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Andreas Dorau – Im Gebüsch

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Andreas Dorau - Im Gebüsch

Andreas Dorau - Im Gebüsch
4.2

Rating

 4.2/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very typical, reduced Dorau album
  • Nice variety between different sounds and styles

There is hardly any more controversial topic between my wife and I than music by Andreas Dorau: while I feel he is a genius, my wife is rather thinking in the very opposite direction. With Im Gebüsch (“In the bushes”), Dorau releases a new set of songs to proof her wrong – here are my thoughts about the album released on 19th January 2024, the sixtieth birthday of the German artist.

 

Andreas Dorau – About The Artist

I introduced you to Andreas Dorau already in my postings about his previous album, the 2019 release Das Wesentliche and the feature about Girls in Love as one of the Songs of my Life. He started to release music very early, also due to the fact that his song Fred vom Jupiter was a big song of the Neue Deutsche Welle. The song was in fact intended being a school project. After school, he originally first went for a movie career. His thesis, a fictive game show Schlag Dein Tier (“Beat your pet”), can still be found on YouTube nowadays. Dorau also wrote several soundtracks to movies and worked as a video consultant. On the musical side, Im Gebüsch is the thirteenth album by Andreas Dorau. He is nowadays living in Hamburg.

 

Andreas Dorau – Im Gebüsch – Track by Track

The thirteen song album lasts 37 minutes.

1. Die Konstante

The opener is a typical Andreas Dorau track. On the one hand, there is a key phrase (Die Konstante, sie bleibt, sie interessiert sich nicht für Raum und Zeit – “The constant, it stays, it does care for time and space”), around which a playful, ease, slightly childish song is arranged using a catching electro-pop rhythm. Dorau makes me smile.

2. Ich sein

The press kit interview names the Andreas Dorau sound happy sad. The second song illustrates this contrast very nicely. On the one hand, there is some ease and happiness in the song, which feels a bit like a dream pop recording. On the other hand,t here are also rather sad messages in it (Doch wie Du sein, dazu fehlt mir der Mut – “I am lacking the courage to be like you”). A nice one.

3. Auf der Weidenallee

In the third song, Dorau takes us to to the Weidenallee in Hamburg’s borough Eimsbüttel. The single release does not have the sad and melancholic touch of the previous tracks and thus could be described as a feelgood-track of the album.

4. Das ist nur Musik

In the fourth song, Dorau states “This is just music”. The song nicely connects to previous Dorau recordings and also the first songs of the album. This time, the lyrics are also more complex. The rhythm is a typical, rather basic, a bit of monotonous background, which makes you want to dance to this one.

5. Das Glück

Das Glück (“The luck”) comes with relatively long instrumental and melodic parts. Again, there song reminds of electronic dream pop vibes.

6. Die Welt ist ein seltsamer Planet

The groove of the sixth song is touching a bit of funk. The song states “The world is a weird planet”. The song reminds of the morbid sense of humor, which turned Girls In Love into one of Dorau’s most successful songs. Der Welt ist ein seltsamer Planet lacks the outstanding, catching element of the late 1990’s song to be on the same level.

7. Situationen

Situationen is the perfect song… For my wife to underline that her thoughts about Andreas Dorau’s music is rubbish. I guess she is not getting the simplistic beauty of the lyrics, when Dorau states Situationen ereignen sich täglich Millionen – “Each and every day, millions of situations are occurring”. Ain’t he that right with this statement?

8. Storchengesang

With just some 2:07 minutes, the Storchengesang (“Stork Chant”) is the shortest song of the album. Dorau is focusing on the clattering of the beak of the bird, which is some replacing his melodic chants. Nonetheless, the short track praises the beauty of this sound.

9. Was nimmst Du mit

What are you taking with you, when you realize that your flat or house is burning? This is the the key thought behind Was nimmst Du mit – “What are you taking with you?”. The song might initially feel like a song dealing with death, but this is not a key topic. Without spoiling too much of the contents, the hamster has better chances to survive than Dorau’s computer. One of the best songs of the album, which is also coming with one of the best storytelling plots of Im Gebüsch.

10. Mein englischer Winter

With the partially English lyrics, Mein englischer Winter (“My English Winter”) reminds of big Dorau hits like Stoned Faces Don’t Lie or Girls in Love. In the press kit, by the way, Dorau describes his level of speaking English as Touristic English – understandable but not nice. The song is one of the best listens of the album.

11. Rainy Days in Moscow

The eleventh track illustrates what Andreas means by Touristic English. The song is a full English lyrics songs. You just cannot deny a certain German accent in the lyrics. I feel that other songs of the album create a stronger footprint.

12. Ich bin nicht ich

The twelfth song, another single release, does not need too many lyrics elements, but therefor comes with a nice groove. The song has a very unique character and a very present rhythm. I like it.

13. Die Vergangenheit war gestern wieder da

“The past has been there yesterday” is the last track of the album. The melodic elements are very atmospheric, while the lyrics and vocals follow the typical Dorau simplicity. I enjoy that finale.

 

Andreas Dorau – Im Gebüsch – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Andreas Dorau – Im Gebüsch – My View

I am an Andreas Dorau fan since my high school years in the 1990’s. I might not be too neutral about his music – but I feel that Im Gebüsch is indeed one of the best Andreas Dorau albums since quite a while. There are not that many melodic works with more complex stories in his 2024, though. And: not only due to the discussions I have with my wife I know that finally either love or hate this special German artist.

Favorite Song: Was nimmst Du mit

 

Andreas Dorau – Tour 2024

Some initial German tour dates for 2024 are already confirmed. The Hamburg show at the Knust is not only the release show, but also Andreas’ birthday concert. It is sold out already:

Fr 19.01.2024 Hamburg – Knust Sold out
Th 16.05.2024 Stuttgart – Kulturzentrum Merlin
Fr 17.05.2024 Munich – Strom
Fr 24.05.2024 Münster – Gleis 22

 

 

Andreas Dorau

Here are all postings related to German pop icon Andreas Dorau:

 

Hamburg Postings in 2023

Here are all postings related to Hamburg published in 2023:

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