With “Herz & Verstand” Kärbholz are already releasing their 8th studio album.
The four guys from Ruppichteroth in the German countryside have been making music together since 2005. And that very successfully, if you look at the last releases of the band. “Rastlos” from 2013 went from a standing start to #16 and the follow-up “Karma” from 2015 even to #7 of the German album charts, until the last longplayer “Überdosis Leben” with #2 just missed the pole position. Also a live album and the new recording of their first album “Spiel des Lebens” from 2007 made it effortlessly into the Top 20. It is clear: As small and inconspicuous as the home village of the band seems to be, the music of the band is not.
Kärbholz’s songs are not virtuoso or brain-bound. It is not music that can be heard or felt on a drawing board or on a sheet of music. It arises where, according to the band, music should arise: In the heart. With intuition, passion and the indispensable desire to air one’s thoughts and scream them out into the world. Or to whisper. That always depends on it. Both have their place in the cosmos “Kärbholz”. They are very personal songs…they testify to what everyone in the band is preoccupied with. Musically between punk with a clear metal edge, hymnic rock and acoustic, intimate moments.
“Herz & Verstand” (Heart & Mind) tells about dealing with social media (Keiner Befiehlt) and about pain and not being able to release oneself in a failing relationship (Zwischen Uns). It tells of the everyday pressure to devote oneself to loved ones without losing one’s dreams (Mein Persönlicher Krieg). Or it illuminates very personally how to deal with states of anxiety and depression (Stein & Sand), as well as the love for music and the catharsis it can be (Musizin, Meine Melodie). But also a very clear political statement against populists and fascists in “Falsche Alternativen” or a slightly carnivalistic cheerfulness (Alle Systeme Auf Vollgas) are part of Kärbholz’s journey.
“A heart animal only does what the heart says.” The core sentence of the song “Herztier” can also be the core sentence of the whole new album. In many places it’s a musical naked-make-yourselfthing that addresses very personal, sometimes difficult topics. However, it doesn’t burden, but always tries to find a solution…but at least to leave behind the hope that there is a solution. For all our own, very small, or sometimes bigger problems and questions.
Eike Freese at the Chameleon Studios Hamburg was again responsible for the production, as with the previous album “Überdosis Leben”. “In times when anyone can record an album on a laptop, we found it all the more important to take a different path again. We built up old amps and old guitars to find our sound. Music has to live and also the sound has to transport these feelings. So we tried to keep the analog chain as long as possible.”
Tracklist:
01 Tabula Rasa
02 Musizin
03 Keiner Befiehlt
04 Mutmacher
05 All Meine Narben
06 Herztier
07 Stein & Sand
08 Mein Persönlicher Krieg
09 Alle Systeme Auf Vollgas
10 Frei Sein
11 Falsche Alternativen
12 Zwischen Uns
13 Gewitter
14 Meine Melodie
Line-Up:
– Torben Höffgen vocals
– Adrian Kühn guitars
– Stefan Wirths bass
– Henning Münch drums
