Stahlberger Perusing Some Photos

Manuel Stahlberger is without the shadow of a doubt one of the sharpest chroniclers of today’s mood in the streets of Switzerland. “Lüt uf Fotene”, his new album, recorded with his band, also Stahlberger, is a fine and timely addition to his continuing portrayal of our times and mores. “Lüt uf Fotene” was released on 11 March 2022 via Stahlberger/Irascible.

Before Manuel Stahlberger appeared on the scene, the dialect of his home town St. Gallen in the Northeast of German-speaking Switzerland, in contrast to that of Bern, was widely regarded as unfit for use in music lyrics. A cartoonist by trade, Stahlberger started his musical career in the mid-90s in a duo that combined humour, satire and a hint of the German Liedermacher-Tradition. In 2009, he formed Stahlberger, the band, in order to expand the scope of his musical ambitions. At the same time, he developed his own uniquely sarcastic and colloquial vocal style. With his originality and wit widely appreciated, the previous two (of four) band albums have both reached the Swiss top ten, whilst the rest of the band albums as well as his solo outings have also featured in the charts.

After a couple of self-produced efforts, the recording of “Lüt uf Fotene” (“people in photos”) was overseen by German producer Olaf Opal (Notwist, Juli and many others). Instead of focusing on lyrics he barely understood, he concentrated on crafting intriguing sound textures, a task vastly helped by a band line-up that contains the two members of Lord Kesseli & the Drums, Dominik Kesseli and Michael Gallusser, as well as Christian Kesseli (guitars, synth), and electronica specialist Marcel Gschwend, aka Bit-Tuner.

Stahlberger