Brand new album: „hunting“
Two guitars, bass, drums – strong dynamics with catchy melodies and thoughtful lyrics topped by crystal clear female vocals of singer Manuela Frey. This is neogene from Aachen, Germany with their second album „hunting“ due for release on February 4th, 2011.
Neogene is a ‚real’ band of experienced musicians – actually five friends respecting one another and having a productive influence on each other at the same time. Songwriting & musicianship are constantly on a high level with clever arrangements in a class-A production setting – powerful and carefully thought out.
Several undefined sonic events meet an open guitar chord, a slightly „nordic“ sounding voice takes over, bass & drums kick in a straight 4/4 manner and „Ride“ the opening track is rolling. Followed by the radio-friendly tune „Burn“ with its clever rhythm guitar arrangements and backing vocals that are reminiscient of Abba and even Kate Bush.
Title-track „Hunting“ showcasts the band’s prog-rock affinity in an 8-minute opus full of polyrhythms that develop intensely followed by the delicate ballad „Nothing Reminds Me Of You“ – just 90 seconds of pure vocal passion accompanied by acoustic guitar and some Mellotron sparkles.
One could name a variety of influences on neogene’s band sound from Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters or Queens Of The Stone Age down to classics like Led Zeppelin, U2 and Peter Gabriel plus a touch of Garbage crossed with beatlesque songwriting skills. It is neogene’s unique strength not to sound like a hot-pot of such influences, but to create a selfreliant sonic equivalent of a contemporary rock-album full of personality and inspiration.
Rolf Jäger
