Artist: Lionhearts
Title: Companion
Genre: Electronic / Synth
Release Date: 12th January 2018
Label: Dependent Records
Album Review
Frank M. Spinath, singer with SEABOUND/ EDGE OF DAWN, is one of those restless and fidgety souls it seems, forever in need of alternative projects. So in 2017 he created LIONHEARTS and released a self-titled album. It obviously wasn’t very good, as a year later, here it is again, and tinkered with, remixed to death and with one new track thrown in, a demo by the way, to make the whole thing appear more generous than it actually is. In the press blurb we are told the album “consists largely of remixes made by friends Spinath chose and asked by himself… and chose the participators on his own and put the tracklist together by himself”.
Read that again. It’s like congratulating yourself on cooking yourself a meal because you first decided what to eat, then you bought the ingredients, and to really show your skill, you then cooked it all. I would also question the fawning respect given to those who remix here. It’s essentially just pissing about with other peoples’ creativity. Like that meal you’ve just lovingly cooked. I’ve chucked in some chillies, halved the portion and stuck a sprig of basil on the top. That shouldn’t win me any prizes really, now should it?
So! The music itself. Any good? There are two versions of ‘Gone’ here, one a pulsing, dark electronic effort, and the other aimed more at the clubs, neither particularly shining. ‘The Ardent City’ sees ARCHITECT remixing this into a layered and shimmering whole, although it’s at least three minutes too long. The HECQ version is sparser, and far less interesting, easily exposing the threadbare melody, although it does build nicely enough, and doesn’t outstay its welcome. ‘To What I Don’t Know’ can’t be saved by any amount of manipulation, there’s simply not enough there in the first place. At least ‘No Going Back’ starts off making a good claim to be on some sci-fi movie soundtrack, although the second version here is inferior and bland. And finally, ‘Stars’, the only new material on ‘Companion’. It sounds seriously dated, bits of trip-hop and dubstep percussion doing nothing, with some half-arsed singing every now and again. The line “We’ll call it a mistake” seemingly prophetic, and adequately summing up this mess of an album.
If this is where we are at now in the musical landscape, no wonder everyone has gone back to vinyl and started dreaming of the good old days. A cheap, loveless and pointless cash-in in every way.
Tracklist
01. Gone (Olaf Wollschlager)
02. The Ardent City (Architect)
03. To What I Don’t Know (Hecq)
04. No Going Back (Mildreda)
05. Stars (Demo)
06. Gone (Acretongue)
07. The Ardent City (Hecq)
08. To What I Don’t Know (Iris)
09. No Going Back (Forma Tadre)
Line-up
Frank M. Spinath
Produced by HECQ
Website
https://www.facebook.com/fms.lionhearts / https://lionhearts-de.bandcamp.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 2
Sound: 6
Total: 4 / 10
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