You Will Get Well Soon: Rest Now Weary Head

Elly Roberts reviews

You Will Get Well Soon: Rest Now Weary Head
Distributed by
Nude RecordsCover

  • Released: June 2008
  • Rating: 10/10++
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Daring genre-bending masterpiece. From Berlin.

Get Well Soon’s mission statement (according to the CD packshot) isthis guarantee – “I tried my very best to make this music loveable.”

Mission accomplished! This sumptuously eccentric and eloquent CD is one of thealbums of 2008. In terms of adventure, it’s in the same frame as the magnificentFlying Club Cup (2007) by Beirut or The Sleepy Jackson’s Personality (2006). Other comparisons?

Nick Drake, Bright Eyes and Tom Waits come to mind. There’s a touch of Sigur Rosin there too. This is the musical vision of 25 year old Berlin based KonstatinGropper who’s a multi-instrumentalist, philosopher and producer no less. Ok,so the song titles are a bit, er, quirky, but the music is truly wonderful.In many ways it’s as daring as Rufus Wainwright’s Want One and Two,though he hasn’t got Rufus’ exquisite voice.

If you’re a real music fan, then this is one you’re gonna love to bits.Blending electro, folk, tango and classical overtones, Gropper elects to unleashthis 21st century masterpiece and opus with a simple Prelude featuringxylophone clangs that drift away backed by an organ. It’s all delicate stuffand a sublime start that builds midway into whopping crescendo, fading out tothe old xylo.


Cinematic soundscapes and Beirut-like European brass engulf the intro of themonster that is You/Aurora/You/Seaside. It’s minimalist in lyrics which juxtaposeperfectly with the dramatic flushes. Things get even better on Christmas In Adventure Parks.After the acoustic strums and ghostly vocal, it picks up a moderate pace andunfolds into a sumptuous ballad. The lyrics are bit cryptic, artistic licencemaybe, but it hints at the warmth that emanates from someone’s soul andpersona – “Save our souls with your golden heart,” he swoons in amonotonous tone.

There’s a short eastern European string arrangement opening dark If This Hat…This is a unsettling and menacing song. “Shoot baby! Shoot! Baby pull the trigger!Fire a bullet, an arrow or a poisoned dart, baby! Shoot, baby! Shoot! Free usfrom this pressure! With a rifle or a gun! We can’t live forever! It takesjust one second.”

On the back of this we get the divine, but mournful, Help To Prevent Forest Fireswith We Are Safe Inside… giving a strong nod to latter day Radiohead’smiserablist template. The eastern Euro flavour zooms back on plodding Your Endless Dream.The mood lightens slightly for Lost In The Mountains. Clunking piano andthumping drums precede a massive burst that returns to base once again, and soit goes all over again until the flushing crescendo. Coda, a short brassedbased drifter, ends a quite remarkable achievement.

File under: Brilliant !

Weblink:youwillgetwellsoon.com /myspace.com/youwillgetwellsoon


The full list of tracks included are :

1. Prelude
2. You/Aurora/You/Seaside
3. Christmas In adventure Packs
4. People Magazine Front Cover
5. If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting
6. Help To Prevent Forest Fires
7. I Sold My Hands For Food So Please Feed Me
8. We Are Safe Inside While They Burn Down Our House
9. Born Slippy Nuxx
10. Your Endless Dream
11. Witches ! Witches ! Rest Now In The Fire
12. Ticktack ! Goes My Automatic Heart
13. Lost In The Mountains Of My Heart
14. Coda

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