Sohn is a British author and producer who currently resides in Vienna. He is one of those musicians who overcame the curse of the second album. After the highly respected LP Tremors from 2014, Christopher Taylor continued in a similar fashion.
On Rennen, Sohn relies less on rigid structures, simple sound and catchy melodies that were part of his creative formula, and offers plethora of emotions that did not find place on his debut. This might explain why the whole record is titled Rennen, as it means to run fast in German. The affectations are certainly more rapid here. His vocal flirts with r’n’b and pop, with melancholic moments recalling James Blake and Bon Iver. Transitions sound like sonic landscapes woven into electronic where echo, auto-tune and piano representing normative factors. You can hear that this is Sohn’s comfort zone, although there are signs of future development through experimentation.
Sohn decided to confront socio-political situation and status quo in the world, so we get clear references to Donald Trump and European immigrant crisis. He also reflects on the position of every individual in such society. The approach is more mature and conscious, which, I believe, has something to do with him becoming a father. A paragon of his political awareness is most conspicious on Primary, a song saturated with anger and despair towards amoral events in 2016, such as Brexit and U.S. Presidential Primaries.
My favorite is Still Water, thanks to its powerful lyrics.
Strong be the son
Still be the waters that run
Let him be one
To silence the storm
Steady his sails
Lend him the light to prevail
Where others fail and fall to the dark
What is also interesting to mention are videos Sohn put out there. One of them was directed by Mila Jovovich (Signal), which makes her debut as a director. The other one is taped with the help of Belgrade crew, my home city (Hard Liquor).
In conclusion, I must say that I am impressed with how Sohn managed to be true to himself, but also to develop into a beta version of himself. I expect many good albums from Sohn in the future.
