Le Mur: Keep Your Fear Away from Me

The fourth album from the German band Le Mur, Keep Your Fear Away from Me, is meant to be conceptual. The band says that it “addresses the unnecessary psychological concerns of our society that have particularly surfaced and hit the headlines in the last decade.� There are some spoken word passages from the late Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurthi on the album that mainly stay in the background and add texture but reveal little about the concept. Matthias, who plays guitars, keyboards, and saxophones also adds some sparse and, in his case, distracting vocals that don’t help either. And finally, Georgios, who plays drums, provides probably close to a thousand words of liner notes but since they are in a microscopic font they too are useless. Rounding out the trio is Janine on bass and synthesizer and she seems to be the silent partner. So, if there is a concept here I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.

On to the music. You get four fairly lengthy songs, ranging between 9 and 15 minutes, that are hard to define. I guess I would call them psychedelic featuring a sampling of free jazz and some metal. Imagine live early 70s Hawkwind, but more chaotic and less disciplined. Yeah, that’s right. The members of Le Mur can be proficient on their instruments when the songs permit them to be, but that isn’t often. However, the aim clearly isn’t to display virtuosity. Instead, it’s to establish various moods that take you through this ill-defined story. At least I think it is. If so, it fails on that measure. But there is some occasionally interesting music within this craziness. You just have to sit through a lot of noise to get to it. I can’t recommend the album, but I have to give Le Mur credit for at least trying though ultimately coming up short.

Track Listing
1. ... The Past Will Be Perfect ... (15:00)
2. Today Is the Day/The Beauty of Now (9:26)
3. Another Life/Burning the Tree / I See You (11:18)
4. ... For the Puzzles of the Future (12:12)

Added: March 25th 2024
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 545
Language: english

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