Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen

"You sing and it becomes": In the wake of a breakdown, Max Gruber killed solo artist Drangsal and founded the band Drangsal. At the end of the tunnel lies the album " From none of my bridges that lie in ashes has a phoenix ever risen, " which will be released in June 2025 .

For over ten years now, Max Gruber has been zigzagging through the German pop landscape: » Harieschaim « from 2016, » Zores « from 2018 and most recently » Exit Strategy « – Gruber conceived the album, which brought him to number 6 in the album charts in 2021, largely single-handedly. And then there was something else after his " Exit Strategy " : a breakdown. Max Gruber no longer knew whether, and if so, how, he wanted to continue Drangsal. He published his literary debut " Doch " with Ullstein Verlag , founded Die Benjamins, thus bringing Hans-A-Plast frontwoman Annette Benjamin out of retirement together with Charlotte Brandi, Thomas Götz , and Julian Knoth, and recently reactivated the duo Die Mausis, which he founded with Stella Sommer in 2016.

And yet, from within and without, the question of a new Drangsal album keeps coming. If there is to be another one at all, Gruber realized, he would have to fundamentally change the working methods on which Drangsal songs are created. After all the struggles, what was inevitable followed: the reset. Max Gruber killed the solo artist Drangsal and founded the three-person band Drangsal – together with two fellow musicians who freed him from his habits : Lukas Korn and Marvin Holley. The former is a guitarist and producer, plays in the band Lyschko , most recently produced Mia Morgan 's album »silber« and has participated as bassist in the Drangsal live band since 2020. The latter studied jazz and classical guitar as well as composition in Stuttgart and Vienna, performed on stage with Sam Vance-Law and Fil Bo Riva , and arranged for film and theater. Lukas Korn and Marvin Holley have ensured that the central figure in the cosmos Drangsal splits into three.

Writing songs as a band shattered all fears: Sustained by euphoria, Gruber, Holley, and Korn recorded several song sketches starting in late 2022, laying the foundation for a seventeen-track album. After creative vacations on the Polish border and the Baltic Sea, a fourth Drangsal LP was released, produced by Max Rieger and co-produced by Lukas Korn. It bears the heavy-handed title "From none of my bridges that lie in ashes has ever risen a phoenix" and will be released in June 2025. Gruber, Holley, and Korn have agreed on the credo " as little as possible, as much as necessary " – and thereby manifested a radical change in Drangsal's sonic cosmos that brings with it entirely new dynamics. "From none of my bridges that lie in ashes has ever risen a phoenix" endures empty spaces, focusing on acoustic guitars, instead of synthesizers, that repeatedly teeter on the border between blues and jazz . Where sugary synth-pop was still surging on "Exit Strategy," one can now hear piano ; organ, clavinet, and harpsichord; xylophone, violins, and cellos; and flutes and saxophones played by Ralph Heidel.

In between, there are three episodes in which gospel choirs and techno beats take over. Max Rieger motivated the three to embrace authenticity, even imperfection, in the moment of recording – and played a major role in ensuring that "From none of my bridges that lie in ashes has ever risen a phoenix" offers a realistic portrayal of the trio. The mood? In contrast, more of a rollercoaster. Max Gruber sings of self-alienation, the pros and cons of stagnation , of surrender and throwing oneself away – sometimes in German, sometimes in English, sometimes tenderly, sometimes disgustedly. Gruber's voice, after the classical vocal training the 31-year-old has undertaken, sounds more purposeful. Hugs like " I dreamed of music " and " Incomplete ." encounter storm clouds à la » My Eid « and the Sophia Blenda feature » My Mo(nu)ment « . " Downhill " is a journey of rigorous denudation and witch-hunting – for you, for me, for Max Gruber anyway. For large parts of the record, he is on the run from himself, the old ghosts, the miserable waking state: " If only I had never awakened, I would sleep in eternal happiness . " Gruber searches and searches: for inner peace, for grace, for unburned ground, for new versions of himself – and all in vain. At least memories seem to blur over time: Gruber's words – to himself and to the world – sound gentler, more forgiving, more summarizing in the latter part of the record. A key moment? The monologue-like sound poem " Rosa ," spoken by actress Rosa Lembeck – "It is like this: You sing and it becomes."