If you were to create a word cloud of the reviews Lewsberg‘s work has received so far, ‘The Velvet Underground’, ‘minimalism’, ‘repetitive’ and ‘melancholy’ would probably appear the largest. That’s understandable, but it’s fascinating how the Rotterdam art pop / crank wave outfit has developed into much more than that. Their new (fourth) album, Out And About, is as poetic and bewitching as ever, both in terms of lyrics and the way they are recited, but the current line-up – Arie van Vliet (guitar, violin, vocals), Shalita Dietrich (bass guitar, vocals), Michiel Klein (guitar, keys) and Marrit Meinema (drums, vocals) – sounds warmer and lighter than before, and the alternation between male and female Sprechgesang works well. Some evidence below: listen to standout tracks There’s A Poet In The Bushes (a wonderful story about “an unusual but harmless situation”) and Canines (an earworm violin melody), and be enchanted. This record is at times dreamy, at other moments energetic, but always unique.
Out And About, produced by Yulya Divakova, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Lewsberg Records / 12XU.