Photo: Dan Medhurst

Grandbrothers have a new album on the way, Late Reflections, recorded in the iconic Cologne Cathedral. Last month they shared the grand and gripping lead single ‘Infinite’, and now have let loose another track from the album called ‘Daybreak’. Speaking about it, pianist Erol Sarp had this to say:

“During the recording process, we found ourselves in a highly shifted rhythm. We worked exclusively at night until early morning. When we packed up our things around 6 a.m., the windows began to shine and the cathedral seemed to awaken. This visual transformation was central symbol of the recording process for us, that’s why ‘Daybreak’ is the album’s opener”.

‘Daybreak’ is offered with a video accompaniment made by filmmaker Manfred Borsch. The duo’s Lukas Vogel offered some insight about it:

“Manfred has been with us for a very long time, and as a Cologne native, he naturally has a close relationship with the cathedral. Richter, after all, left the arrangement of the colors he chose to a random generator; he wanted to avoid any representationalism. Manfred follows a similar path, he abstracts and deconstructs the window cinematically once again.”

Watch the video below and watch out for the release of Late Reflections on April 14th through City Slang.

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Two years on from the release of All The Unknown, Grandbrothers are ready to follow it up with their fourth album. Entitled Late Reflections, the new album was recorded in the iconic Cologne Cathedral following a surprising invitation from the church’s master builder and architect, Peter Füssenich back in 2019. On the run up to the performance, which took place last summer, the duo of German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/mechanic/sofware designer Lukas Vogel ended up writing a whole album. Vogel elaborates:

“The first idea was to only have one or two songs specially made for the concert. This concert came closer, and we were there to have the first test of the acoustics. We were really impressed by this place. Sound-wise, it is really huge, and especially at night, when nobody else is in the Cathedral, it’s so breathtaking. During the process, we realized that this environment makes it so much fun and challenging to write music for this place.”

The actual recordings were done before the concert but it bears the influence of such a monumental and historical building and is reportedly more ambient and atmospheric. “On our previous album we went into a more physical and club-influenced direction,” Sarp said. “This album, we just said, ‘Let’s see what happens and be free to go more into ambient, or more atmospheric, experimental sound spheres.”

We’ll have to wait until April 14th for Late Reflections to be out through City Slang but Grandbrothers are already enticing us with a grand and gripping single, ‘Infinite’, accompanied by a video. Watch it now.

Photo: Toby Coulson

Grandbrothers‘ upcoming album All The Unknown is getting close to its release day on January 15th through City Slang. Following the title track, the duo of German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/mechanic/sofware designer Lukas Vogel have shared a second single, ‘What We See’. Grandbrothers composed the track using artificial intelligence. They explain:

“The first part of this song is this sort of caucasian piano line. The interesting part about it is, that the origin of that was something completely different: we just played randomly on the piano and let it run through an algorithm on the computer, which made it the way it is now. From there on, we built things around this fragment that by time became this emotional rollercoaster with very vulnerable and intimate, but also very fierce and brute parts.

“What We See” implies that sometimes things aren’t what they seem to be and that you should take your time to take a second look and question them.”

Listen to ‘What We See’ below.

Last month Grandbrothers announced the release of their third album, All The Unknown. Along with the news, the German duo shared the title track and now they have paired it with a video accompaniment directed by Manfred Borsch. Watch it below.

All The Unknown is out on January 15th through City Slang.

News of 2021 releases are starting to prick our ears. One album that we’re excited about is All The Unknown, the upcoming third album from German duo Grandbrothers. It follows two spellbinding albums, 2017’s Open and 2015’s Dilation, and is set for release on January 15th through City Slang.
The album sees them further expand their exploratory and open approach to music, with the grand piano, up until now their only centrepiece, now paired with electronics. German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/mechanic/sofware designer Lukas Vogel, who make up the duo, crafted the record also using self-built computer-controlled mechanics. “The main difference compared to the last two albums, is that we set ourselves a rule that everything needed to be created on the instrument in that moment,” Vogel explained. “But now that this rule is gone, we’ve started to produce or record things on the computer which means we can stack up more layers” Sarp added. “Previously, it has always just been me sitting at the piano playing, but now we have three or four piano parts together, which I wouldn’t be able to play at once as it’s too many notes; it just wouldn’t be possible as I only have ten fingers. This new method has opened up worlds and given so many more opportunities to write music.”

It seems like a long wait until the album arrives in January but they are already enticing us with title track, ‘All The Unknown’. Take a listen below.

Fresh off the release of their second spellbinding album, Open, German duo Grandbrothers have shared a new video for the album’s wonderful track ‘From a Distance’. The effort was directed by Dan Medhurst, who had this to say about it:

‘The film is a loose adaptation of the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus who struggled to push a large rock up a mountain only for it to roll back down and for him to start again each day. It tells a tail of eternal struggle for our lead character (played by Mark Wingett) who appears to be locked in a convoluted journey for victory, but ultimately ends up back where he started. It also plays with the concept of eternal recurrence; That the universe and all existence has already occurred and will continue to reoccur infinitely.’

“I chose to shoot in the Brecon Beacons at night to emphasise a feeling of total isolation. We used a high powered custom built LED attached to a drone to light our character and shot on 50 year old, Russian anamorphic lenses to create haunting, unusual visuals which play with the idea of distance and anonymity.”

Here’s the video.

In other good news, and in support of the album, Grandbrothers have just embarked on a month-long European tour, which includes a show at London’s Rich Mix on November 21st.