Lali Puna was always about the Korean born singer Valerie Trebeljahr and her pop inventions. And pop inventions that are exactly what I have in mind - attempting inventions in the realm of (electro) pop. That is why their music was never an easy thing to assess - you couldn’t stamp it as ‘serious’ but neither dismiss is it as lightweight pap. With Lali Puna, Valerie and her collaborators it was always an in-balance thing between the two.
It was easy to almost forget about Lali Puna because it took Valerie and the remaining collaborators (Marcus Acher of Notwist and Tied + Tickled Trio left) seven years to come up with Two Windows, their new album. And as was previously the case, there are quite a few new faces around chipping in.
Looking at the list of guest appearances, you get a feeling that there is going to be a shift towards a bit ‘more danceable’ material - Keith Tenniswood of Two Lone Swordsmen, Jimmy Tamborello, better known as Dntel, harpist Mary Lattimore and a few others.
And yes, you get a more danceable Lali Puna. But only if you look through one of the two windows. The other window looks at all the aspects of modern urban life through Trebeljahr’s lyrics, and Berlin is one of those world cities that can really give you a wide perspective for such observations.
It takes a bit of time to get used to the musical shift (no matter how some might see it as slight) in Lali Puna’s music, particularly in the first half of the album. Not all of the tunes give you that instant ‘click’ like the stuff from Tricorder or Scary World Theory. But as the album progresses the material gets stronger and stronger and all the songs from “Birds Flying High” to the concluding “Head Up High” are real clinchers.
Repeated listens of Two Windows actually present the album in an even better light, showing that Trebeljahr and Lali Puna, with whoever is chipping in at the moment, even after seven years have definitely not lost their touch.
