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coloured tears 1984
Artist: Coloured Tears
Title: 1984
Genre: Wave / Post-Punk / Synth Pop
Release Date: 2nd October 2024
Label: self-released


Album Review

There are those acts which are absolutely amazing but hardly anyone ever heard of them. One of those is surely COLOURED TEARS, a project of longtime musician André Grafert from the small town of Buxtehude near Hamburg. He started making music in 1985, co-founded the Wave band LIQUID DREAMS in 1989 with guitarist Jojo Brandt but they disbanded in 1991. I don’t know what Grafert did after 1991 but my suspicion is producing tons of music for a later release. Much later! Otherwise there’s hardly a good explanation for his massive recent output but more on that later. In 2022 Grafert created a Bandcamp account and released the first three albums under the moniker COLOURED TEARS. Yes, three! One with 17 instrumental tracks aptly titled ‘Instrumental Works’ plus two more albums, ‘Can’t fly with broken wings’ and ‘Waited all my life’. 38 songs in total, all released on one day. Phew!

The next album came in September 2022 already and Grafert has kept up the pace since then. As a child of the 1980s Grafert’s roots are in New Wave, Dark Wave, Post-Punk, and Synth-Pop and he has certainly explored all aspects of this musical frame with his many releases, albeit with refraining from too obscure experiments. He has a knack for melodies and a good hook, so most of his stuff is pretty catchy and neat and a pleasure for the ears. That Grafert is a pretty decent singer with his deep and sometimes raspy voice surely helps, as well.

All this is also true for his most recent releases. On September 4th 2024 the album ‘Years Ago’ was released, according to Grafert “another Synth Pop album” and already his ninth album this year! Yes, you read this correctly - nine albums! And what does he do? In the same month he released another album, the tenth this year, titled ‘Tear Apart’ and released on September 23rd! Grafert calls it “another post-punk album”. One might think that’s it when a musician releases more albums in one legal year than other bands in an entire career but nope, there’s yet another album released on October 2nd. It’s called ‘1984’, probably a crucial year for Grafert I’d like to think as it certainly was a pivotal year for me and my formative years, too.

For anyone not familiar with COLOURED TEARS (that is all of you!) ‘1984’ is a great start as it has all the key elements of Grafert’s music. Opener ‘To end it today’ would be an Indie hit in another world and combines rather dark and desperate lyrics with an uplifting chorus and a swirling guitar. Songs like ‘I’ve never felt so alone’ and ‘Nightmare’ are more electronic and wouldn’t feel out of place at your local Goth club. ‘I found you’ and ‘On her darkest days’ are more on the melancholy and balladry side while ‘Tears’ and ‘Pleasure and delight’ is further fodder for New Wave DJs. To be sure, Grafert does not re-invent the wheel with his music but there is really no filler or bad song on ‘1984’! Quite amazing when you consider that it is the third album within a little more than four bloody weeks for COLOURED TEARS! From start to finish, the album is simply a pretty enjoyable experience. The only thing Grafert is really not good at is self-promotion. His accounts on Facebook and Instagram have less than 100 followers but perhaps this review helps to boos this a little.

So I’d recommend to start with ‘1984’ and then discover COLOURED TEARS backwards. Pretty much the only option not to get lost in the vast backcatalogue! 39 releases since June 2022! Pretty mind-blowing, and in this time and day one might suspect that it’s all just AI music. Nope, Grafert is an actual human being and after all, AI wasn’t really a thing in 2022 when it comes to music creation. One day I will ask Grafert how he manages to be such a prolific producer! And my biggest fear is that this review is already outdated when it’s published as he just released yet another album by then….

All of COLOURED TEARS albums cost between four and seven Euros on Bandcamp and are all value for money! What, you don’t have a Bandcamp account? Booo! Change that!


Tracklist

01. To end it today 03:35
02. Just a little bit 03:52
03. I’ve never felt so alone 03:36
04. From my soul 03:50
05. To nowhere and forever 03:15
06. Twisted reality 04:31
07. I found you 03:48
08. Tears 03:30
09. Full alive 03:17
10. On her darkest days 02:56
11. Nightmare 03:48
12. Pleasure and delight 03:18
13. I’ve never felt so alone - Part 2 02:51


Line-up

André Grafert


Website

https://colouredtears.bandcamp.com / https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064060721020


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10

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