(D/Folkrock, Americana)
Although he represents one of the most gifted local singer/songwriters, genre-agnostic limitation has never been his thing. Gregor McEwan is much more his own 16:9 format than just another kid with a guitar. Now, with his third album, everything that was always inherent in his music comes to fruition. Here comes honey on the wounds. The carefree days on Alderaan are fondly remembered. A peaceful planet, but then the sky darkens, the Empire just bangs on it and now you're sitting there on a piece of space junk and drifting aimlessly through space. Fuck you, Death Star! Gregor McEwan lets Princess Leia's home planet flash again in the song of the same name - but even without being inside the "Star Wars" franchise, you can relate to the feeling conjured up here. On "From A To Beginning", the hairy Berliner-by-choice talks in many places about what it's like to be exposed to time and eternal change. Good as well as bad crumbles to dust - and how the hell do you deal with that? Thankfully, Gregor McEwan is not just a chronicler of melancholy in this, but for all his brilliance in a minor key, he always remains a hopelessly romantic guy. The song "On Her Radar" manages, without any kitsch, to give the subject of love perhaps the most beautiful song equivalent these days. Even if you've seen or even witnessed a hundred times how even really great loves have been destroyed by the damn speed of time, that doesn't mean that you and I can't make it this time after all. A single kiss against finitude. Gregor McEwan himself hasn't had it easy of late, after the second record the talented one-man army of musical friends faltered. The eternal cycle of creative self-exploitation led nowhere. The 35-year-old discarded new songs and lyrics and felt compelled to pull over after all - for more than a gas stop, that is, for more than a night in a wayside hostel. The resulting break turned out to be exactly what Gregor McEwan's art had been missing. The pieces on "From A To Beginning" represent his personal mastery in any case, the attention to detail and the invested time can be heard clearly. The large panorama of sounds and ideas has always been one of his strengths anyway - but it's unbelievable what effect this has now, where it gets so much space. Because if there's one thing Gregor McEwan isn't, it's the hermetic barstool songwriter who allows himself and his solo sound one or two more violin areas in the studio. No, the most diverse currents, approaches and instruments flow together here: Emo from The Get Up Kids or The Promise Ring is a theme for him, as well as songwriting itself, but also folk, dance, great film music moments to country. Each track is given its own instrumentation, yet the many details are never an end in themselves, the song always staying true to itself. On this quirky and equally pointed Planet McEwan you just want to let time pass you by. All is not lost here, here the music sometimes sounds as if Evan Dando had another bittersweet feat up his sleeve after "Come On Feel The Lemonheads". Here it's warm, intimate and comforting, often fun and loud. Here, the Empire won't find you anytime soon.
Text source and more information about this event: http://www.schon-schoen.de/programm.html
