Formelwesen at Volksbühne Berlin, Nov 19th, 2010
Photographs © Julia Schiller
The bass drum is inching forward. It is hesitating – stumbles nervously on the spot – immediately it is overrun by sounds unleashed that fill the ear to the brim. The creature sprints on the screen – and suddenly we’re on a melancholically grey trip through a tunnel. Into the silence, the drums are spreading a scenery; gentle and detailed; a proposal for bass clarinet and guitar to fill the scope with their own accentuation. Captivated by the pictures, the music whirrs in the eyes and becomes a true emotion.
After that, a creature in a flowery dress enters the stage with a gigantic mouth as an instrument which it controls electronically in order to show: Formelwesen plays no typical Jazz in terms of yawning wine drinkers in their best evening dresses seated noddingly on upholstered chairs. Formelwesen is groovin’ and rockin’ – the creaking, limping, and rough soul of its peculiar creature loves the show and the audience.
To experience Formelwesen with one’s ears only would be like drinking wine out of paper cups, having sex on toilets, watching Bollywood movies on black-and-white TVs – it’s simply not sensual enough. Therefore the video performance and the bizarre appearances of the band’s own creatures Morboy, Wigfried, and Eve are not merely supplements or funny side blows to maintain the attention of modern, constantly entertained man during long periods of improvisation. In creating moods instead of melodies and dismissing traditional song patterns, the eye roams away from the musicians to the screen where it is caught in soft cushions of illusion; in fantastic dreams or colourful bonfires. Cinematic impressions and music merge in the most beautiful and deep way.
Formelwesen – Diggin Demons from GeisBaBa on Vimeo.
In 2001 and as a trio, Formelwesen once took a car ride into the middle of nowhere and, as myth has it, came back with a name and as a quartett. Getting out of the car, they fell in love with two roadside beauties, Wigfried and Eve. Naturally, Wigfried‘s brother Morboy von Lewald has confidently found his path towards the band‘s MC position. You can‘t figure the whole thing without him now, can you?
Formelwesen’s debut album „Diggin Demons“ was released in Sept, 2009 on fwl.records and was produced beo Roter-Bereich founder and guitar hero, Frank Möbus.
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