austrian music export

You can’t expect “music as usual” from this trio.
BENNY OMERZELL, MARTIN SIEWERT and LUKAS KÖNIG have released a new CD, “Battleship Euphoria” (Cracked Anegg/Handsemmel Records) that illustrates just how captivating music can be when musicians have freed themselves from convention.
The list of names of the musicians involved in this project is already enough to guarantee that this CD is going to be a musical experience of the very special variety. Benny Omerzell is the innovative keyboarder from Kompost 3. Martin Siewert is guitarist and main brain behind the avantgarde-rock-electronic combo Radian. And Lukas König is one of the busiest Austrian percussionists who doesn’t just provide the beats for Kompost 3, but seems to be everywhere playing with everyone. Now they have come together to explore new musical dimensions. It really shouldn’t be surprising that they do it in a very exciting way.
On “Battleship Euphoria” the trio have broken away ancestral musical positions and approach the material from a position in which stylistic questioning plays no role. What they have created with this release are multilayered musical images whose appearance, musical qualities, tonal shadings and intensity are in a constant state of change. From light to dark, from scattered clouds to a looming storm-front, the trio builds bridges and works with a wide variety of musical influences. Post-rock, electronica, and jazz and many others are manipulated and mixed in a variety of ways. Sometimes minimalistic and extremely reduced, sometimes really bombastic and then extremely eperimental or perhaps simply quirky.
The numbers develop their tension and atmosphere from the constant interaction of the musicians. Benny Omerzell switches up his organ sounds between really fat, psychedelic, and delicate. Martin Siewert’s guitar sounds float spherically in the best post-rock style and then can drone noisily in overdrive. And Lukas König’s drums accompany and accentuate the others with styles ranging between groovy, minimalistic and progressive. The three musicians on “Battleship Euphoria” have developed a really extraordinary sound together. One that captures the imagination and takes the listener to far away lands.

Michael Ternai (adapted from the German by Dave Dempsey) – March 2017