| In the Belgian Ardennes, where the houses are built of rough natural stones and the factories from the Thirties are picturesquely rotting away, the weather changes almost by the hour. A day may start out all sunny, yet later on the clouds will gather and eventually there's likely to be hail and rain. "But almost every night at the same time the sun broke through the cloudy sky again, usually when we sat down for dinner", says Katharina Franck at the dinner table on the last night of the recordings for the new Rainbirds offering, "you could almost set your watch by it." Apart from Katharina Franck we have producer Jon Caffery, who also owns the "La Chapelle" studio complex in which the new Rainbirds album was recorded, as well as the other two constant band members Ulrike Haage and Tim Lorenz at the table. |
Maybe the versatile weather influenced the recordings in Waimes, a small village close to the beautiful town of Spa, from where the mineral water of the same name is exported into the world. Because "Forever" - the title of the sixth opus - has turned out to be multi-faceted and yet serene.
Most important of all, thanks to "Forever" the band have finally freed themselves from the shackles of the past. The album marks the beginning of a refinement of the pop design which was initially conceived two years ago with "Making Memory". After all the special quality of the Rainbirds phenomenon is based on the fact that this band has dared something that advisors and former band members had repeatedly attempted to prevent: their embarking on their very own course, thus puzzling fans and critics alike.
It almost seems as if it took this amount of time to pass, as if it required documentation of a "work in progress" to arrive at a final expression of the ideas that been developed. Hence "Forever" has become very much the eye of the hurricane that makes up the life of this gang of three. "Forever" rests in itself, yet it's instantly infectious; its rhythms are modern, they've reaped the loops themselves, and rarely has Katharina Frank's voice, always and to this day one of the most distinctive features in the Rainbirds' microcosm, sounded as casual as it does here. On "Time comes round to pass", the first track of the new CD, Katharina Franck sings "sit back, relax, look at everything through your magnifying glass" - the very first words on "Forever" sounds like the operating instructions for a major success.
It almost seems as if this music observes itself from the outside, starting with the sparkling pop of the first song on to breakbeats and chamber music études and then back again to pop music. The ironic aspect of this aspect of this story is that Rainbirds in 1997, i.e. ten years after the foundation of this initially immensely successful and later arrogantly ignored band, have again come up with the kind of melodies which made them so popular when they first started out and which have not been erased from memory. Only that these melodies have now been integrated into a universe which has developed out of self-observation. These melodies are the logical consequence of a progression for which not only their fans are likely to thank them.
Never before have Rainbirds songs sounded as stylized as these current ones with their chopped-up beats. And stylizing in the case of "Forever" means that all the experiences which the band members have gone through during the last few years with theatre music, abstraction and coding coat this album like patina, while the nature of each song sets the priorities at all times. This also implies that the basic Rainbirds themes, i.e. having to face vital decisions, which we all have to deal with in life, and the longing for security in mutual love, were never denied on "Forever". "This is the point of no return, no more deals. no more pretense," remarks Katharina Frank on "No amends", and even if she hadn't expressly mentioned it: There's little doubt that they've taken the bull by the horns, even without words.
"Thanks to the high and technology at the studio we were able to fully concentrate on the independent existence of each song," Ulrike Haage states: "We've been able to play around dart from side to side, and of course to look forward to dinner. The album oozes the friendliness that we've encountered here in Belgium". The fact that "Forever" didn't turn into a summer album was probably caused by the ups and downs of the weather, as well by the three band members' musical liberation - a liberation from their own expectations and those of others. And this new-found freedom has helped them to recover their own qualities. What a life-story. what a collection of songs!
The album "Forever" is due to be released on 6th October 1997. The first single "Don't cry a river for me (be cool)" has been scheduled for release on the 15th September 1997
Source for this information: ©1997 Rough trade, Germany. I would like to thank Elke from Rainbirds merchandising team for sending me this information
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