Lali Puna
Two Windows

Ten or fifteen years ago, every new release from Morr Music became a genuine event in the independent music scene. The Berlin label imposed its own aesthetics and sound on the alternative scene, based on minimal electronics and derivatives, combined with a certain taste for wave music, which rightly caught the attention of critics and attracted a solid following of enthusiasts. After all, the quality of the label's productions was excellent and at the same time easy and accessible to all. Among the various artists proposed over the years, some have become universally recognized names in the genre and have continued to obtain a wide audience even when Morr Music's golden era ended, and although it continued to propose new music, it certainly no longer had the same following as before. Among these are various B. Fleischmann, Electric President, Radical Face, mum, Soley, Tarwater...

But the best band on the label's roster was definitely always Lali Puna by Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Acher (the frontman of the Notwist), a band that managed to combine and maximize each of the typical characteristics of the label's sound and aesthetics and perhaps consequently also the one that historically gained more following and recognition.

However, Lali Puna's last album was released in April 2010 (obviously on Morr Music), practically more than seven years ago, and the band had somewhat fallen into oblivion: their return thus comes unexpectedly and at the same time with relevant new developments that might suggest a loss in the quality of the band's music but instead, no.

'Two Windows' is indeed the first album written and recorded by the band without the collaboration of Markus Acher, who left the project to devote himself full-time to the Notwist. Saying that today Lali Puna is mostly a kind of solo project by Valerie Trebeljahr is not entirely wrong, consequently, even if Acher's departure did not entail that of two other historical members of the group such as Christian 'Taison' Heiss and Christoph Brandtner.

Defined as a more dance-floor oriented album compared to the past, 'Two Windows' picks up where Lali Puna left us. The title-track is characterized by Valerie's unmistakable interpretation, derivative of the Kraftwerk experience. Minimal arrangements combine with each other in a superimposition of loops and remixed percussions. 'Deep Dream' applies a minimalist electronic mixed with atmospheres that today someone calls 'dreampop' and that have been overly abused by projects like Beach House or Cigarettes After Sex. Evident here as elsewhere ('Bird Flying High', 'The Bucket') are the emotional references to a certain wave music (Joy Division, New Order... up to Pet Shop Boys in the case of 'Everything Counts On') and the typical cinematic atmospheres ('Head Up High' in collaboration with Radioactive Man or Keith Tenniswood of Two Lone Swordsmen) that recall certain settings in the style of Nicolas Winding Refn and the compositions (definitely more complex) of Cliff Martinez.

'Come Out Your House' and 'Bony Fish' have more sophisticated and seemingly complex arrangements: the recreated atmospheres strongly recall some of Blixa Bargeld's episodes in collaboration with Teho Teardo or previous ones with Alva Noto. 'Her Daily Black' is a dub-step track in the style that Radiohead has been proposing for ten years; 'The Frame' (in collaboration with Dntel aka Jimmy Tamborello) is a pop indietronica episode and with 'Wear My Heart' perhaps proposes the main attitudes and sensibilities of the band and that ideally at home its listeners.

My final judgment on this album is overall sufficient. All in all positive. I think that perhaps those who are more into certain sounds in the indietronica style might appreciate this work surely more than me. In any case, although it is not a masterpiece and this is not the band's best album and perhaps does not even approach the glory of 'Faking the Books' of 2004, it is undeniable that despite Markus Acher, the return of Valerie and the band on the scene is something to be considered positively and that might open new horizons and perspectives for the artist from Munich. 'Two Windows': there are two windows. When one closes, you can always open the other.