Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke have spent their existence going against the grain. It’s what makes their art so compelling. As artists and life partners, their ceaseless quest to place it above all else in this climate makes them true punks. And, in turn, true outliers.
Spending the last 14 years nomadically wandering the world, as hackedepicciotto, their latest full-length release, LICHTUNG, finds the duo at their most content. Thematically and sonically, de Picciotto and Hacke don’t play between the lines, they blur them completely.
LICHTUNG is a new chapter for the duo; the first release since ending their travels, which has taken them from New York to Blackpool and just about everywhere in between. It’s also Hacke’s first album since his departure from Einstürzende Neubauten last year.
Now based in the outer edges of Berlin, the duo find a happy medium between the tranquility of regional areas and the chaos of inner-city living. It’s this energy that runs through LICHTUNG. The duo’s first release entirety written in German, it’s these challenges hackedepicciotto have always set themselves in order to move their art forward.
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Anyone who’s read Hacke’s recently released memoir, Blast: Distorted Memoires… will know this of both he and de Picciotto. The American born multi-disciplinary artist, a vital part of the Berlin creative fabric for many decades, led by her involvement in the famed Love Parade. De Picciotto’s punk spirit was always destined to coalesce with Hacke’s own outlier sensibilities. Himself, a constant genre-hopper, from the avant-industrial Neubauten to rambling blues-rock (Crime & The City Solution), country (his own band, Jever Mountain Boys), not to mention his plethora of solo releases and films scores.
Hacke and de Picciotto continue to excel outside comfort zones, because they know it’s where the best results are found. Starting with the opening eponymous song. A collision of weathered strings, Hacke’s staple bass chug and earthy noodlings that create an alien-like atmosphere. It’s this combination that forms a new kind of deep-listening, which truly encompasses LICHTUNG. It’s not something to let wash over you; close listening is pivotal.
hackedepicciotto - LICHTUNGOn Vogelfrei, it’s Hacke’s turn in the spotlight, with the kind of subtle, fragmented soundscapes that made Neubauten’s ALLES IN ALLEM one of the group’s best releases.
Elswhere, and Wiederbelebung finds the duo at their most adventurous. Terrestrial orchestral dub best consumed during chemical-inspired journeys in solitude. Preferably in the comforts of your own home. Zeitenwende continues to find hackedepicciotto dismantling every boundary they reach. On this occasion, the duo balance tender post-electronic moodscapes with beautiful, fragile harmonies.
Again, there’s some earthy about it where de Picciotto and Hacke are at peace with the environment. Zeitenwende in particular, indebted to folk as much as post-punk or any other style primarily designed for the dark frontiers. It feeds into the duo’s immediate surroundings, and while Einig and Der Marschall move closer to those dark edges, there’s still a peaceful gravity holding both songs back.
So too on the John Carpenter-inspired Draussen. The same sonic shards of Vogelfrei, dotted throughout, despite the duo leaning into the more filmic realms of their past.
It rounds out LICHTUNG, confirming that it has it all. Electronica with a unique, homespun warmth, it’s hackedepicciotto’s most accomplished release. Something that solidifies their past ideas while presenting new innovative ones. And for those who give this the required attention it both needs and deserves, they will yield great results.
LICHTUNG is out now via Mute. Purchase from Bandcamp.
