TOUCHY MOB DAYS GO BY

What a beard, eh? I have to admit I have never seen the bowlcut-beard combo before - it's rather striking. A strong look indeed. Love it. Anyway, I'm not actually here to talk about beards or haircuts, nor am I qualified to do so. I ain't no barber yo.

Instead, I'd much rather talk about the-man-in-this-picture's music. He goes by the name of Touchy Mob (really great name, actually, for some reason - think it's cause you don't usually describe a mob as touchy, nor is one person ever counted as a mob; it's fun with words) but his real name is Ludwig Plath and he lives in Berlin, Germany. I was recently very wowed by his song 'Days Go By' and vowed to write about it. A few days later, here I am. I stuck t'me guns din' I?

And I'm very very glad I did.

If there's ever a quite original sound, here it is. This song is very unique indeed - for me anyway (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). The different noises in it combine to create quite a variegated musical scenery, from the blustery synths gently cut off with buffeting modulation, to the clip-clop raindrop tongue-click percussion; from the gentle bass notes locked in with the muffled kick, to the ambient cooing vox synth that hush in the second half of the song. It's a painted picture that is bittersweet, not overly optimistic but not an extremely dark sound either, as shown in the lyrics, "Days go by and I'm still in love with you / It won't last forever / what ever does?". Those lyrics actually coincide with a clash of raised synth chords and it's all very beautiful together. Take a listen for yourself.

There's just something about this song, this guy - the way he sings gently altered with echo and WHAT he sings also - that's very difficult to ignore. Mr Ludwig Plath I think is on to a winner here. The sound, the whole atmosphere of the song in fact, is very honest - presented without overproduction, oversinging, overanything. He certainly sees and understands the whole less-is-more thing (he calls it lichtschwertjazz: light-hearted jazz), or so it seems - in any case there's a bleak-yet-bright feeling I get when I hear this song. Kinda like a lovesong: but bittersweet, as I said.

Anyway, I looove it. It is kind of James Blake-y in a way - not in the exact way that it sounds or is put together, but in the feeling that it evokes. Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Not an easy thing to do.

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