Does anyone remember the Mokka Efti Ensemble from Babylon Berlin? Or the Dresden Dolls? Or Sabbath Assembly? Somewhere in between these bands you could locate South African-born and now Berlin-based artist Lucy Kruger. There is this certain Golden Twenties-vibe about her music that one would probably associate with Vaudeville. Enjoy our premiere of her latest and last video “Dripping Trees” which comes three weeks before the release of her new album!
The time of music inventor and spy Leon Theremin. The years of the James Joyce’s most creative period culminating in Ulysses. The period when artists like Picasso, Miro and Dalí but also Matisse, Duchamp or Braque worked as contemporaries and did amazing paintings. One might just say the first golden age of (post) Modernism. Also musically - many of the songs and styles that were brought up at that time were far too revolutionary for their time and needed to be picked up decades later by (now more famous) bands and artists.
Lucy Kruger would have fit into that period very nicely, because she has a voice that seems not 100 years old but from 100 years ago: In her voice there is a certain calmness on the surface, a hint of smokeyness and raspyness, a deep melancholy and longing for more ordered times. Do not mistake her songs for their seeming simplicity but take the take to sit back and listen repeatedly. “Dripping Trees” is a perfect way to start, the hushed vocals gently laid out above the stoic beat and the singular drops of guitars are joined by some shawl-like sounds (is that one of these percussion elements that sound like sand moving?) just in the middle between her voice and the beats. When the strings join it there is even more magic going on and one understands the “dripping” in the song title even better. The song adds layers like drops, not like spaces, for many of them do not stay really long. The only things that remain are her voice, the guitar and the crickets. And maybe you will hear even more? Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t. Maybe you should? You should. What keeps you?
If you like the single, you should keep an eye on Metropolis Records website (if you live in the US) or Unique Records website (if you live in Europe) in order not to miss the pre-order! And now - enjoy the video for “Dripping Trees”!
