It’s been a busy and productive year for the eternally brilliant Einstürzende Neubauten, with a slew of singles from their shining album ‘Alles in Allem’ released during the darkest periods of the COVID crisis this year after a 13 year break. And now a new single, ‘La Guillotine De Magritte’. A fine way to celebrate their 40 year’s history and a fitting end to the year.
‘La Guillotine de Magritte’ is as haunting and subtle as the accompanying video – and in typical Blixa Bargeld style, the lyrics are opaque, unsettling and yet very amusing. No doubt another product of the ‘Dave’ system – read my interview with Bargeld on this unique process of writing lyrics. His voice is mesmerising and intoxicating as ever – a poetic pied piper that enthrals and hypnotises with his dulcet tones.
As usual, the instrumentation is driven by percussive complexity and subtlety: a prefect carriage for the vocals.
The video, consisting of the apparently severed heads of the band floating in a murky fugue is suitable macabre and yet extremely amusing at the same time. This is the brilliance of the band – having a lot of fun in a very serious way:
What a brilliant holiday season gift – you can download/stream here. Look out for Einstürzende Neubauten’s rescheduled tours in the new year with new gigs being added – details here. You can get ‘Alles in Allem’ here.
