BONGEN’S – Fragebuch

Cologne–Wuppertal–Lennestadt is the geographical triangle of BONGEN’S. And rock–indie pop–singer/songwriter is their musical style. With their third studio album, “Fragebuch,” they deliver a lovingly arranged and rough-and-ready powerhouse.
Three years were spent writing, arranging, recording, changing, discarding, and re-recording. But in the end, the trickiest question of all was the title of the album. And yet it was so obvious:

“I’ve had this notebook since the band started. I write down ideas for lyrics, random thoughts, words I like. And questions. Always questions. And at some point, I wrote in capital letters

“MEIN FRAGEBUCH” written on the front of the cover,“ recalls Mario Bongen, singer and songwriter of the band. The neologism then made it into the lyrics of ”360°” and finally onto the cover of the new album.

So let’s get to the questions. Producing an album, for example, raises a lot of questions: about the sound. About the right attitude. About the song selection. How to send the listener on a journey. How to get someone to give you 45 minutes of attention in the 2010s. And then there’s the question of financing.
The four musicians found a contemporary answer to that: crowdfunding. With the campaign “BONGEN’S VIER UND IHR,” they raised the necessary funds to create the album they had in mind, independently and without compromise. The result is a record with a lot of light and a lot of shadow. Warm and noisy. Emotional and angry. Without fear of old-fashioned genres (country, folk) or new-fangled instruments (beer bottles). The main thing is that it serves the song, its story. And so each story gets the backdrop it deserves: the rumbling walking bass in “Diese Beine werden nie wieder humpeln können” (These legs will never be able to limp again), the haunting organ hookline in “Das hier ist es” (This is it) or the eerily beautiful brass ensemble in “Grab ein Grab” (Dig a grave).
The lyrics are free of platitudes and pretentiousness. Instead, they feature personal anecdotes, love songs free of kitsch, and rough-hewn everyday poetry.

“Why am I here? And what percentage of me?”

Lines like these point simply and precisely to the big picture and to the truth that always lies somewhere in between—questions don’t lie, after all. This opens up a clear view of the songwriter’s inner life—at least as far as one can expect from someone who prefers to ask questions rather than give answers.

Tracklist
1. Das letzte Lied
2. Boxer
3. Diese Beine werden nie wieder humpeln können
4. Das hier ist es
5. Wo ich hin will
6. 360°
7. Grab ein Grab
8. Am traurigsten Tresen der Gegend
9. Krzwrtrtsl
10. Blaues Auge
11. Geschlossene Gesellschaft
12. Der im gelben Regencape
13. Zeichen