Amor

Description

Limpe Fuchs is a legend in the experimental music scene. In the late sixties, this percussionist drummed on self-made instruments, together with her then husband Paul Fuchs, in the Ensemble Anima. During that time, Limpe and Paul Fuchs cooperated with the classic pianist star Friedrich Gulda, as well as with jazz luminaries like Albert Mangelsdorff, and continually attracted the interest of their audiences in new constellations. Limpe Fuchs' solo performance with "variable wood and stone rows, ringing bronze in the pendulum strings, and a variety of skin and bronze drums" is a rare occasion to witness one of the early avant-gardists of the scene from the old Federal Republic Of Germany. She attempts, while playing live, to develop her musical ideas from the "resonance of the location where the performance takes place" - "to make music in the flow of time, with simplicity and emotion"! Her main concern is to sensitize the process of hearing: "Every tone is a sensation. Listening instead of shutting one's ears. Establishing silence. When asked about the title of her new record, "Amor", Limpe bluntly responded, "because it's everything". Being a Beatles fan from the very beginning, she's well aware that "all you need is love", but there's more to her sentiment than a corny pun. On the one hand, she's more than half a century into her musical career, and describes the relationship towards her instruments in terms of an ongoing and deepening love affair. "Be it my piano, my viola or my percussion instruments, they're all far more than just wooden caskets, they're living entities, they need to be tended and cared for, they're resonating with me and when engaging with them while playing I respond to their momentary being - and they alter my body and soul all the same." So, it's about time for a love letter to her percussion instruments and the act of drumming and listening to her drums, which can be heard as "Trommeln" on the second to last track on "Amor". We also get to learn about "Verliebte Autos im Wald" - a poem by Augusta Laar, Limpe recites during the closing track to "Amor". What may come across as a goofy nursery rhyme at first is indeed testament to Limpe's longstanding animistic beliefs, her imagination towards everything around her. "It may sound wonky, but it's as simple as it's true and it's important to love yourself and everything around you - at least I try to do so the best I can, and sometimes I fail, sure." And, again, if you think about it, it's not much of a surprise, she's singing about cars, the vehicles that since decades get her and her instruments from gig to gig, all across Europe. But it's not all just about the material world around her, of course. So, on the other hand and for the most part, "Amor" reflects on love as an interpersonal and spiritual experience. Drawing inspiration from such different authors as Giordano Bruno, Hilde Domin and Serge Kahili King, "Amor" is a record of compositions one could almost call "songs" although they're far from being performed in a conventional way. It is also Limpe Fuchs' most openly insightful and vulnerable record to date. As curious as ever, in her light-hearted yet thoughtful manner she explores the upsides and downsides of what it means to be loved or not loved: "At times it's also sad, that love is the only way, but it is - at least it's what I experienced and experience to this day."