Deine Lakaien
Deine Lakaien - Third single “The Walk”

After Ernst Horn and Alexander Veljanov presented their original interpretation of the Patti Smith classic “Because The Night”, co-composed by Bruce Springsteen, and the accompanying original composition “Because Of Because” as the first signs of their forth-coming concept album “Dual”, they have used a genre that one might most likely associate with the German dark wave pop institution Deine Lakaien for the third single.

The Cure are undoubtedly not only among the best-known but also the most inspiring representatives of a genre in which the classically trained Ernst Horn, who is as devoted to the avant-garde as he is to versatile electronic music, and Alexander Veljanov, who is equally at home in the French chanson, post-punk and dark wave scenes, formed Deine Lakaien in 1985. After the dark melancholy of their early works “Seventeen Seconds”, “Faith” and “Pornography”, the British band around the charismatic frontman Robert Smith turned to unusually cheerful, rhythmically playful and electronically influenced good mood sounds with the following singles “Let’s Go To Bed”, “The Love Cats” and “The Walk”, which have never been heard again from The Cure in this form. The fact that Deine Lakaien have not chosen one of The Cure’s typical tracks from Robert Smith’s omnipresent gloomy period, which is just as adequate in itself, but rather such a funky, danceable hit as “The Walk”, is just as surprising as the rest of the selection of cover songs on “Dual”, which Deine Lakaien have transferred into their very own musical cosmos.

Already with the first notes of the new Deine Lakaien single, the recorded duo picks up on the retro charm of the original with a slightly clattering synth beat and simple harmonies and once again proves its comprehensive musical versatility, because in the end “The Walk” sounds like a very own piece of Deine Lakaien, which is just as much owed to Alexander Veljanov’s charismatic voice as to Ernst Horn’s sense for intricate, often analogue synth sounds.

“‘The Walk’ was, of course, a welcome opportunity for an old synthesizer freak like me to celebrate beautiful old sounds in simple tone sequences, whereby I really cut my teeth on the hookline. I don’t think I could get it as beautifully dirty as on the original,” says Ernst about the special challenges of shaping this The Cure classic into Deine Lakaien style. “The Walk’ is really a great advertisement for the original sound of a vintage synthesiser. The instrumental part was also a lot of fun, a step up from the last ‘Take me to the Walk’, where you could let your instruments off the leash nicely.”

For Alexander, “The Walk” coincides with his own beginnings in Deine Lakaien. But as much as The Cure’s music has influenced him, he is effortlessly able to find his own unique expression in their compositions with his voice alone, and doesn’t even try to sound like Robert Smith. “It was exciting for me to interpret the mood of the original and to take it further vocally without imitating Robert Smith’s particular vocal style,” Alexander comments on his approach to interpreting “The Walk”. “It shouldn’t sound typically like ‘Alexander Veljanov’, but rather as if I had already had the chance to sing this song at the time the original was written.”

After “Because The Night” and “Because Of Because”, “The Walk” makes you curious about the unique double album “Dual” (release date: April 16th, 2021), on which Deine Lakaien present not only ten cover versions but also an album with accompanying original compositions, because the first three singles already give a foretaste of the musical diversity that this extraordinary album reveals.

written by: Dirk Hoffmann, translation: DeepL

Pre-Order: https://prophecy.lnk.to/deine-lakaien-dual

At the same time as the new single, the new lyric video is being launched today. You can watch it here:

As always, we hope you enjoy it :-)