The début album by Berlin duo Bionda e Lupo brings New Wave back to Germany, to where it once was in the early 1980s, establishing a German-language genre with snippets of lyrics about balloons, freckles and the gross national product. Now, with »La Deutsche Vita«, a fresh breeze is blowing through the Neue Deutsche Welle’s record case. Bionda e Lupo, which means the blonde and the wolf, combines German allotment garden summers with Mediterranean holidays. German schlager and pop lyrics litter the record’s Italo-disco melodies, creating a sense of madcap glee. The German lyrics are very simple and that’s how they are sung. Bionda e Lupo, or just Bionda, sings of little picture-book moments without any frills or theatricality. On one track she is lying in the grass dreaming (»Wait for me«) and on the next she can already feel the rain on her face (»Tears in the night«). The combination of catchy lyrics and unadulterated vocals serves the record well, as it is the sonic elements that provide the drive on »La Deutsche Vita«. Drums and synthesisers course through the tracks. Sometimes birdsong and chimes are mixed in. It’s fun to listen to Bionda e Lupo, because together they create a playful flicker of sound without desperately searching for contrived irony and pretentious habitus. Neue Deutsche Welle really lives up to its name with this record.
La Deutsche Vita
