Bodi Bill’s last album ‘Two In One’ was a real surprise package it managed to capture the best of a new underground post dubstep movement whilst marrying luscious vocals and indie sensibilites that we’ve yet to come across anywhere else.
Well they’re are back with a new album called, What!, which features ten entirely new tracks, the last album in the UK was a combination of two previous albums apparently.
It still straddles both electronic and indie in perfect harmony, you can expect to hear the pop and clicks of Germany’s ever-burgeoning dance music scene with more indie arrangements and vocals.
‘What!’ is many cases is maybe a little less adventurous in places, but this makes for a much better listen and it all comes together much better than their previous work.
It’s more playful and less all over the place, your greeted with the opening song ‘Paper’ which is a dramatic opening salvo with the ever impressive Lead vocalist Fabian Fenk doing what he does best. Throw in some stirring synths and drums and you got a brilliant start to the CD. It eases you in nice and gently.
The whole album is less intense and a more mature effort and ‘Garden Effort’ shows off this more mature Bodi Bill, it’s still dark and brooding, but all tempered with emotion and classy production.
They do show of their playful side with the catchy ‘Brand New Carpet’, which is the perfect balance between a more commercial sound and their underground influences, a classic in the making.
Bodi Bill – Brand New Carpet by Sinnbus
Early favourite ‘Pyramiding’ shows off their unique blend of subtle post dubstep indie – were sure that this track is going to go down a treat at their much talked about live shows.
Who ever is in charge of producing the album deserves a mention – the whole thing sound absolutely sublime, we can quite easily imagine ourselves relaxing to What! after a heavy night of clubbing. It just such an easy listen, it’s not airy fairy but just really well put together and never threatens to be a snooze fest. It keeps you on toes but importantly comes across as a succinct listen from start to finish.
Notable highs include the playful lead single ‘What!’ and the melodic and emotional ‘Garden Dress’ that reminded us of some the early trip hop we revered so much in the early naughties.
We adored the esoteric kraftwerkian arrangements of ‘The Net’ and the low slung nature of ‘And Patience’ which starts of rather sombre and depressing and morphs out of nowhere into something rather special.
We fell head over heals for the dramatic ‘Hotel’ which for us could be their finest track to date, Trentemoller-esque Forrest techno and indie combine to make something the really is unique and experimental, Simply stunning. Especially the fever Ray-like vocal.
The cherry on the top comes in the form of the final song ‘Friends’ which weighs in at a whopping 15 minutes and is a journey into the mind of Bodi Bill. For us this sealed the deal a truly stunning song and catapults Bodi Bill above the run-of-the-mill indie dance acts. It’s not dance music perse, it just references it in way the it’s so rarely found these day. And throw in a secret track and you got something truly stunning.
HBF 9/10
Bodi Bill – Brand New Carpet from Sinnbus on Vimeo.
