The latest label release on Rookie Records, home to well-known bands like Bitume, is BIESTIG:
Two girls aged 16; one on drums, the other on guitar, both singing; who are releasing their debut CD "Nebenan" without any prior demo recordings featuring only original songs. If that doesn't sound interesting and noteworthy.
There are ten little songs on the disc, none significantly longer than two minutes, which should be sufficient in terms of length. Lyrically, the two girls mainly focus on ex-boyfriends, unrequited love, and everyday frustration, and they do this solely through two-line rhymes. Friendly poppy, catchy vocal melodies emerge in the choruses, which strongly remind me of the very well-known German pop band "Wir sind Helden"; however, while listening to the CD, I often thought of the band "Etwas" (unfortunately disbanded in 2006 after they celebrated nationwide success with the song "Ich zieh` mich vor dir aus"), whose singer and main songwriter was also only 16 years old, but whose music was much deeper and more thought-out.
Biestig sounds authentic: On the album "Nebenan", you mostly hear just a guitar, as well as the drums and the two female voices. On one hand, this is an advantage, as the two probably sound just as they do on the record when performing live; on the other hand, it is a significant disadvantage because essential sound elements are missing from the recording, such as the depth of a bass, and the ten tracks exhibit live authenticity in that they allow for off-key notes in the vocals and cannot boast a proper, fat guitar sound.
However, if you give the songs time, they seem to get better and better, although I must admit that after the first five seconds of each track during my first listen, I had no desire to continue listening to the respective title. I don't want to stray from my initial gut feeling when I say that some songs definitely have earworm potential (the song "Leck mich", for example, the first song on the CD), as there are many, many bands that would deserve a label recording more than Biestig. If the band configuration and the age of the Biestig members were different, it probably wouldn't have come to this.
At most four chords per song for a Hallelujah from a girl duo; whether this concept works will be shown in the future.
Considering the background that the two girls are only 16 years old, the music seems very promising, especially when thinking about what they will achieve in five years when their musical skills are more developed; however, one should really measure a band's music by the music itself and not by the age of its members.
Ultimately, I find it provocative when the press release for the album states that it is "absolutely terrifying" for any musician over 20 "what Jule and Anne (Biestig) have recorded."
