into monuments that stuff our ears of concrete. The music hooks even if the duo likes to insert dysfunctional elements in these melodies that surprise, as much by their spontaneity as by their effectiveness. Unlike Astroids, this album is designed in a tamer vision with 8 tracks with an average duration of 5minutes 30 minutes.
And it starts with Wolf. The first oscillations are lost in a meshing of robotic percussions to guitar chords which spit out a very captivating Teutonic rock. The introductory rhythm instantly hooks your hearing and makes us stamp our feet. Riffs come to peck this moderate race while clouds of ether float in layers, just to remind us of the foundations of EM. The pace remains steady. It's lead in the ears. Minimalist? We can say yes, just like the rhythms that garnish TIERE by the way, but with subtle variances that delight listening. Here the guitar of Frank Husemann, and even if his play remains sober, alters the race of Wolf with just enough subtleties in the tones of his six-strings to make derivate just as well the blows of robotic percussions. I liked it, I felt like I heard a James Bond hymn being played all wrong. It's electronic rock with Kraftwerk sauce. And even if the spirit of Kraftwerk floats on the 8 titles here, it's difficult to identify the period. I would say it's pre-Authoban or in the The Man-Machine, like with Kater where the rhythm is so fluid and the melody so incredibly catchy. It takes root in the ear, even if its end is as indomitable as a cat in heat. Schmetterling also offers a pretty good earworm melody. The keyboards resuscitate these old analog tones which charmed, like these old organs which hung in almost every family in the 60's. The rhythm is hopping and has an elastic effect with bass chords which growl and percussions which spit white noises. Bieber takes a bit of Wolf's cybernetic beats. It's a mixture of rock and synth-pop with a bass line as captivating as the percussions and a less harmonious guitar than on Wolf. A bit like Loewe which is heavier, more vicious and with a guitar full of wah-wah effects. Fledermaus is a darker title, a little less accessible where the percussions sculpt a continuous thunder and where the waves of guitars and synths mold the sensory languages and the threatening mass movements of bats. Let's say that the music aptly reflects the idea behind the title. And that's also true for Schmetterling by the way. Quite the opposite of Kuh which is a kind of very catchy rumba, while Alder, which is a bit in the same genre as Fledermaus, wonderfully traces the winged movements of an eagle. The rhythm is rather ambient at first. It's prepared itself to take flight on slow dark keyboard pads. And a bit like the eagle, whose title it is, the music adjusts to the flight of the soaring raptor with agitated percussions and impulses from a bass line. The wings adjust their velocity, bringing Alder's nervous and quavering rhythm to the zenith of his destination. And it's the descent ... Ambient and psychotronic. Two elements which adorn with accuracy and nuance a pleasant album, and audacious at times, which reminds us a little of the genesis of EM.
Sylvain Lupari (December 22nd, 2014) *****
Available at Q2 Bandcamp
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