Playground by Lehmanns Brothers

Order (Vinyl, CD & Digital): https://10h10.lnk.to/Playground

Ten years have passed. Ten years of creations, friendships, artistic and non-artistic changes, and above all, lots of concerts. The Lehmanns Brothers, born as a new-age groove fraternity in high school have cultivated a singular energy over the last ten years, which they consider imperishable. After all those kilometers, both literally and figuratively, it was time to take stock: "Where do we stand on this journey?

A question that resonated strongly with the three founding members: Alvin Amaïzo, Julien Anglade and Dorris Biayenda. What is the essence and core of Lehmanns Brothers? For water has passed under the bridge, but what unites them seems intact. Like a crash test, in January 2023, the artists met up in the touraine countryside to let the magic happen. From the high school to the touring roads without transition, they had to get back to basics: the joy of being being together, simply that. To rediscover the very joy that had been there long before music was added to the equation of their perfect compatibility. It didn't take 24 hours for the connection to resurface again. With six hands, compositions came naturally. Ten years later, with ten years of experience and ten years of knowledge of each other, the balance is fine-tuned and technically brilliant.

What if the Lehmanns Brothers were much more than a hypnotic, exultant live experience? What if the Lehmanns Brothers could also open up a new artistic chapter, and be heard in a different way, with headphones on, in the background of a family meal or spinning on the turntables of a DJ set.

By going back to basics, Alvin Amaïzo, Julien Anglade and Dorris Biayenda decided to adapt their process : strategy gave way to spontaneity, the recording studio was swapped for home recordings, and the condensed writing phase ended up with several months of work fine-tuning what was preparing to become a new kind of record. With a clear need for modernity, the balance was reversed. Rather than composing around the three instruments of the early days (keyboard, bass, drums), the productions are resolutely digital, with the guitar as the central element of their sound proposals. The rhythms are even disconcertingly simple. The rendering is just right, the listening is intense. For the first time in the history of the Lehmanns Brothers, the songs are written plainly, without transposing them for live performance before the first hearing. Autonomous, self-sufficient, self-produced, the new components of this album have no indispensable vocation of being adapted for other instruments. The production is what it is, and it’s authenticity is it’s strength.

The album is called Playground. Playground is a return to their roots, a feeling of being at home, a deep need to reconnect with the exploration of sounds, words, rhythms and notes. Playground is uncompromising music and the fruit of a frank camaraderie.

Intro sets the scene for Playground. We experiment, we produce, most of all we have fun. Brighter days" evokes the disparities between cultures, but links us back again with the energy of the Lehmanns. The track gives way to the urbanizing Trinity, recalling their ambitions for friendship and loyalty expressed on this album.

The pop of Open your heart is an ode to life, to letting go. They prepare us for the ballad Follow into the Wild and the surprising Double Spiral, both soaring and progressive, before giving way to a break: for the interlude Playing, the Lehmanns Brothers indulge in a jazz pause. The microphones are plugged in again for Old Souls, evoking true love, a theme that recurs one track later, on Millenium, after the explosive Lookalike. It's only fair marks the end of the chapter, with Outro as the closing credits of this playing court.

In Playground, maturity is no longer plain imagery, and wisdom is no longer an illusion. The lyrics bear witness : life balance, mental health, unrestrained sharing and simple happiness are decried. In an unconscious ego-trip, the three artists make an assessment and open up.

Carried along by a hip-hop universe that can be played (Yussef Dayes, BadBadNotGood, The Roots) and sung (Makala, Smino, J. Cole), the Lehmanns Brothers gently clash worlds by applying rap to their productions tinged with house, soul and delicate funk. Playground is a stroll through all the aesthetics that have shaped the Lehmanns Brothers over the years. Nothing is off-limits. And that's undoubtedly what this opus is all about.

We are a groove band! // New album "Playground" out now

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