Jens Friebe Reinvents Himself as Friberty with English-Language Songs

Jens Friebe has launched a new project called Friberty, trading his German lyrics for what the review describes as slightly awkward school English. The album's opening track, "Fireflies," poses the question of whether sleeplessness might be the little sister of immortality, given that sleep is death's little brother. Confusion sets in on the next song, "Dragonfly," where only the liner notes explain that Friebe is translating "Geh zu ihr" by the Puhdys before moving into "Venus in Furs" by Velvet Underground. References surface throughout the record, and Walter Benjamin apparently turns up on the dance floor during a singalong to "Real Time." The reviewer, Carsten Schrader, attributes much of the pleasure of hunting these layers to Friebe's sparse setup: two synthesizers and a drum computer, which keep the music oscillating between seemingly cheap hooks and a rough, ramshackle quality. "Real Time" closes with the line asking whether we want to save the world, girls, or watch it burn. A utopian track, "Games in the Garden," follows, promising a kingless kingdom after a five-hundred-year plan is fulfilled. The piece appears on kulturnews.de alongside coverage of Giant Rooks, Shabazz Palaces, MS Dockville's twentieth anniversary, Dust Bolt, Fenne Lily and The Wombats.