After the release of their last album, Grandbrothers did what most musicians should do at some point in their career: they reflected and took stock on whether they were still making the music they wanted to – or in particular, making it in the way they wanted to. The duo of German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/software designer Lukas Vogel had spent four albums creating music solely from the sound of a piano, manipulating sounds from the instrument with acoustic pick-ups and electromechanical devices devised by Vogel. After 2023’s Late Reflections they contemplated: “We were asking ourselves, how long do we want to continue this? Is it still inspiring? Does it evoke new ideas or is it some sort of repetition?”
It was worthwhile scrutiny. As pretty and crisp as Late Reflections was, it swallowed itself in not having quite enough idiosyncrasy and ideas to keep it from eventually turning into high definition background music. The duo’s new album, Elsewhere, finds Grandbrothers working with sound beyond the piano for the first time. “When we started to use analog synthesizers and drum samples, it was so empowering. It was kind of a fresh start.” Fitted with new sounds to work with and a desire to tap into the communal energy of crowds at dance festivals, Sarp and Vogel come at their music with a quietly giddy new enthusiasm – even if it does end up falling into the same pitfalls as before.
And the new textures and sounds do bring a revitalising effect to Elsewhere’s better moments. Based on a funk-inspired breakbeat, “We Collide” stretches out over six minutes as jittery synth riffs agitate like pebbles skirting on a pool of electric noise. It hits on a happy medium between dance-like motion and chill comedown. “Velvet Roads” has minor key piano figures draping a shadow over the track as swooping strings come and go like cars racing along wet highways. It’s velvety like the title suggests, and the venture into Europop-like house music at the end brings to mind CFCF while also aching to be explored further; it’s a snapshot when it would be fascinating to see as a full landscape. Towards the end of the album, 80s neon synths dazzle like searchlights on “run.run.run.run.run”, exuding something that feels like tangible stakes at play.
Across the rest of the album there’s plenty of enjoyable enough and commendable work from the duo: the itchy beat on “Fable”; the dribbling electronic debris on the twinkling, contemplative clearing of “Rex Machina”; and final track “N O W H E R E” is both an impressive workout for Sarp’s fingers and dynamic and alien sounding, the duo composing like they are trying to break free from going through the motions. The new musical elements certainly add an animated drive to the tracks here and there, but the 10 tracks on Elsewhere do also run into sounding all too similar. The beat may change, but the elements are much the same and it can feel like we’re being served up remixes of the same material.
A track like “Where Else” is indicative of the consistent trait of Grandbrother’s music: Einaudi-like piano figures swimming around a compact beat. It’s sleek and stylish music for high end products. In small doses it’s impressive and likeable, but as a whole it risks becoming background music again – albeit dance-orientated background music this time round. It’s a small step forward for Grandbrothers though. The same issues remain, but the rut they found themselves in has never sounded so invigorated before.
