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Philipp Eisenblätter – Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Philipp Eisenblätter - Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt

Philipp Eisenblätter - Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt
2.9

Rating

 2.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Beautiful underlying songwriting

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Very distracting long non-vocal parts in and between the songs
  • Arrangement is rather confusing to me at multiple stages

Interestingly, most of the press information I received about Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt by Philipp Eisenblätter declares the album as a debut one. However, there has been a long-play release four years ago already. I share my thoughts about the 15th July 2022 release with out.

 

Philipp Eisenblätter – About The Artist

Philipp Eisenblätter is a German artist, who is originally from Duisburg in the Ruhrgebiet region. He is blending German pop with folk and blues elements. In 2018, he released his eight song debut album Gaunerstück, which also contains his most popular single so far, the Duisburg-Lied (“Duisburg Song”).

 

Philipp Eisenblätter – Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt – Track by Track

The ten track album lasts 46 minutes.

1. Frühling

Ten songs, 46 minutes? There are three songs on the album, which are close to seven minutes – or even exceed the duration. In that regard, the opener Frühling (“Spring”) feels like a mainstream radio pop track and lasts 2:36 minutes. The style of the song is rather dreamish. I am not too fond of the background noises. Interesting fact: this song has been releases as Als wär der Frühling da (“As if spring was there”, the key line of the chorus) already. However that version did not come with the bothering backing noise. I would definitely prefer the December 2020 version.

2. Das Jahr

Second song, similar thoughts: on the one hand, Das Jahr is a beautiful folk music track, which is nicely working with keyboard lines and acoustic guitars strumming. However, Philipp Eisenblätter and his team put rather intense chords to the background of the songs. They rather destroy the listen than add value in my point of view.

3. Astronaut

The Astronaut is starting with spheric sounds for more than three minutes. At this point, the piano and the guitar are joining in and taking over control of the melody. Soon thereafter, the vocals are joining in as well and the song in facts turns into a nice listen with nice lyrics and a good folk sound. The first three minutes of the overall 7:29 ones confuse me too much though.

4. Krieg

Astronaut seamlessly connects to Krieg (“War”). Again, the song is starting with an instrumental part. This time, the introductory sounds remind of of electronic sounds, but also didgeridoo notes. In the last some ninety seconds, these four minutes turn into a rather peppy track. I just don’t get why you add this level of contrast.

5. Für Dich

This song is starting rather quick, asking Kann ich für Dich noch Lieder schreiben? – “Can I still write songs for you?”). Yeah, there is this background sound again (which also works as a connecting element between the tracks). Thus, Für Dich makes me a sad. The song as such is a lovely write and storytelling.

6. Eine Wie Dich

Erst wenn wir nicht mehr fliegen
Erst wenn der Nebel sich verzieht
Und jede Nacht kalt und klar auf uns fällt
Erst dann weiss ich,
dass Du es bist
Den ich an meiner Seite wissen will.

(“Not before we don’t fly anymore,
Not before the fog is fading
And every night falls cold and clear on us
Then I finally know
That it is you
who I want to know to be by my side”)

No song is illustrating better the beauty of Philipp Eisenblätter songs than this one. On the other hand, there is a lot of instrumental, atmospheric filling material again, which finally leads to a 5:37 minute song. It just moves my focus too much away from the lovely story the German artist is telling.

7. Sterne (immer Noch Da)

Again, the long melodic finale of Eine wie Dich joins into a long intro of Sterne (immer Noch Da). Even though I feel that the melodic elements are again too much in this song, they at least support the story with dreamy, atmospheric, sometimes also disturbing and confusing sounds. The basis of the seventh song of the album is a really nice folk-pop song.

8. Ihre Kinder

This song is about the simplicity of life. Ja, bei Dir war ich immer ein Kind – “Being with you, I have always been a kid” – paints a beautiful memory. One reason why I can relate to the song so well is also that it is simple, presenting the message in a straight and nice way.

9. Das Meer (suite)

In the second last song, we are diving into Das Meer (“The sea / ocean”). With 7:16 minutes, this trip is the second longest song of the album. The song feels lively, almost a bit of crazy, before the song is decreasing its volume and the artist is citing a narration (I could not identify if that is a quote or written for that song). It definitely does add atmosphere and turns this song into a special listen.

10. The Times They Are A-changing

The closing track? A acoustic guitar, multi-vocal recording of the Bob Dylan classic. Rather feels like a demo than a studio track.

 

Philipp Eisenblätter – Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Philipp Eisenblätter – Das Jahr, das sich um eins verschiebt – My View

I absolutely struggle with the album. Philipp Eisenblätter does tell beautiful stories, he is creating a lot of atmosphere and feelings around his compositions. But for me, he is pushing for too much, he is putting too much effort into the tracks and the melodic interludes between the songs, the messages is just too long. The non-vocal parts are also not versatile enough to be a stunning part of the album by themselves. They rather feel like a break, a spiritual part. I personally don’t enjoy listening to the album in that arrangement, even though I feel that the underlying songs are really good. Maybe you do better than me.

 

Music & Media – 2021 German Artists Postings

Here are all my 2021 Music & Media postings related to German Artists:

 

Ruhrgebiet Travel Postings

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