Part 1 - Austria Series
I’m kicking off my Austria Series with Bilderbuch, one of the most exciting bands the country has to offer at the moment. Bilderbuch have been on the Austrian alternative scene for nine years, and are now finally enjoying a breakthrough with “Maschin”, a single off their EP “Feinste Seide”.
While the band’s earlier work conveys a sense of youthful energy and urgency, they seem to have matured and found a sound and style that appeals to a more mainstream audience while maintaining just enough of their original punk attitude so as not to disappoint their hardcore fans. The reward is growing success, awards and, as of today, close to 790,000 YouTube clicks for “Maschin”.
After Falco’s heyday, which lasted from 1985 to 1987, the Austrian pop scene fell into a funk, and his larger-than-life persona has been sorely missed since his death in 1998. Bilderbuch’s frontman, Maurice Ernst, might just have what it takes to fill the void. He struts around the stage with the aloofness and theatricality of a stage veteran, making him completely irresistible to watch. And you need a special kind of self-confidence to rock the jacket he wore at the Amadeus Awards this year (www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsvrABRqgI8).
So let’s look at the song: Although Bilderbuch’s lyrics often contain surreal images that can’t/aren’t meant to be understood on an intellectual level, I think “Maschin” can be summed up as follows: Essentially, the verses seem to be about a guy trying to pick up a girl by convincing her to get into his swanky car, but when the chorus comes along we get the impression that he’s actually singing to his car, his Maschin. The video reinforces this idea of the guy’s love affair with his car (a bright yellow Lamborghini, no less). Musically, the song owes a lot of its sultriness to the sensual vocals, and I feel that Maurice Ernst has come into his own and found a style that makes the best of his vocal skills and suits him to a T.
The bass line is the first defining musical element of “Maschin”. It seems so simple when you see it written down, but it works so well with the other elements that you even forget you’re hearing the most basic of chord progressions: I – V – IV – I (Cm – Gm – Fm – Cm).
The second is the guitar riff, doubled with a synth. It appears in a simplified form in the song’s intro and interlude between verses 1 and 2, and in its entirety in the chorus. So, considering that the whole song is built on a largely unchanging bass line, a simple chord progression and a guitar riff, what keeps it from being boring or banal?
Well, the most memorable part of the song is, of course, the chorus. The first thing you notice is the syllable repetition à la “Barbara Ann” (“Lala-la-la-lala-lass mich nicht los/Lele-le-le-lele-leg dich zu mir/Haha-ha-ha-haha-halt mich fest”), which always adds a playful or ironic touch and immediately lets us know that none of this is really serious. After this flood of syllables in the first three lines of the chorus, ending it with no more than the two syllables of the word and title “Maschin” is an effective way of drawing attention to it and making it stand out. And coming to the melody in the chorus: A banal melodic solution would involve orbiting around the tonic, third or fifth of the respective chords. But Bilderbuch’s chorus consists primarily of repetitions of B flat, which is first the seventh (of Cm) and then the fourth (of Fm). This creates tension and hence interest.
I’m really curious to see what these guys do next. I’d like to see them dig deeper in the box of genius from whence “Maschin” came, create more of this kind of stuff, which can appeal to a wider audience, and then get really big. So here’s me crossing my fingers that they’ll get support from the right people and make smart decisions.
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