Heute Will Ich Frei Sein — Fragile006

A year after his last 12 inch release Here We Are / That’s Desire EP and few months after a CD release Hamburg Süd/Nee IYaow eow eow featuring experimental field recordings and vocal improvisations, Wolfgang Tillmans returns with a new extended play on his own label Fragile. Heute Will Ich Frei Sein sets an energetic tone for the 5 track EP that leads straight on the dancefloor, a space that Tillmans has observed and discussed from various angles throughout his artistic career. While Los Angeles based experimental noise project “Wreck and Reference”‘s beats and 808 staccato claps instantly create a hedonistic dance moment, it is Tillmans’ lyrics that contrast the simplicity of this message. Tillmans knows that clubs have always been spaces mirroring constant crisis of ‘western’ societies towards minorities, race and gender. In the light of current political events, it is the singers’ nod that informs us about the precarity and necessity of such spaces as no contradiction. Completely Changed and On My Own, Tillmans and his long-term collaborators Jay Pluck, Kyle Combs and Tim Knapp return to more song based recordings but with a stronger approach on synthesiser soundscapes. On My Own finds Tillmans again singing simple lines over a staggering pop production that can be read as a comment on nightlife as well as the artist emerging into a more mature stage in life. It is this ambiguity that marks Tillmans’ writing and constant striving for variation. Almost last, the extended play features a remix of Fast Lane, originally released on 2016 / 1986 EP—tracing back to Tillmans’ first musical steps with collaborator Bernd Lessmann in 1986.

Tracklist:

1. Heute Will Ich Frei Sein feat. Wreck and Reference
2. Completely Changed
3. On My Own
4. Fast Lane – Whatever/Whatever Remix by Justin Strauss & Bryan Mette
5. Tired Car Alarm
6. Fast Lane – Whatever/Whatever Dub Remix by Justin Strauss & Bryan Mette
7. Fast Lane (original 1986 / 2016)