Propaganda is the self-titled comeback album by Dusseldorf legends Propaganda who are releasing the bands first new music this century, the band revolve around Ralf Dorper and Michael Mertens, this time around they have Thunder Bae handling the vocals and Hauschka on prepared piano.
The album opens with the albums main single They Call Me Nocebo that veers from Auto-tuned club banger, to Thunder Bae's sonorously sung glossy synth pop and back again, they try to ease your pain from everything that's been happening, that pain is eternal. The pessimism is overwhelming you so much you need a woebegone 80's widdly guitar solo keeping you deep in that hole.
Purveyor Of Pleasure has deep sexy bassline, breathy vocals talk of your deviant desires, temptations you can't resist.
Vicious Circle is a dark tale of control, manipulating you until you can find no way out of that Vicious Circle, making you feel like you're in hell, rather than a happy relationship, synth drum patterns rise and fall.
Tipping Point is in love with the game show, trying to come to terms with climate change and how things are falling apart, how can we get back from the wrong side of that Tipping Point, so the world doesn't implode. The rather upbeat synth pop is at odds with the seriousness of the lyrics.
Distant is staring at the void, is there any way out of this despair, you feel so Distant your stuck in a glass cage, keyboard line is quite sweet with unsettling drum patterns and effects making them feel totally mysterious.
Love:Craft has swirls of strings over a slow piano line for what sounds like it could be a James Bond theme, they slowly intone Nameless they keep calling you, strings growing intensity.
Dystopian Waltz is a modern synth classical portentous waltz into the dark dystopian future, that arrived since Propaganda last released an album. The cellos have a rather Wagnerian feel to them.
Synth pulsars help create a general feeling of unease and intrigue.
The album closes with Wenn Ich Mir Was Wuenschen Duerfte a dark hued updating for the Marlene Deitrich classic If I Could Wish For Something where the vocals take the traditional route, the music goes off on a sonic adventure part chamber pop, part synth oddness, but nothing less than totally beguiling.
Find out more at https://shop.tapeterecords.com/propaganda-propaganda-4123 https://propaganda-official.bandcamp.com/album/propaganda https://www.facebook.com/propagandamabuse/
