Lali Puna explores the softer side of techno

The German electronic outfit returns after a six-year break with Our Inventions

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: April 30th, 2010 | 4:00pm

Germany has a strong history of experimental electronic music, from early adapters Neu and Kraftwerk to the current roster behind the Morr Music label. Morr's leading lights include Lali Puna, a dreamy, drony pop outfit with a ten-year-plus history that is led by Valerie Trebeljahr. Last month, the band released its fourth album Our Inventions in the United States, six years after the release of their widely praised album Faking the Books. While Our Inventions covers Lali Puna's familiar territory of textured, atmospheric pop, it also shows new directions that helped to produce a meditative record which flourishes from intensive studio work—a result that could only come by stepping away.

After the release of Faking the Books in 2004, Trebeljahr took a break from writing and recording. She and band mate Markus Acher, also a member of the Notwist, had a baby girl who is now in kindergarten. It took several years before Trebeljahr would be able to write songs again, but gradually she began laying down material for Our Inventions in 2008 and started recording in 2009. Making the record in nearby Munich almost felt like a 9-to-5 job for Trebeljahr who, during a recent phone interview, related her working mom schedule of dropping her daughter off at school in the morning, recording during the day, and picking up her daughter in the evening.

It was a well-rounded experience that she says made her feel more self-assured this time around. “I knew more about how I wanted it to sound than ever before,” she says, noting that the process for Our Inventions started with her writing the songs on her laptop and then joining the other band members in the studio to flesh them out. It's a far cry from her earlier days in the all-girl rock group L.B. Page, which she says was more of a social and process-oriented musical experience than Lali Puna.

“It was very important that we were all friends,” Trebeljahr recounts of the structure behind L.B. Page. “It was fun yet stressful, and often the critique felt personal.” After the band split up, Trebeljahr began Lali Puna as a four-track project which has since developed into a four-piece with a more marked creative objective. “The aim is important now, not necessarily the way it is achieved," she says.

Our Inventions is a long way from Lali Puna’s beginnings with a four-track and drum machine. The music has become highly evolved with thicker lyrics and more emotion that undercuts the often humanistic void of electronic music. But then again, this is the charm of Lali Puna. Music swirls and synths pulse, underlined with Trebeljahr’s breathy, strong, angelic voice to create a sonic dreamworld that feels very tied to the everyday.

If Trebeljahr had to guess, the change in her music is likely related to the change in her family structure—she admits that having a child allows her to be more emotional and open to hope. “I used to be a very big pessimist, but I now believe that if everything is getting you down you still have to find a little more luck.” The same spark of optimism carries through on Our Inventions, which shows that even in the machine-heavy world of electronic music, an album of feeling, breathing beauty can be created.

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Lali Puna official Web site

Lali Puna MySpace page

Morr Music