2023-11-07 19:13:25
If you listen to the music of the Laundromat Chicks around Tobias Hammermüller, you hear a secret that you value like a jewel. Whether on vinyl, CD or cassette. Felix Schnabel aka Salamirecorder (bass), Lena Pöttinger (drums) and Theresa Strohmer (guitar) complete mastermind Hammermüller’s band – the band that doesn’t follow trends and thereby becomes a trend itself and English-language jangle pop and post-punk and lo-fi folk set to music in a stylish and authentic way. Both albums “Trouble” (2022) and “Lightning Trails” (2023) are now available together on one record: the “Laundromat Chicks LP”.
Trouble
A stardust, hazy guitar opens the opener It’s Only the Stars. Tobias Hammermüller took inspiration for Trouble from the indie rock sound of the 2010s (Snail Mail, Chastity Belt, The Babies, Best Coast, The Drums) and many new wave hits (Aztec Camera, Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, Prefab Sprout). .
The second song Close-Up unpacks the harmonica. A kind of statement. A harmonica indie moment as apt as the one in All the Other Kids von The Boys You Know.
Now it’s Winter has a Violent Femmes-typical melody. My Head Fell Off is a start-finish victory of a tune and my favorite of the album. Lines like verses in an ode to post-punk.
The hit of the album is You’re on the Line. It has the most hooks, but you can’t find a hook on this round thing.
Lightning Trails
While the first album was rather melancholic, the second album breathes an airiness, sounds lo-fi folky and lively. The acoustic guitar joins the songs and the snare of the drums rattles presently and pleasantly.
The guitar tones, which have a country sound, are used well-dosed and restrained in the opener Sunday Mystery. Due to the long pauses between the notes played, they appear stronger and new to the listener as soon as they sound once more following the pause. Same with the piano tones. A reserved approach like on the Cure album “Seventeen Seconds” or, according to Frusciante, the guitar playing on the RHCP’s Californication album, which, according to Frusciante, was inspired by it – only in the folkier genre context of the Laundromat Chicks.
New on Lightning Trails are vocals from guitarist Theresa Strohmer, which sound clear and wonderful and create vocal parts and vocal harmonies in many songs. A Beach Boys track is covered in keeping with this: in Big Sur there are vocal harmonies as well as a surf guitar. Big Sur is a track from the compilation “Feel Flows”, which was released during lockdown.
What makes the Laundromat Chicks special
In addition to the sound and the right voice, it is Hammermüller’s songwriting that makes the songs special. Hammermüller has the key to songwriting, unlocks the door of the song, unobtrusively shows the listener the melodies, but he never completely closes the song at the end. Nevertheless you feel like you are at home. Because where other songs might end or fade away – at that point the Laundromat Chicks’ songs continue to sound.
The record is available at the siluh store recordstore Wallensteinstraße 4
siluh records
Guitar music and concert sketches
1699535717
#Laundromat #Chicks #Laundromat #Chicks
