Kosmonautentraum
band: Kosmonautentraum
album: Juri Gagarin
released: 1982
language: German
personnel:
E. K. T. - Drums, Synthesizer, Mellotron, Guitar, Voice [Effects], Percussion
Kai May - Guitar, Harp, Electric Piano, Percussion, Effects [Wasserspiele]
Süsskind - Bass, Synthesizer, Piano, Trumpet, Melodica, Xylophone, Percussion, Pedalboard Bass
Ziggy XY - Vocals, Synthesizer, Melodica, Lyrics
information from Discogs
tracklist:- Kosmonaut 3:40
- Stolze Menschen 3:51
- Schattenboxen 3:14
- Gierig 1:19
- Juri Gagarin 2:32
- Epilog 0:05
- Hoffnung 3:22
- Du Bist Nicht Gut 3:19
- 1971-1976-1981 3:34
- Deutsche Nacht 2:38
- Süßes Leben 2:16
- Neugier 7:51
Schattenboxen - An intro consists of a bass, snare and xylophones. Behind that is what sounds like spaceships taking off. It seems only natural to me to link xylophones and spaceships together from watching Looney Tunes and hearing Raymond Scott tune
Powerhouse be the score some character in space. Halfway through it sounds like a singer struggling to breathe. It ends with a classic 50s sci-fi sound effect of a spaceship taking off.
Juri Gagarin It begins with a piano that fades, and then slowly makes a reprise with a ever increasing sound of a bass drum, thumping like a heartbeat. Then a soupy high hat underscores the vocals which sounds from distant, as if Juri Gagarin is singing to himself in his spacecraft, and then there are massive sounding synths switching back and forth from the left channel to the right, giving the impression of the spacecraft in orbit.
Du Bist Nicht Gut - The rhythm guitar and the bass sounds very similar to Boogie Oogie Oogie (1978) by A Taste of Honey.
I believe it is safe to say that Kosmonautentraum was part of the Neue Deutsche Welle. It is place in music history of Germany is after 70s German Rock, which had moved away from Rock and Roll and R&B music idioms. NDW is also inspired by British New Wave and Post-Punk which to some accounts was inspired by 70s German Rock. Not knowing very much about the band influences, it seems Kosmonautentraum gives a nod to Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. But they do more than than DAF, or Post-Punk bands, at times Kosmonautentraum can be abstract.
I don't know how venturesome the lyrics are, tbh I don't understand them since it's sung in German. But by the delivery there is a bit of personal revelation emotionally. He reveals his mood by the expression of voice. There are times he seems calm, and other times there he seems stressed. In some cases almost to the point of desperation,
as if he is struggling to maintain his sanity like at the end of the song
Juri Gagarin and in
Epilog.
Considering title as the theme of the album, one can assume the singer is exploring the emotional state of a person. Using the cosmonaut in his spacecraft as a metaphor for a person being alone. There different different experiences for being alone. There are times when one finds solace in being alone. Other times where there's that sad feeling of loneliness, and at worst a person anguishing in isolation.