The history of PROPAGANDA does not need retelling, but their acclaimed 1985 debut album ‘A Secret Wish’ released on ZTT and produced by Stephen J Lipson is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop.
However, internal friction between the “ABBA in hell” line-up of Claudia Brücken, Ralf Dörper, Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens led to PROPAGANDA imploding. Signing to Virgin Records, Mertens continued as PROPAGANDA with a new singer Betsi Miller as well as two former members of SIMPLE MINDS, Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, releasing the album ‘1234’ in 1990.
There was an aborted PROPAGANDA reunion in 1998 and that was that until Brücken and Freytag presented a variation on the theme and performed as xPROPAGANDA, before releasing a new album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Stephen J Lipson producing that updated the ZTT-era sound in 2022.
Now in 2024, with a record “conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf” and a resistance to nostalgia, Dörper and Mertens have started a new chapter of PROPAGANDA with an eponymous title to signify a fresh start. The initial plan was to use guest vocalists for particular songs but the pair came across the silky soulful tones of young German singer-songwriter Thunder Bae.
Despite the techno-robotic introduction, ‘They Call Me Nocebo’ drifts into a steadfast electronic groove with Thunder Bae delivering an accessible vocal crossover over the atmospheric synth programming and sustained guitar inflections that conjoin to still provide an air of mystery.
With a smoky pop presence, ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ continues the laid back mood using understated percussive loops and smooth electronic bass while reworked from ‘1234’, ‘Vicious Circle’ brings in a pacier snap and shuffle, differing by moving away from the harder rigidness of its earlier incarnation which featured Susanne Freytag by moving into a modern slice of European sophistipop.
With a hypnotic rolling sequence, ‘Tipping Point’ raises the tempo but keeps the beats subtle on this ecological poem. But recalling “life in a glass cage” during lockdown, the husky ‘Distant’ brings stylistic connections to ‘Cloud 9’, the co-write by Martin Gore with Claudia Brücken that had been demoed for the aborted 1998 PROPAGANDA reunion and was subsequently issued as a ONETWO track.
Although starting sparse, ‘Love:Craft’ builds up to a more dramatic neo-classical template with enticing synth solos and operatic background voicing while ‘Dystopian Waltz’ does as it says on the ration tin, a lengthy solemn instrumental with a haunting Cold War chill in its wonderful orchestrated arrangement.
The best is saved until last, ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ (translated into English as “If I had a wish”), a Weimar-era song written by Friedrich Hollaender in 1930; Dörper first heard it in the disturbing controversial movie ‘The Night Porter’ during a smoky cabaret scene with Charlotte Rampling performing the song made famous Marlene Dietrich.
Hauntingly melancholic, the translated title provides a link to the past while there is even a cheeky musical reference to THE ART OF NOISE’s ‘Moments In Love’ in the intro. Thunder Bae gives a superbly enticing performance in Deutsch over appropriately Autumnal backing to highlight the contradictory emotions expressed. And when Volker Bertelmann, best known as Academy Award winner Hauschka, brings his frozen piano motifs in, it is the icing on the cake.
Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens have made a cinematic European electronic pop record while adopting modern influences. However, some listeners may find Thunder Bae’s voice too similar to today’s pop starlets like Dua Lipa. Saying that, she stylistically suits these songs and particularly comes into her own on the finale ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, which ultimately prompts craving and secret wishes for more songs in German.
On ‘Dr Mabuse’ they said “never look back” and that is exactly what this enjoyable album is about; a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’ or the aborted 1998 material, a few long standing PROPAGANDA and ZTT enthusiasts may not embrace this album’s younger generation vocal stylings while the lack of Teutonic industrialisation may be a disappointment to others. But those who buy into this new vision will want the double editions with bonus tracks…
‘Propaganda’ is released on 11 October 2024 by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions
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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
14 September 2024
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