The Notwist–Neon Gold (City Slang)

Oh boy! Once again the music industry has coughed up something which, i swear, was only created in order to make people like me reach for a thesaurus. They are German. I say this specifically as its a chance to make my point about the use of the English language as a medium and how sometimes the most perceptively lyric come from those who don’t apply the filters born from speaking the mother tongue (If the doesn’t make sense, stay behind after class and I’ll explain it, along with my theory about  the correlation between Travis releases and acts of terrorism on mainland Britain).

Musically. The Notwist are most akin to,  well everybody really, but early New Order, with a touch Stina Nordstrom and a nod to underground new-romo, would give you  a fair idea, Tracks like ‘Pilot’ and ‘Solitaire’ (the latter having possibly the  most touching and poignant lyrics I have ever heard) work so well and despite the avant-garde influences, have a cohesion that makes the album hold together beautifully. My word-processor ‘superlative power save’ mode on so O can’t drool too much without incurring the wrath of that sodding paper-clip – but in a word, wow. 8.8/10

Chris Merriman
hello@chrismerrimanmedia.co.uk