Georg auf Lieder

In the organizer's words:

Georg on songs

8-track 22607 tape / 8-track 22419 tape

Georg aufLieder is a hard worker. He works diligently on new songs in his small studio, tirelessly searching for his own sound. He has chosen creativity as his way of life and has elevated his daily craft to an art. With his two new mixtapes, the 8-track 22607 tape and the 8-track 22419 tape, Georg once again demonstrates his narrative talent on songs when he brings his stories to the world in an almost radio play-like manner. This self-reflection meets a musical diversity that requires absolute openness. He is constantly on the move, in search of himself, in search of belonging and, with a total of five releases in just four years, has honed his extraordinary signature as a songwriter.

The 8-track 22607 tape captivates with its at first glance light-hearted but at heart deeply melancholic indie folk, reminiscent of American bands such as Wilco or Eels. The acoustic guitar takes center stage and is supported by organ and Mellotron sounds, floating electric guitars and drums reduced to the essentials. This instrumentation underlines the apparent lightness of the Hamburg zip code that gives the album its title. In his observations of everyday life, Georg's songs tell of the basic need that unites us all: to lead a happy, fulfilled life. There are hidden pitfalls along the way, empty faces tired from work line the streets in the evening traffic ("Arbeit Arbeit Arbeit"), the stomach growls an opera and there seems to be no perspective ("Spaghetti"). Contradictions such as "organic cucumbers in plastic packaging" are sung about just as much as the escape into aimlessly meandering wanderings or onto the sofa in the vastness of the internet ("Sofakatzenbabys"). But when everything is bad ("Alles ist schlecht"), a pigeon with a handicap flying around ("Einbeinige Taube") shows that many things are possible when the head frees itself from being meaningful. As Georg sings on songs in the brilliantly set Carpe Diem "Bedeutungslos": "Let go of your hands and hit and run", from the old life.

The 8-track 22419 tape and the eponymous Hamburg district of Langenhorn are symbolic of his socialization and the difficulties of growing up, which have shaped him to this day and will accompany him forever.

The mixtape starts with "Deutscher Sommer" in impressively dark electro garb with synthesizer arpeggio and sets the mood for this personal record. Georg auf Lieder thematizes growing up with a migration background in Germany. They "all hate Nazis, but they're not my friends", and he is denied the unconscious desire to belong because he is excluded, sometimes unintentionally or intentionally, by the people around him. This is where all the pain of this work is expressed, when Georg s ings songs about being socialized in the same country, but not having had the chance to lead the life he wanted. Friends, whom he holds on to despite their fallibilities, become an anchor against loneliness ("Irgendwann kennst du deine Freunde") and the longing for the overview of a crane driver at least lets him dream of a different perspective out of the dreariness ("Kranfahrer"). The dark musical sound of the tape is broken up by the tongue-in-cheek single "35 Jahre und kein Führerschein" and the drug dealer's refuge from the minimum wage "Goodbye Hamsterrad", but despite the upbeat major key, the depressing truth of social inequality is inherent in both songs.

Finally, the epic seven-minute "Faces in the Clouds" with an introductory acoustic guitar and an electronic, almost meditative outro bids farewell to this formative phase of life. A cathartic moment for the 35-year-old artist.

Both mixtapes are an attempt to grasp different phases in the musician's life. This understanding is always only temporary, as new impressions and experiences over the years offer different perspectives on what has happened. What remains are the memories. The interpretation is constantly in motion, like Georg on Lieder himself. He has found his fulfillment in daily creation, rediscovery and reassembly and fortunately allows us to share in this.