Deine Lakaien. Indicator. CD.

Lakaien's song "Along our Road" puts themessage of their new album in a nutshell. One might equally say: farewell legends – welcome to reality. For,after a voyage of over twenty years' duration, Deine Lakaien are ready to ditch old ballast and every last clichéand present the most exciting album of their entire career.Few bands have so polarised opinion over the last two and a half decades as this duo, singer Alexander Veljanovand keyboard player Ernst Horn: it's always been a straight case of love or hate. Yet only a few notes of theopener suffice to recognise that past judgements – good or bad – no longer hold true. Tired categorizations are athing of the past for this band. Having laid aside their masks and stepped out from the shadow of their history, thetwo dedicated performers are centred more clearly than ever in their own selves – which is an open invitation tolisteners from across the board to step into their world.It's exactly five years since Veljanov and Horn released their last studio album "April Skies" but they haven't justbeen twiddling their thumbs in the meantime. They celebrated their twentieth anniversary with an opulent orchestratour and continue to pursue their long-standing tradition of acoustic tours: opportunities enough for a little soul-searching."Indicator" doesn't simply rehash tried and tested formulas. It heralds a whole new era. Anyone who's alwaysappreciated Deine Lakaien will find on this album a fine range of what the duo has always done well. Both musicianshave, after all, crammed tons of experience into their tour luggage. One aspect is even more important than theirreturn to electronic sounds: Deine Lakaien now works to create intimacy with its listeners. They have courage enoughnow for poetic simplicity of a kind they rarely attempted before. Their songs may still be highly emotional but divestedof any touch of pathos they sound refreshingly carefree and light.In addition to political and social commentaries the album also presents a few wonderful ballads and love songs. Yet,like life itself, Deine Lakaien places the heady heights of emotion in the context of global developments. After 25 years they no longer want to wax lyrical about the theme of all themes, like some dashing Romantics in the first boisterousthroes of puberty.In terms both of content and music, "Indicator" is a multifaceted, intense album that embraces the world's diversity,dreams and hopes yet also relentlessly faces up to reality. The title "Indicator" must be understood also in that light.Deine Lakaien consciously chose a no-nonsense motto, not only for the listeners' sake but also for their own, and as a signpost on their new path. Because they're older, wiser, but still these old fighters. Released on Chrom Records and available September 17th, 2010.<