Album Review: Vertigo Days by The Notwist

During the seven years that separated Close to the Glass and Vertigo Days, the members of the Notwist ventured across the globe with other projects that gave them fresh ideas for the band's music. It's a creative process they've used since the days of Shrink, but the results are never exactly the same. This time, the Notwist question what it means to be in a band, and their seeking reveals homespun sweetness, seemingly ancient storytelling, and the majesty of an orchestra all in a single album.

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Nearly two decades have passed since the release of the Notwist's Neon Golden. An ingenious synthesis of indie rock and electronica, the album was a shining example of "plinkerpop," Morr Music founder Thomas Morr's term for a wave of delicate, humanistic electronic pop music that emerged around the turn of the millennium. The Notwist's core duo of Markus and Micha Acher--two brothers from old-world Bavaria in the south of Germany--have at times tried to tweak their formula, with mixed success.

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After three decades of bandhood and counting, German outfit the Notwist, formed by brothers Micha and Markus Acher, have long illustrated the limitations of genre tags. Initially rising to greater attention in the late '90s and early '00s, their sound was often lumped into the "folktronica" files along with artists like Four Tet and the Books. Their instrumentation was more idiosyncratic and jazz-adjacent, layering woodwinds and live drumming into the mix, mostly in service of songs rather than soundscapes. After a couple of very strong albums, Shrink in 1998 and near-masterpiece Neon Golden in 2002, the band's later releases felt more like a machine left to idle.

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