POPSALON - Drangsal

TODAY IN THE BOTTOM LINE: Drangsal

After a personal and creative breakdown, Max Gruber alias Drangsal left the concept of the solo artist behind and reinvented DRANGSAL as a band. Together with Lukas Korn and Marvin Holley, he created the album Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen, which will be released in June 2025. The path to this led through profound changes: Away from the controlled solo effort, towards collaborative, spontaneous work in a trio - supported by a new self-image and the principle of "as little as possible, as much as necessary". The result is a seventeen-part work that radically differs in sound from earlier DRANGSAL albums - less synth-pop, more acoustic instruments, strings, wind instruments, and even classical elements such as harpsichord and clavinet make an appearance. The music is purified, more honest, allows for empty spaces and lives from snapshots that producer Max Rieger has deliberately not smoothed out. In terms of content, Gruber remains unsparing: he sings of self-alienation, inner turmoil and longing for a different, calmer self - sometimes tender, sometimes angry, in German and English. The album is a departure in descent, a search process without redemption, but with moments of gentleness and clarity. Gruber's voice seems sharpened by his classical vocal training, his lyrics deep and existential. The key sentence, spoken by Rosa Lembeck in the concluding sound poem "Rosa", sums up the project: "It's like this: you sing and it becomes."