Lottchen – Tales for my mother

Description

Eva Buchmann – vocal
Sonja Huber – vibraphon

Critics have been raving about “ingeniously woven sound parcours” (In-Music), “subtle aural adventures” (Jazzthing) and “irresistible charm” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) for 14 years. Ever since Lottchen existed, the duo of singer Eva Buchmann and vibraphonist Sonja Huber. And perhaps this rare and intimate combination of vibraphone and vocals would have had an even greater impact had the two not taken a baby break twice. On the other hand, otherwise there would probably not be the unique project that the two have now completed: “Tales For My Mother”, the new Lottchen album after the award-winning “Lazy Afternoon”, “Travelling Birds” and “Quiet Storm”, is an ode to being a mother, inspired by their mothers as well as by their own role as mothers, by an unfulfilled desire to have children, but also by “Mother Earth” and the search for their own roots.

So it’s a very personal affair, which is why all the pieces are self-composed and lyricized – all except “Say A Prayer”, which comes from Hawaii-based improvisation luminary Rhiannon, who worked a lot with world star Bobby McFerrin and Grammy winner Lawrence Hobgood and has become a musical mother figure for Eva Buchmann since an encounter in 2018. Which results in Lottchen’s most poetic, emotional and dense work to date. An intimate song album between jazz and singer/songwriter pop, which tells its theme in many variations: From the memory of a soulful parental home (“Acre of Land”) to the logically different world view of generations (“Turning Pages”) to the magical moment of holding one’s own child in one’s arms for the first time after birth (“Here We Are”). From the play of children (“Jael”) to the spark of life as it shows itself in the glow of the eyes of a 100-year-old woman as well as in the laughter of a mortician (“The Spark”).

A touching as well as exciting journey through the miracle of life and life-giving in the unmistakable lyrical style of the duo. Concentrating entirely on their theme and their melodies, Buchmann and Huber refrain this time from the usual excursions into tango or Brazilian music. All the more variable and detailed they capture the atmosphere and moods of their songs. And in doing so, they bring their outstanding musicality and technique to bear.

On the one hand, there is the captivatingly clear voice of the Belgian Eva Buchmann, who was born in Holland, trained in Berlin, among other places, and now lives in Cologne – who, of course, can also interpret classical swing perfectly, as she proves as the current lead singer of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Here she sounds sometimes with the folky undertone of a Joni Mitchell, sometimes with the understatement of a Norah Jones. She can accompany gauzily and explode in the gospel tradition – both can be heard in the “Empowerment” song “Say A Prayer” -, very calmly and deeply ground ballads (as in “Here We Are”) or swing powerfully into great heights and also remain there for an amazingly long time (for example in “Turning Pages”); she gets under the skin and directly into the heart with emotionally charged lyrics like in “How Much Longer”, but she can also dance in waltz time with purely sound-painting vocals like in “Jael”.

This is always ideally accompanied, complemented and carried on by the Swiss Sonja Huber on the vibraphone, who was trained in Basel and Berlin. You can hear in her harmonic and melodic understanding that she comes from the piano. And that when she switched to the vibraphone at 16, she learned from David Friedman and other greats of the guild. In particular, her uncluttered virtuosity comes very close to that of a Gary Burton. Whether she elicits tones from the metal plates very sparingly in order to let them fade away softly, as in the beginning of “Acre of Land”, or practically only strikes accompanying chords in staccato, whether she lets the mallets swirl, lets the sound of her instrument pulsate or sound like bells, or, for example, in “Field Trip” and “Here We Are” provides spherical, shimmering sounds with bow strokes, on “Tales For My Mother” the entire potential of her instrument is exhausted and put in the service of the songs. Depending on the mood and emotion, Huber allows her instrument to breathe with her, she adjusts the dynamics with a precise ear, she becomes a dream companion, so to speak.

As much as the album thrives on quietness and intimacy, it is Buchmann’s and Huber’s sense of rhythm and the art of the pause that makes it very special. And the fact that these “Tales For My Mother” get under your skin in such a way is not least due to the fact that the usual tricks of an album production were dispensed with. Buchmann and Huber recorded all the tracks live in September 2020 in the concert hall of the Altes Pfandhaus in Cologne. At the same time, everything was recorded on video; parallel to the CD, one song per month will now also be released as a music video until a vinyl edition in February 2022 as the crowning finale.

As much as the album lives from the quietness and intimacy, it is Buchmann’s and Huber’s sense of rhythm and the art of the pause that makes it very special. And the fact that these “Tales For My Mother” get under your skin so much is not least due to the fact that the usual tricks of an album production were dispensed with. Buchmann and Huber recorded all the tracks live in September 2020 in the concert hall of the Altes Pfandhaus in Cologne. At the same time, everything was recorded on video; parallel to the CD, one song per month will now also be released as a music video until a vinyl edition in February 2022 as the crowning finale.

Thus this album becomes a unique project, which is at the same time an expression of the spirit of the young jazz generation to which Buchmann and Huber belong. The result of a lust for improvisation that roams through music history without blinkers and appreciates the qualities of classical songwriting. On the Lottchen masterpiece “Tales For My Mother,” the power comes from the calm. It is, in a sense, the mother of all vibraphone/vocal albums.