During Johan Simons’ tenure as Artistic Director, the Ruhrtriennale has seen a range of trilogies in various disciplines. One focus that has been established over the course of these three years is our collaboration with the Berlin-based label City Slang, one of the leading international platforms for indie pop. In 2015 City Slang celebrated its 25th anniversary at Ritournelle with Caribou, The Notwist and HeCTA. In the following year Tindersticks presented their unforgettable ‘The Waiting Room Film Project’ at the Lichtburg in Essen. In 2017, the final year of the three, the Ruhrtriennale presents a concert double bill with two of the most exciting artists currently working in the singer/songwriter field: Lambchop and Timber Timbre.
Lambchop is one of the leading American bands of the present day. The group led by front man Kurt Wagner has been appearing since 1990 in a range of different formations (of up to 15 musicians), linking the American folk and songwriter traditions to contemporary pop music. The band released a major work at the end of 2016 with the album ‘Flotus’. F-L-O-T-U-S is an acronym for “First Lady of the United States” – to whom the album was dedicated – and also “For Love Often Turns Us Still”. Both versions can be read as a statement relating to the current political situation in the United States.
This attitude is also expressed stylistically: with the country and Americana tradition of his home town Nashville behind him, Kurt Wagner adds moments of electronic irritation to his pieces that meander between subversion and transcendence. Using Auto-tune, unmistakable references to soul and R&B and a clear acknowledgement of electronic music, Kurt Wagner and his associates raise the singer-songwriter genre to new heights and create associations which no one would have suspected. A first approach towards this new musical invention was his HeCTA project which examined the history of American dance and was seen and heard at the first Ritournelle during the Ruhrtriennale 2015. Maybe we should have known then that Lambchop would change too.
The second band on the night is Timber Timbre. In recent years this trio led by Taylor Kirk has become one of Canada’s leading singer/songwriter exports. They have worked consistently to reinvent the blues, coupling it with more objective 60s folk influences and gentle rock ’n’ roll gestures. Their 2017 album ‘Sincerely, Future Pollution’ now marks a turning point – and not only because its title immediately introduces a political dimension. Here Timber Timbre use dark synthesizers and strong emphatic rhythms to reference the sound of the 1980s: sometimes there are echoes of the theatrical artifice of Bryan Ferry, sometimes Timber Timbre come across like an abstract blues version of French synth-based pop artists Air. Beneath it all lies a sparkling and melancholy beauty that makes ‘Sincerely, Future Pollution’ one of the most exciting and important albums of the year.
City Slang has made two outstanding contributions to contemporary pop. Two amazing bands at significant points in their creative development. Two political statements about contemporary America.
