»Figur 5«, the fifth album. »Figur 5«, as in figure skating maybe, that is also structured by the rigorous choreography by means of ›figures‹. The choreography of Couch-songs has always been rigorous, too. Or, to put it more clearly: it has always been unambiguous. Each instrument, each sound is at its place, in its position. Couch songs do take their liveliness out of that stoic rigorousness. With jazz their share the confidence in pure sounds. With post-rock their share the epoch. Not more perhaps. Couch function beyond experiment and improvisation – there is no let's try this and that but like this and not in a different way. Guitar, bass, drums and also keyboard: a hermetic space.
That has already been this way since 1995 when the first album of the Munich trio (which is a quartet since 1999) was released on the Weilheim-based label Kollaps. Or, two years later, when the band put their pragmatic dealing with sounds on the album's title: etwas benutzen. And gradually it is indicated what should sprout buds and blossoms on the albums »Fantasy« (1999) and »Profane« (2001). Couch-songs had become pop-songs. Instrumental music in a ready-to-break-up-mood. Euphoric hymns, often consisting of four or five notes only. The art of repetitive exuberance. Songs of Couch are often as a perfect wave, as a wave before the Hawaiian coast in November. Once burst out, you hear it grow and grow.
»Gegen Alles Bereit« finishes an almost five years lasting creative break. An opener that indicates the direction and adjusts the demands. Without any intro. Everything starts right in the middle of it. An indulging guitar-motif. A revving road-movie. Massive, dry, without any roundabout ways.
Similar but different: »Zwei Streifen Blau». With a courage to permit gaps and a keyboard beyond retro and electronica. Building up moods and dispelling moods again. In alles sagt ja there are guitars again, one put on top of the other, loud and silent, softly picked and driven, recurring melodies, continual modulations. »Figur 5« is a powerful but not a vigorous album.
There remains one thing to say: »Figur 5« is the first Couch-album on Morr Music. An arrival. A consequent step, as consequent as Couch's music is.
