Ease. Warm Graves

Last Friday, I started my review of King Hannah's new album with a reference to Shocking Blue's 'Hello Darkness'. I could easily do so again today (and just have of course). Ease contains a totally different sort of music, dark it certainly is as well. Also quite different from what one would in general expect with a band name like Warm Graves. No, this is not doom metal. Continue reading to find out what I am writing about.

Warm Graves is the musical project of Jonas Wehner who lives in Leipzig in Germany. Started in 2012, Warm Graves released its debut album 'Ships Will Come' in 2014 and took eight years to produce a second album, which was released yesterday. A period so long that ease is not the word coming to mind, as far as producing a second album is concerned. The same goes for the music. In the first instance, that is. Who allows him/herself to get into the vibe of Ease, will notice that the dark sounds can be listened to with ease.

Where the music is concerned, Ease is the 1980s all over again. Dark synths, electronic beats, electronically treated vocals. That was not exactly my kind of music. Ultravox, Gary Newman, just a couple of names that come to mind. Please, do not ask me why, but there's a major difference. Where I could not listen past a few songs of the 1980s acts of the day, I fully go with Warm Graves' flow. Is it, just to name an example, the bass guitar that jumps into 'Black Wine' and changes the song around for me? Is it the wide synths in 'Neon', that inexplicably on the face of it, makes me think of 'Riders On The Storm'? The band that really stands out for me here is Depeche Mode. What I expect is that Wehner was influenced by German bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk as well, but I'm not too well versed here.

With Ease Warm Graves shares an extremely dark album with the world, reflecting the times in which it was made. That can be personal of course, but it certainly is a soundtrack for all the war-mongering and conspiracy noises being ventilated in the past days, months and years. In a world where many people have never had it as good as in our days, the feel is pessimistic and even defaitistic. Ease underscores this modern world with its bleak darkness, where everything is made by machines. Luckily for us humans, behind it all is the person Jonas Wehner, who is responsible for all we hear. This does leave just enough of a human touch and at times even a hint of light.

What we hear is a world where it is easy to sink into. The kind of music that can suck the listener fully in and exclude everything else. Ease scores high on this point. Whatever else is going on Ease, makes it enough for the length of nine songs to just be together with Ease. This is an achievement, as I'm not one in general for this kind of music. Let yourself be surprised as I was by the many twists the album presents and follow the flow of it. It is more than worth your while.

Wout de Natris