The Konincks celebrate Blues Rock with Rock’n‘Roll attitude. Rough sometimes bulky with an uncompromising all or nothing approach they completely devote themselves to music. This significantly rings out on their debut album „While I’m Listening To My Breath“.
„I lied to you when I told you I wasn’t crazy“ Julia Herzog sings and you can take her word for it. The singer and lyricist is neither shrill nor overexcited. But when her eyes flash up you know there’s trouble on the way. Herzog is highly sensible, pure nitro glycerine that can blow up any second. For example, when you’re comparing her voice to Janis Joplin’s. Other people would probably be delighted to be compared to the biggest blues rock singer of all time. Herzog however denies vigorously. Her deep and rough voice brings a wildcat-like astringence in this rock quartet that prick up your ears and perfectly matches the sound of the band. Her lyrics are mostly autobiographic in a way. „I usually start writing poems and then just stick a chorus on top of it“, the singer explains.
The Konincks immerse deep into the perplex history of the blues and are not afraid to take on harmonicas and slide guitar riffs. At the same time the band bows down to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the early Fleetwood Mac and the whole West Coast psychedelic movement without sounding out-dated for one second. Instead The Konincks catapult the blues-rock into the 21st century and find, beyond strained hipster-blog discourses and sensationless mainstream media, an enthusiastic audience. They played in front of hard rocker, beer-bellied biker and adolescent Jack White fan girls and successfully completed a European tour with blues-rock legend Richie Kotzen. They also found friends in the heavy metal community. The voices of the scene, like Metalhammer magazine or “Stormbringer” online mag, paid the band their respect. Besides Herzog’s remarkable voice the reason for that is just as much the energy and the enjoyment of playing that create a very own, intensive and extraordinary Rock’n‘Roll atmosphere.
This atmosphere is also noticeable on their debut album „While I’m Listening To My Breath“. Bass and Drums provide the needed boost, the guitar is howling and next to the powerful voice of Julia Herzog guitar solos find their place. Many bands might’ve overloaded these tracks in the studio with sounds and driven them up a wall. The Konincks however master the art of reduction. They know that sometimes the notes you play are sometimes less important than the ones you don’t play.
„Darkish Poet“ for example is a bone dry, narrowed down Rock’n‘Roll song that could easily fit in to the repertoire of the Eagles of Death Metal. Simple yet effective. However the Konicks also have a different side. Calmly at the beginning, the track “Withering” builds up to a frenzy of guitar sounds and voices. And then there’s Better, this hymn of the millennials: “Should have, would have, could have …” – a song about the inability to choose from countless possibilities, that lets the generation Y break down.
“While I’m Listening To My Breath” is a powerful album, gritty, sweaty, atmospheric and yes, pretty crazy.
