Light spring sound and autumnal melancholy: Tim Bendzko’s mood on his new album “April” is as changeable as the month. The depth of the lyrics also varies.
Tim Bendzko went among the campers. The singer is currently on a promotional tour with his own mobile home and then on a concert tour. He has already experienced sunny days, rain and snow on campsites, Bendzko reports in an interview with the German Press Agency. The album “April” is also indirectly about the weather.
For him, the month stands for the ups and downs of emotions. The 15 songs on the new record are as changeable as the April weather. There are the typical feel-good pop songs (“Kein Problem”, “Magneten”, “Zu viel”) that don’t really go into depth. More interesting are the pieces that allow you to look a little more into the soul of the artist, who landed his first hit in 2011 with “Nur just save the world”.
Diffuse fears and a “phantom pain”
In the most melancholic song on the album, “Phantom Pain”, Bendzko, who lives near Potsdam, is only accompanied by the piano and vocally shows a much wider range. “Have to defeat the demons. Can’t get rid of them, even though I’m lying next to you. Phantom pain,” it says about a relationship that, for some reason, doesn’t feel the same as before.
In “Ghost Hunt”, which begins with a jazzy piano solo, the 37-year-old sings about vague fears that haunt him again and again and that probably all of us know: “You have no name and no face. But everyone knows you well and you lead everyone behind the light”.
“Fear is not a good advisor. And yet it is omnipresent. It is a phenomenon how present the feeling is and how we deal with it,” says Bendzko in the dpa interview. “It’s a shame that we’re trained to be afraid of as many things as possible.” The song defiantly states, “No, no, you can’t get me. I’m not afraid of you.”
Who will save the world for us?
The single “Who is saving the world for me”, released in 2022, shows that Tim Bendzko is very concerned about the climate crisis and the unwillingness of many to react appropriately. “We’re up to our necks in water, haven’t you noticed? You don’t keep what you promise. Who will save the world for me?” a children’s choir appropriately sings.
This social criticism combined with pop lightness suits Bendzko well. Because privately he shows attitude and not only worries about many things, but also thinks about them. Most of the lyrics, on the other hand, reflect feelings of life such as freedom and love on a rather superficial level – but without becoming concrete.
Bendzko has done well with this so far. His four albums all landed at the top of the charts, twice even at the top. Singles like “No Machine”, “If Words Were My Language” or “High” became hits.
“I’m someone who very rarely writes stories. I tend to try to describe and capture a feeling. I’m always really happy when I find a topic that has a common thread and that I can tell something about without it feels weird,” explains Bendzko.
A little more depth would be nice
He finds that on “April”. In the closing ballad “Für dich” the songwriter, who keeps his private life strictly out of the public eye, sings in detail about the birth of his son just over two years ago.
“So today is the day. Where did I park the car? Nobody suspected that it would go so fast,” he sings about the day of the birth. And further: “For you, for you, for you, that’s all I feel, for so long it was all about me, now it’s your stage.”
With his fifth album, which was produced by the Munich producer duo Truva, Bendzko consistently follows his recipe for success. It’s musically quite varied, but lyrically it could go more in-depth every now and then. Conclusion: sovereign, but please a portion more soul.