Albrecht Schrader

In the organizer's words:

With his new, self-titled album,Albrecht Schrader has once again created a piece of music

music that seeks its own resonance chamber. Known for his

stylish mixture of timeless pop sound and contemporary lyrics, the Hamburg-born artist proves himself

not without humor, but certainly without cynicism, the Hamburg native proves himself

once again as a composer and lyricist with a fine feeling for his time,

and a little for the one before. In the best sense of the word, it is unpretentiously pleasant

music, if that still exists. And a perfectly formed highlight in the artist's

discography of the artist.

Because on his fifth studio album, the dauphin of German-language songwriters

studio album, the German-speaking songwriter masterfully uses the entire range of musical composition. His

his past as an orchestra conductor can be heard in the artfully

well-tempered arrangements. Even if it is a dwindling genre in the

dwindling genre in the local music landscape, Schrader proves that organic sounds

sounds, real instruments, real voices without autotune and tracks at normal

normal speed can release just as much dopamine. Listening

a very special kind of satisfaction when listening. Maybe it's the

maybe it's the orderliness, maybe it's the harmonies, or a secret third thing that Albrecht

Schrader will never reveal, or only in an exclusive interview for a lot of money. The fact is,

there is no one like him in this country.

"Albrecht Schrader" begins with a sublime chord. "The music begins"

begins and what follows are 9 more songs. 10 is undisputedly the best

number of tracks for an album; attentive listeners will have already noticed this on

have already noticed this on past releases. Where his last record was almost

was almost a disco moment, Schrader is now returning to the craft of pop, classically

of pop, classically orchestrated with piano, warm synths and rather soft drums

drums, actually even softer than "Soft" from 2023. Schrader has retained the joy of the

beautiful sound. And it seems to grow even more with each new release.

to grow even more. The upbeat "Wofür die Liebe sich noch lohnt", the bittersweet

bittersweet "Twenty Years of Nicotine", or the strolling play "Ich lese was hinein" about

the ambiguities of interpersonal encounters - Albrecht Schrader is either the finest

either the finest in the pub or the most rocked-out in the concert hall and

Both suit him perfectly.

Nevertheless, "Albrecht Schrader" also speaks a kind of worldly melancholy,

always moves on the bright side of life, even in moments of doubt.

moments of doubt. As in "Ist Musik noch unser Ding", the almost anthemic class reunion of current

of current German pop artists with a crisis of meaning. Alongside Schrader you can hear

Saskia Lavaux, Das Paradies, Resi Reiner, Rocko Schamoni, Malonda, Nicola Rost

and finally Dirk von Lowtzow. So is music still her thing? The question of the

final chorus remains unanswered. What remains is hope and the quiet certainty

certainty that there is not much better out there to weather the storms of the present.

the storms of the present. In this sense, "Albrecht Schrader" is also music for the music.

music, a bow to his own guild.

The catchy lyrics only reveal their meta-level after the third humming along.

meta-level, so well interwoven does Schrader push the small, sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholy

sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholy observations of everyday life. As if he had signed a kind of

chivalric code of honor, his linguistic points are so finely aimed,

that those hit, for example the city of Hamburg ("I'm not sure if that's because of

Hamburg"), might even be flattered at first. But that

that's the way it is with multi-layered art. It can be enjoyed in many ways. Yes, Albrecht

Schrader rebels sitting down. But not out of laziness, but out of the clever

foresight that this can be sustained for longer. And because that's how he

best at playing the piano.

Text: Ilona Hartmann