Lyambiko - Something Like Reality (2010)

LYAMBIKO brings a fresh breeze to the music scene and sets new standards.

With "Something Like Reality", LYAMBIKO and her formation present compositions
of their own and out-of-the-ordinary cover versions. The singer's seventh album is
being released in time for her tenth stage anniversary, and features 13 songs that
she hasn't 'advance-tested' in live performances, but in private with the band.
In addition to pieces penned by her fellow musicians Marque Lowenthal (piano),
Robin Draganic (double bass) and Heinrich Koebberling (drums) and a song by Finn
Wiesner, a sax player who is friends with the band, the new album contains inspired
versions of the legendary "Angel Eyes" by Earl Brent and Matt Dennis, Nat
Adderley's old school swing classic "Work Song", Tracy Chapman's socially critical
folk song ”Crossroads” and Chris Cornell's (Soundgarden) psychedelic grunge hit
“Black Hole Sun”. Why does the jazz combo do covers at all when their own material
is undeniably high-quality? The singer with Tanzanian roots, born and bred in the
east German state of Thuringia, explains simply: "We only choose songs that we
think will fit in with the LYAMBIKO sound. And of course we want to showcase our
musical influences."

Be that as it may, LYAMBIKO is not trying to emulate any musical role models:
"When selecting the songs, my main aim was to stay true to myself. Thus the album
only features songs that I can identify with strongly, with the result that they are
particularly enjoyable to sing." Thus the band took up the challenge of rearranging
pieces that drummer Heinrich Koebberling and his wife Fumi Udo originally wrote for
the electro genre.

"It was important to me that the album has groove and doesn't sound too hackneyed,
that it veers in the direction of soul and pop and contains a few ballads", LYAMBIKO
says. "The music speaks for itself. This is no smooth easy listening, this is music that
has rough edges, just like me."

“Something Like Reality” is an attempt to depict reality in all its different facets and to
reproduce in music the common ground that emerges when people meet.
LYAMBIKO benefits from such encounters too:
"Another thing that makes this album so special is the fact that we worked with brass
arrangements. I've never been in the studio together with so many other people
before", the singer says. "That was a great experience. And a delicate situation, as
well: under no circumstances did I want to sacrifice the LYAMBIKO sound in the
process." Lush big band sounds would have been "too affected" in her opinion; she
wanted "more sparing and unconventional arrangements". In Marc Muellbauer, the
Berlin musicians found the perfect partner to realise their vision.
We are only served a single taste of big band fever – right at the outset: “Don’t Stand
By Me“ tends in the direction of swing shuffle, and according to LYAMBIKO was
deliberately chosen as the opener. "The song forges a link between our roots and our
new sound."

"Taxi" with its unwavering stop-&-go shuffle was written by Koebberling when he was
still a resident of New York City. "I really loved the song from the first time I heard it",
LYAMBIKO says. "As soon as I start to go through the first verse, I find a little piece
of myself reflected there."

”Clothoid“ depicts "the spiralling movements of life itself", the simpatico singer
explains. "In the here and now you don't see what life has in store for you – even if it
looks as if your way ahead leads in a straight line."

Longstanding fans will recognise ”Work Song“ from the first LYAMBIKO album, ”Out
Of This Mood“ (2002). But eight years down the road, the singer felt it was time to
produce a new arrangement, pert and more interesting in character.

“Angel Eyes'" is a must in any singer's repertoire, according to LYAMBIKO. "It's
actually our principle to leave out songs like this. But I decided to try it anyway at the
advice of a girlfriend. What can I say? It was a bunch of fun!" She says she found
"Lies" a bit difficult at the outset, but then the ideas came thick and fast once she was
in the studio. Now the song tickles the listener's ear – and gets his feet tapping in
time…

LYAMBIKO likewise found the apocalyptic “Black Hole Sun” very appealing: "In the
original, the music seems almost positive, while the text shows us the precipice we're
standing at the brink of." She finds that it's precisely this contrast that gives the song
its special attraction.

“Storm In A Teacup” is a piece that LYAMBIKO was determined to make her own. "It
took ages until I was satisfied, but it was worth the trouble." And it's true that the track
captivates the listener with its highly emotional singing and its musical sensitivity.
“Breaking News” shows that the quartet can also adopt a more critical stance. This is
a song with great depth and presence that LYAMBIKO places on the same level as
“Automated World” from the album “Inner Sense”.

In “Crossroads”,on the other hand, there is a clear sentimental undertone. After a
chance encounter with a old musicians friend from her youth, the singer felt "a strong
urge to perform Tracy Chapman, and this song in particular".

“So Very Long” stands out clearly from the other pieces on the album. It is the
jazziest song of the whole collection. Finn Wiesner sent “Mind Over Matter” to the
band just a fortnight before the recording sessions. "We only had a few days to study
the song and prepare it for performance. What's more, it was very important to me
that Finn himself should play the solo. I regard it as a great honour that he makes his
first appearance here on one of our albums."

"Something Like Reality" comes to a positive end with the lively “Chasing
Dragonflies”. In very expressive images, the text conjures up almost forgotten
childhood memories, and provides LYAMBIKO with the perfect closing comment:
“But I'll try anyway.”
www.lyambiko.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 1. December 2010, 23:52

Lyambiko / Something Like Reality

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-860A Adapter: 0 ID: 0

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12 | 46:08.11 | 6:12.03 | 207611 | 235513
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Track 1

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Track 2

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Track 3

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Track 4

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Track 5

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Track 6

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Track 7

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Track 8

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Track 9

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Track 10

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Track 11

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Track 12

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Track 13

Filename S:\DL\Lyambiko - Something Like Reality (2010) [FLAC]\13 - Chasing Dragonflies.wav

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All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

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