And One
9.9.99 9 Uhr

THE REVIEW

With an album title that's quite unusual, as if an alarm clock is stuck, And One offers a new work after releasing a Best of. At the first listen, it may seem very commercial - just think of "Get You Closer", a very pleasant song, but one that doesn't show much lyrical effort.

However, the album often evokes hypnotic atmospheres and you might think that the obsessive refrain of "Get You Closer" relies on this theme, made explicit by the track "Hypnotize", a song that deals with the influence one can have on another: after all, who controls whom, who dominates in the couple? The theme of hypnosis, of brainwashing, is also found on the album cover: the light bulb draws our gaze towards four nines that seem to parade before our eyes. Even a more cheerful and less committed song like "Evil Boys" can suggest a similar vision because of those " Brainless, aimless... "; "Evil Boys go nowhere...": the moralist has arrived and tries to impose his view of the facts through a blame that he repeats endlessly.

With the theme of hypnosis, we enter a fantastic and unsettling dimension and "Und wieder" is the best example of it. At first, it’s a matter of a landscape (sun, wind...), it is a song about the cycle of nature; but soon, a feeling of desolation is introduced by the "Letzte Vogel" (the last bird). Always on a more melancholic dimension, track 7 ("Pray") and track 8 ("Men In Uniform") should be highlighted. It deals with suffering, pain, first through a song with industrial sounds ("Pray"), focused on religious motifs, and then with something more akin to a sorrowful and heart-wrenching ballad. However, it is true that other songs seem less profound and lighter. This is the case with "Pimmelmann" (quite unbearable, in my opinion) or "Michael Caine", serious but also carefree; but especially "Love & Fingers", which makes use of a contagious rhythm and a humorous text. It’s the track for when you're feeling down. The only negative note of the album is its last track, "Der erste Schritt": a synthesized voice speaks over a very monotonous base (are we still on the hypnosis theme?), nothing phenomenal.

Nevertheless, let's not be fooled by this incident: it will not be because of two less successful tracks ("Pimmelmann" and "Der erste Schritt") that we will condemn it. It is an excellent electronic album that does not just play with rhythms and sounds but knows how to engage with deep themes.