a hardcore agitprop rock 'n' roll sound

Bang Magazine

Let’s start with some historical facts:

Behind Bombay 1 are two old friends named Kurt Dahlke and Stoya. Both come from Düsseldorf, Kraftwerk's hometown. Dahlke, who prefers to perform under his pseudonym Pyrolator ("Because he loves setting things on fire," as his partner explains dryly), is one of the greats of the German alternative rock scene. He was a founding member of the legendary electro-punkers DAF, whose original sound was later enthusiastically adopted by bands such as Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails. After the release of their debut album, Dahlke left DAF and founded the band Der Plan.

…the imagery and other worldliness of Syd Barret as interpreted by a glimlet-eyed Trent Reznor.

LOGO Magazine

With a mixture of Residents-like surrealism and electro-pop a la Visage, Der Plan gained a loyal fan base in Germany in the 80s, but abroad the band remained largely unknown due to the fact that they sang in German. Dahlke, who produced Fehlfarben and toured with them, has been running the Ata Tak label for years (which is home to Oval and Holger Hiller, among others) and has worked as a producer for new post-rock electronic acts such as To Rococo Rot and Kreidler. At Bombay 1, Dahlke is the one who operates the buttons and controls, Stoya is the voice, the wordsmith. In the past, Stoya has owned a record shop, squatted in Brixton, worked with Andy Gill from the art-pop cult band Gang Of Four, DJed in Germany's most famous punk club and was a member of the band Trash Museum, whose song "I'd Rather Die Young Than Grow Old With You" was one of John Peel's favorites. Currently, Stoya is a successful painter (one of his exhibitions was called "Dub Like Dirt" - named after an old King Tubby album).

But how did Stoya and Dahlke come to record an album together whose songs alternately sound like Syd Barret, Bright Eyes, Nick Drake, Love & Rockets, Snow Patrol, Julian Cope, Leonhard Cohen and even the Pet Shop Boys? An album that, in terms of its quality, certainly stands up to comparison with some of the acts mentioned.

"We rented a house in a small village called Strobl for a month," Stoya explains the strange album title. "The house was on a lake in the middle of the Austrian Alps. There was a wonderful piano in the house, so we only took a microphone, a computer and a sampler with us and then wrote songs. When we came back, we replaced the original sampled passages with real sounds, i.e. string orchestra, guitar, bass, brass. And with these recordings we went to London's Mayfair Studios, where Alex Silver, who has worked with the Manic Street Preachers in the past, mixed the album."

So much for the dry facts. But none of that explains how a gnarly electronic agit-pop duo came to record an album full of sparsely orchestrated, heart-rending songs about relationship decay, accompanied by piano and cello.

"Out there in the country, it was much easier for me to write really personal lyrics," explains Stoya cautiously. "For four weeks, all you could hear was the birds singing, the sound of the wind and the patter of the rain. That meant that I wrote much more purposefully than before. I wanted to make an album that sounded as natural as possible, without any frills."

In fact, Stoya's long-term relationship, which also produced two children, had been in crisis for a long time and almost broke up. This situation formed the thematic starting point of the album, which is permeated "by the struggle to find love again and to win back the people I love most." The result of this struggle are the songs of a man who almost lost everything, who looked into the abyss of loneliness and could not live with what he saw. And all of this in English! Stoya: "I find it easier to write personal lyrics when I use a foreign language. English is not my mother tongue, but it is my working language."

Although the album begins rather gloomy, "Strobl" is about returning to life and finding joy again. By the time the track "Bright New Day" comes along, with its growling vocals reminiscent of Lee Hazelwood and its high-spirited guitars, the listener will sense that the emotional low point has been reached and that things are looking up again.

Stoya: "We recorded this song one morning after we'd had a pretty good night's sleep," admits Stoya, laughing. "I said, 'Quick, quick, I have to sing the song now because I'll have my normal voice back by lunchtime. So you can hear my hangover voice in this song.'"

On the last track of the album, "Lost Souls," Stoya's children even join in as background singers. Albums are often said to be a journey. Even though "Strobl" is not exclusively about Stoya's life, the album does take you on a journey. It begins with the oppressive feeling of separation and, via various, completely unrelated and extremely entertaining stops, finally reaches the peak of the opulent, joy-soaked love songs. "Strobl" is not a heavy, dark album. It is an album that is about life, and you can revel in its 40 minutes from start to finish.

Finally, it remains to be clarified what the somewhat strange band name Bombay 1 means: "There are places in this world that you have never been to and that you will probably never see," says Stoya. "Bombay - and also Beijing - are such places for us. You just have an exotic idea of ​​what these places look like, what it is like there. It's a kind of dream reality that you can hold on to. That's exactly what Bombay 1 is supposed to be."

Hazy soundscapes, industrial dope beats, neopsychodelia, noise pop or trip hop? Every category and no category suits this music of Bombay One. But one thing is for sure, 'this record rocks'.

Musikexpress

a concept which is comparable to Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'.

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