Review – Kalle Wallner – Voices

It’s a known scenario. One sits in their own studio in the lockdown and tinkers with ideas but has the mild impression of gradually losing it. After twenty years of full throttle, you’re feeling run down, yet the head is still racing. Well, it’s a known scenario if your name is Kalle Wallner at least. To take a break, however, that has never been an option. So the ideas, fragments and motifs piled up and on an indeterminate evening he took a step back and had to accept the fact that he had an instrumental album on his hands. That’s pretty much how ‘Voices’ came about, the now fourth solo album by the busy musician from Freising/Bavaria, perhaps better known as the guitarist in the perennial prog band RPWL.

Pragmatically numbered serially, the album is mainly an instrumental where the individual tracks are always related to and intertwined with each other. The one track out of the seven that contains vocals being Three, where Arno Menses of Subsignal lends his cultured vocal to proceedings.

Opulence has always been an integral part of Wallner’s solo work and that is ramped up to the max on this excellent work, thunderous riffing being another and that is present and correct in spades! There’s an energy infused in every note on the album, starting with the high-tempo momentum of One with Yogi’ Lang’s delicious keyboards lending some gravitas to Kalle’s powerful, monolithic sounding guitars. What you always get with this superb musician is tons of melody though, the often riotous and dynamic guitars giving every note an edge but a very tuneful one. Two is another plethora of monstrous riffs that combines with Marco Minnemann’s mighty drumming to deliver an all-encompassing, forceful track that has a definite thoughtful underbelly at times. The calming sections where Kalle’s guitar takes things back a notch are a touch of genius and lay a veil of refinement over things.

As already mentioned, Three is the one and only vocal track on the album but it opens with a stirring guitar from Kalle over Marco’s potent drumbeat. Arno Menses has a voice just made for tracks like this and he puts in a stellar performance on this pensive, slow burning song, especially on the electrifying chorus, it’s the emotionally intense guitar playing that is the highlight though. There’s a funky note to the opening of Four that gives it a vibe not unlike Faith No More, all staccato notes, fat grooves and a restless drumbeat. Kalle’s piercing guitar lends a contrast to that alt-metal feel, the guitar solo towards the end is inspired, it’s a clever and inventive piece of music.

Five basically sees all the musicians turn things up to 11 and is an incendiary four minutes of compelling and authoritative music where everyone just seems to be having an utter blast! I really like Six, Kalle Wallner has always been an excellent musician and songwriter but, here on ‘Voices’, he really seems to have gone up another level. The songwriting is superlative and his guitar playing just gets better and better. This piece of music is reflective and contemplative while also having the satisfyingly punchy foundation of guitar and drums when things start to get serious.

Seven.Out is a thoughtful almost melancholy eleven minutes of wistful serenity and closes ‘Voices’ perfectly. The most intimate and heartfelt piece of music on the album, Kalle gets to show his more softer and sensitive side on this track with piercing, fervent guitar lines that really touch your heart and soul. There’s a sombre and plaintive edge to his guitar work and the meditative drumbeat mirrors this, it really leaves you in a reflective and thoughtful mood as this exemplary record comes to a close.

‘Voices’ is fifty minutes of utterly immersive music that really gets under your skin, there is an immediate need to listen to this bewitching album again. At times mesmerising and at others thunderously magnetic, I’d say it’s possibly this enigmatic musician’s finest piece of work in his twenty-six year career, it really is that good!

Released 25th February, 2022

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LONG DISTANCE CALLING – explore the relationship between humans and AI in video for ‘Voices’

LONG DISTANCE CALLING, Germany’s most internationally successful instrumental rock act, recently announced the release of their seventh studio album ‘How Do We Want To Live?’ for the 26th June 2020. 

Today they launch the striking new video for the track ‘Voices’, a short film exploring the relationship between a human and AI. The video was created by AVA Studios and you can watch it now here:

The band comments: “This the video for our new single “VOICES”. 

The song has a very meditative vibe and sounds like a soundtrack by LDC.

As some of you might know „How Do We Want to Live?“ is a thoughtful and thematic record and it deals with the coexistence of humans and machines. 

So we are very proud to present you this short movie. 

We think it’s by far the best LDC video to date and it traces the layered story of a relationship between a human and an AI!

Please watch this video carefully, share it with you friends and let us know your thoughts and comments! 

A little warning at the end: the video contents some explicit parts and therefore it’s NOT for children!

Peace & Love from LDC!”

Watch the video for the album’s first single ‘Hazard’ here:

The band comments on the new album:  

“We are all going through crazy times right now and we were thinking about postponing this news for a couple of months. But we have the feeling that our new album, “How Do We Want To Live?”, is a great companion for the current situation and our lives. We started recordings back in February and finished it during the lockdown. This alone makes it a special chapter for us, but we also expanded our musical cosmos without neglecting our well known trademarks.  

The album deals with the coexistence of man and machine, shining light on some currently (frightening) relevant aspects. We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved and we say thank you to everyone involved on this journey. Many of you have already asked how you can support us. We have a pretty simple answer: get the new album! We put a lot of love and effort into this baby and can´t wait to finally share it with you. Stay healthy! Peace LDC”

‘How Do We Want To Live?’ sees the band forging a sharply defined & artistically tight exploration of the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence, and the state of digital progress. Comprised of 10 tracks which contain all the classic LDC-trademarks whilst also bringing something completely fresh and unexpected to the table with their ambitious use of electronic sounds, a perfect symbiosis between man and machine.

‘How Do We Want To Live?’ will be available as a Limited Edition CD, Gatefold Black 2LP + CD & as Digital Album. A limited deluxe box-set will also be released, containing a special coloured edition of the album, an exclusive 7inch featuring two remixes, a beautiful poster featuring the albums stunning artwork by Max Löffler, and 4 individually signed art-cards all contained in a lift-off box. Pre-order now here https://longdistancecalling.lnk.to/HowDoWeWantToLive

The full track-listing is as follows:

1.     Curiosity (Part 1)

2.     Curiosity (Part 2)

3.     Hazard

4.     Voices

5.    Fail/Opportunity

6.    Immunity

7.     Sharing Thoughts

8.     Beyond Your Limits

9.     True/Negative

10.  Ashes

The track ‘Beyond Your Limits’ continues the band´s tradition of having one track with a vocalist, and features the talents of Eric A. Pulverich of the band Kyles Tolone. As the band comments: “We got to know him over our producer Arne Neurand. We were instantly fascinated by his voice and we wanted to show the quality of his voice and melodies.”

It was recently announced that the band have been nominated for the GEMA Musikautorenpreis 2020. This is an integral part of the German music landscape and unique in its focus on music writers. GEMA has been honoring composers and lyricists for their musical work in this way for 12 years, and is representative of the great diversity and the enormous range of fascinating works across genres.

LONG DISTANCE CALLING will return to the ‘Seats & Sounds’ format for a German tour in September 2020. 

08.09.20 Hamburg kleine Elbphilharmonie – SOLD OUT

09.09.20 Hannover Pavillon

10.09.20 Bochum Christuskirche

11.09.20 Dresden Alter Schlachthof

12.09.20 Leipzig Parkbühne

13.09.20 Berlin Passionskirche

15.09.20 Köln E-Werk

16.09.20 Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle Club

17.09.20 Mannheim Capitol

18.09.20 München St. Matthäus

19.09.20 Stuttgart Mozartsaal