Koenich - Early Morning Sailing

Labels: Koenich Sound/Time As A Color Records

Formats: Tape/Digital

Release Date: 09 Jun 2020

Tracklist:

1. Early Morning Sailing

2. Lev Ganin

3. Train Ride Thoughts

4. Churasan

5. Nankurunaisa

6. Cold

7. A Farewell

Everything still seems very strange at the moment and it's often hard to find the time to escape it all. I'm hoping that this tape (very kindly sent to me by Franz) will bring some calm. Koenich is the brainchild of musician and song-writer Franz Kindermann (previously of German post-hardcore/indie band Duct Hearts amongst others) and here he's joined by vocalist Marc Sesto (also of German rock/metal band Fire From Below). Early Morning Sailing was released in June on limited tape and also digitally via Koenich Sound and Time As A Color Records.

Koenich’s sound on Early Morning Sailing is grittier than you might think. The opening title song ‘Early Morning Sailing’ brings to mind the acoustic side of Alter Bridge in a subtle way thanks to Marc’s vocals, alongside some actually quite complex and musical guitar playing. This tape isn’t especially long and it’s interspersed with traditional folk instrumentals like ‘Lev Ganin’, which sounds like it’s been influenced by Middle Eastern scales and music. That’s my interpretation anyway. It’s a nice brief instrumental.

The other thing that’s nice about this tape is that Koenich includes ambient effects that match the song-titles, so on ‘Early Morning Sailing’ there was the sound of the sea and seagulls calling, and ‘Train Ride Thoughts’ begins with a train on the tracks that gives way to an upbeat indie song about life and home. There’s definitely a warming feeling that comes from it. Another interlude-like piece follows next with ‘Churasan’, which is a song that was performed by the Ryukyu Mura Cultural Village Performers from Japan. It was recorded specially for this tape (please correct me if this is wrong) and allows you to explore some world music, which is very much at home here.

’Nankurunaisa’ epitomises the clean and crisp production on Early Morning Sailing and even when subtle guitar dissonance does show through, it doesn’t overpower the song at all. Again it’s instrumental, adding to the calmness of the whole album. Penultimate song ‘Cold’ brings in more traditional instrumentation, showing yet more of Koenich’s creativity and the of Franz’s multi-instrumental talents. ‘A Farewell’ is a very apt song to end on as it gently winds it’s way through just over two-minutes of indie/folk. 

This whole tape is a real mix of different musical elements and it remains very cohesive. It’s definitely one of those releases that you can put on and drift away to, which is something I rarely feature but that I should change. I don’t know whether my words above have done it justice but Early Morning Sailing is wonderful and varied from start to finish. 

You can stream Early Morning Sailing and purchase it both on tape/via digital download below:-

Koenich - https://www.facebook.com/Koenich

Koenich Sound - https://koenichsound.bandcamp.com

Time As A Colour - https://timeasacolor.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/timeasacolor/