Prominent indie pop for the middle of life of well-aged melancholics.
The all-star band Husten actually never wanted to go on tour. The only plan was to release material every year, a self-challenge that has something lovingly old-fashioned about it. Luckily, this plan didn’t come to fruition because, as you can hear, the trio, supported by three accompanying musicians, has great live quality. In case the word hasn’t gotten around already, Cough is the songwriter and singer Gisbert zu Knyphausen, producer legend Moses Schneider (including Tocotronic) and the author Tobias “The Thin Man” Friedrich. For AUS A NIGHTLONG YEAR, the collective went into the studio without having any significant material available in advance.
This circumstance benefits the record. With a light hand, space is left for spontaneous, relaxed music-making and lyrics, and stories are told on ten tracks with confidence and joy of playing. The three explore how American singer/songwriter tradition can be brought across to Berlin-Mitte in an unembarrassing and never plagiarizing way.
Sometimes poppy, like in “Flamingo”, sometimes rocky like in the depression piece “On the Other Side of Fear”, the small and large craters of life are circled and described. As usual, Zu Knyphausen is the observer. Only in the beat-heavy “Süchtern im Club” does his need to communicate get annoying at times. Coughs are skilled cobblers who stick to their lasts. Why not if the lasts are great?