Labels: Microsleep – Moment of Collapse – Stereo Dasein
Review by: MH
Manku Kapak come from Bremen and have a love affair with 90s emo and particularly the likes of Still Life and Indian Summer. If you like that kind of thing and more recent bands like Human Hands I think you will be all over this. It’s all here – the talky bits, the wilder vocals with yelling and crying, the sad twinkly guitars, the more frantic parts, the emo breakdowns. They have been kicking around for a few years now but this is their first full length. Opener “Zustaende” calls to mind Yage, as do some of the other faster numbers although they don’t get much past mid-pace for the most part. The main vocals are fairly frantic and there is a second vocalist doing more talky stuff. Overall, there is a slightly cleaner sound than previously – particularly vocally. However, this has not taken away from the quality of the sound or the songs. Most of the songs are in German although you do get some English language stuff. The talky and beat-less “Let’s Change Our Names” is the first one “” the melancholy riff is great and the vocals are replete with German accent. I wasn’t convinced on first listen but it actually works really well (even if my old English teacher would have been hyper-critical of some of the lines). The frenetic, wild end to the closing track is also in English. Twinkly, sad bits that build up are plentiful on this album like on “Ruecksicht” and the outstanding opening of “Ich Meine Dich und Mich” which is one of the best tracks here with its duelling spoken and more distressed vocals towards the end. The twinkly guitar work on the opening of the latter is crushingly sad. The way the vocals battle it out on “Inklusion” is another highlight. There are highlights all over the place in fact. As I’m writing this I’m wondering why I have not yet written a load of gushing text about the song “Fliegen” which as I’m listening to it is suddenly becoming my current favourite song on here. It’s good – it’s very good indeed “” the breakdown towards the end is fantastic. They do this 90s emo thing very well. Superb album and well worth the wait. The lyrics are great too. You might need to get your German-English dictionary to get full value of them but they are all very personal or political. Check out the spectacular use of the melodica for a whole truckload of bonus points too – especially as the drummer plays it while drumming.