
Death In June - Braun Buch Zwei [NER - 2009]'Braun Buch Zwei' was originally issued as part of the long out of print 20th Anniversary Stone Circle Edition of the classic Death In June album 'Brown Book'. The disc features a fully re-mastered version of seven songs from the original ‘Brown Book’ album along with seven more remixed, re-recorded and rare versions of the remaining songs. The first seven tracks take in seven classic tracks such as ‘Runes And Men’ and ‘To Drown A Rose’ from the original ‘Brown Book’ album & are, quite simply, inspired, highly creative, sometimes haunting, but always memorable slices of Neo- Folk. The track’s mainly acoustic guitar strummed bases are added to by rich female backing vocals, harmonies & inventive samples with often electronic, but always effective & fitting percussion and, of course, Douglas P’s instantly recognizable vocals. I guess you could call this DIJ's more Euro Neo-folk Pop album with slight female gothic edges, as the tracks move along swiftly and are often highly tuneful with experimental & cleverly creative sonic touches subtly added along the way. But things never get too weird, frightening or unhinged (as some DIJ can) the songs purpose is to be firstly entertaining & memorable, then the more you play them the more you get their meaning & hear the clever production & use of sound.
The last seven tracks are the remixed, re-recorded & rare versions of the remaining tracks off the Anniversary album such as ‘Zimmerit’ and ‘Braun Buch Zwei’ & these are just as good & consistent as the first seven tracks. Though things do get a little stranger in places with the tracks tending more towards being more electronic based; either rhythmically or texturally, with a sinister & uneasy ambience & Germanic vocal samples between the more acoustic & vocal tracks. The production is also a lot less ‘pop’ -like too for these last seven tracks with DIJ’s more unsettling & ritual edge coming to the fore, although the tracks are still often highly memorable when they’re not making you feel uneasy. 'Braun Buch Zwei' is another highly worthy & well presented Death In June re-issue that would certainly be a great primer/ introduction to anyone who’s been curious about this highly influential, distinct & creative project      Roger Batty
|