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PeterLicht – Beton Und Ibuprofen

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

PeterLicht - Beton Und Ibuprofen

PeterLicht - Beton Und Ibuprofen
4.2

Rating

 4.2/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Fantastic play with words in lovely lyrics
  • Nice atmospheric tracks

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Not mainstream at all

There are several causes which make me feel I should go for an album review. When I decided to have a deeper listen to PeterLicht, it was simply the title. Beton Und Ibuprofen simply means “Concrete and Ibuprofen” – doesn’t that sound appealing? The artist is already quite established on the German market, as the album is already his eighth one. It will be released on 5th March 2021.

 

PeterLicht – About The Artist

PeterLicht, whose civil name is Meinrad Jungblut, is a indie-pop musician and writer from Cologne, Germany. He started publishing music with the 6 Lieder (“6 Songs”) EP in 2000. His debut album was Vierzehn Lieder (“Fourteen Songs”), which already made it to the Top 70 in Germany. The album also included his only chart entry on the singles side so far. Sonnendeck made it to the 63rd spot and stayed in the Top 100 for nine weeks. It has over a million streams on YouTube only. His latest album, Wenn wir alle anders sind (“If we are all different”) even peaked on the 28th spot in the German charts (2018).

 

PeterLicht – Beton Und Ibuprofen – Track by Track

The eleven track album lasts 44 minutes.

1. Wenn du traurig bist

The first song is called Wenn du traurig bist – “If you are sad”. The song strongly reminds me of Andreas Dorau, but has significantly less rhythm. The song is very focused on the lyrics. The song is about desparate feeling in a very own style and develops a story step by step by connecting to the previous metaphor – often in a very different meaning. Cool.

2. Die Technik wird uns retten

“Technology will save us” – Die Technik wird uns retten. However, there are other alternatives in the artist’s view:

Denn Du weisst,
die Technik wird uns retten
Du weisst, Du weisst, Du weisst,
Denn Du weisst,
die Technik wird uns retten.
Und die Liebe… auch.

(“‘Cause you know
That technology will save us.
You know, you know, you know.
‘Cause you know
That technology will save us
And the love as well”)

A very typical example how the lyrics of PeterLicht suddenly turn into very different thoughts or directions. Very often he also plays with German words and phrases – which you unfortunately cannot explain too well in English. This is finally the basis that songs like Die Technik wird uns retten are very entertaining.

3. Ibuprofen

Nimm doch noch ein Ibuprofenchen (“Take another little Ibuprofen”). In this song PeterLicht features the ease of using pharmanceutic products – something which my American readers might be able to relate to. Wenn Du was hast, dann musst Du was nehmen – “If you feel to have a problem, you need to take some medicine” (hard to translate literally. I have to say that this kind of pop music is not my favorite genre, but I really love the way how Jungblut is creating a plot in each song.

4. Dämonen

This song deals with Dämonen, demons.

Wenn die Dämonen kommen,
ist jeder der ein Mensch ist Dein Freund.

(“When the demons are coming,
is everybody who is human your friend.”)

No more comment.

5. Freunde

The fifth song is a very special and dark song about friendship. It feels like a very sarcastic speech at a (birthday) party. Keiner kommt hier auf die Dauer hier wieder lebend raus – “Finally, nobody is surviving this one here”. Without a doubt, a hard-to-argue-against message.

6. Die Sprache der Augen

Keyboard and string sounds create a dark atmosphere for Die Sprache der Augen (“The language of the eyes”). The song becomes more and more frightening with longer duration. One of the best plots of the album.

7. Verloren

The chorus of Verloren (“Lost”) is especially characteristic bei the high and pervasive female backing voice stating that “we are lost”. A very strong ciritc.

8. …e-scooter deine Liebe

… e-scooter deiner (“electric scooter you life” – the title is already hard to explain in German) is my absolute favorite of the album. The melody is really close to Dolce Vita by Ryan Paris, the song is pointing on all the ridiculous ways how we fool us and others by hiding behind mental walls. Very melodic (apart from the interlude part, maybe).

9. Beton ist ein schweres Thema

We had the painkiller, here is something like the second part of the album title – concrete. Beton ist ein schweres Thema means “Concrete is a heavy topic” (whereby in German schwer means high weight and difficult, like in English). The song, which is the shortest one on the album, is most of the time sounding like a punk rock track. Another surprising atmosphere on Beton Und Ibuprofen.

10. Lost Lost Lost World

Lost Lost Lost World is the longest track on the album. The almost eight minutes are, however, rather a short story interrupted and accompanied by sound elements. Don’t want to tell you too much about the story so that you (at least if you understand German) enjoy the listen.

11. Die Sprache der Enden

Die Sprache der Enden (“The language of the ends”) is a reference to the sixth track of the album. Nice way to close the album.

 

PeterLicht – Beton Und Ibuprofen – Spotify

Here is the Spotify widget to Beton Und Ibuprofen:

 

PeterLicht – Beton Und Ibuprofen – My View

Handle this album with care. It is not mainstream and you need to speak German (actually, you need to speak it pretty well). Otherwise, you might end up feeling to listen to weird-sounding songs with a bit of strange feeling lyrics. If you give Beton Und Ibiprofen a chance, though, you will get a bunch of lovely metaphors, ironic texts, sudden twists and hilarious linguistic connections. It is a typical Tapete Records album – which also means that it is in fact really good music.

 

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