Relax – Georg Bendemann (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

As  Metamorphosis, a new album from Georg Bendemann, slips out into the public domain with little fanfare, “Relax,” the current single, helps prepare the ground for its arrival. There is a lot to be said for such a quiet process; it takes the opposite approach to the usual cheerleading and marketing that accompanies most releases and underlines the fact that this is an artist who is only concerned with the music rather than the artist’s image. Isn’t that as it should be?

Musically, Georg has developed a unique style of brevity and alternative song structure, one more akin to little arrays of rhyming couplets put to simple acoustic grooves than the established song structures. “Relax” is a short musical missive on the tiresomeness of socialising and facing the outside world. Not in an agoraphobic and anti-social sort of way, but in that mindset that most adults adopt, knowing that leaving the house is often just so damned hard work.

Stay home, where you are surrounded by the nice things you have collected around you. Stay where you feel comfortable. Stay where you can “Relax.” This single is less a song and more a rule for successful adulthood and navigating the world beyond the front door.