- The Notwist
- Close to the Glass
Germany’s The Notwist celebrates their 25th anniversary as a musical entity by delivering what could very arguably be the group’s most definitive sonic statement yet.
Their first LP since signing to Sub Pop and six years removed from 2008’s acclaimed The Devil, You + Me, Close to the Glass finds the present lineup of brothers Markus and Michael Archer, Andi Haberl and Martin Gretschmann in quintessential union. Free-moving cuts like “Kong”, “Casino” and the near-nine-minute “Linen” allow the quartet’s twin penchants for gamely pop songwriting and experimental daring to coalesce into something that brings the Notwist’s scrappy dark indie beginnings and their IDM-addled electropop present into a perfect circle of sound.
For a band who pretty much began as a Deutschland version of Slint , _Close to the Glass_—like Radiohead’s In Rainbows or Sound Tribe Sector 9’s _Artifact_—is a progressive view of the infinite joys the fusion of laptops and guitars continues to bring to the table when done the right way.