Pendler – You come to me

Contained, though pulsating, a guitar sketch makes its way through warm feedback sounds and shivery drones; at times expanding, at others retracting. Accompanied by unobtrusive organ harmonies and a voice that welcomes us on our 40-minute journey through Pendler’s debut album. “Pendler”, “commuter”, does not only stand for the physical conquest of stretches, but also for the musical transformation of previously traditional structures and instrumentation into the band’s very own musical microcosm; defined by a digital reworking of base material and the creation of ambivalences and blurs, especially with regards to their handling of the pop-culture’s legacy.

For example, in “Good Job”, inspired by the redneck-(n)evergreen “Proud Mary”, the original is rid off its pseudo-liberating breakup moment and consequently torn up in such a way that the aspect of “left a good job in the city” becomes a statement of deep despair and takes centre stage. However, such textual distortions, which are often meant humorously, as a bow before Buster Keaton or the Charlie Chapin of “Monsieur Verdoux” rather than simply out of joy for the deconstruction of the category “song”, make up just one aspect of Pendler’s music.