White Lies
Studio-Album – Deine Lakaien

While you're on the way to purchase the new Deine single, let me remind you of their incredible album from last year "White Lies". You won't be disappointed. An album which strongly appeals to anyone, and touches the heart. "White Lies" is another real darkwave/gothic masterpiece by Deine Lakaien. A sizzling feel of loneliness, desperation and hope. Alexander Veljanov's voice is a hauntingly beautiful instrument that blends seamlessly with The music. Self-ironic, gentle, dark and yet entertaining "White Lies" contains twelve wave songs of great impact. Deine Lakaien are an outstanding phenomena in the German alternative scene and although they are now on a major label, they never disappointed their old fans and even succeeded to gain a big amount of new followers. (Jez Porat)

The duo of Alexander & Ernst return w/ their latest treasure where the gap is bridged between the beauty of classical music w/ the romance of gothic & eighties new wave romanticism. It's quite difficult to pin point any certain songs because all of them are just so fantastic as all of the material leans towards a blaze of a baroque style provided by Ernst's lush medieval instrumentation, crafty electronics, brilliant piano melodies, & Alexander's deep, haunting vocals on seductive ballads like "Wunderbar", "Generators", "Kiss", "Hands White (Mane Bianchi)" which features female backing vocals. "Stupid" is reminiscent of early Depeche Mode w/ a more schizophrenic & twisted attitude while "Life is a Sexually Transmitted Disease" (who can argue w/ that?) shouts out its dark anthem in all its apocalyptic grandeur. This is absolutely brilliantly spellbinding music & highly recommended to all. Naturally, these guys should be huge!

L'ouverture sur le mélancolique "Wunderbar" accorde le ton de cet album d'une sombre beauté, une alchimie incomparable entre instruments classiques et sonorités électroniques. Des mélodies imparables servies par la voix de basse chaleureuse d'Alexander Veljanov. Des compositions où le travail instrumental finement ciselé nous enveloppe notes à notes pour ne plus nous lâcher. Loin d'être désespérément et inutilement totalement obscur, "White lies" présente une intensité et une profondeur lumineuses, une clarté intense dans un univers d'obscurité. Au final, un album qui sans sombrer bien évidemment dans un optimisme béat, ("L'optimisme est l'arme de ceux qui vivent dans la terreur" O. Wilde), offre un équilibre parfait dans l'ensemble de ses structures musicales et émotionnelles. Une collection de titres marqués d'un romantisme qui ne s'affale jamais dans la mièvrerie, une nouvelle réussite pour Ernst Horn et Alexander Veljanov. Le génie de ce duo n'a pas fini de planer loin au-dessus des tâcherons de la darkwave et de l'électro qui polluent ce début de siècle.

Sumptuous, smartly arranged strings mix with esthetic samples and electronic sounds. Songs like “Where You Are”, “Lost”, and “Fleeting” convince with their atmospheric denseness and their catchy and almost pop-like character. Frugal loops and samples make the songs seem up-to-date without currying favor with any trends. Most of the songs on “White Lies” appear more intimate and private than before. Alexander Veljanov’s singing hides only rarely behind long echo-banners as in the very calm “Silence In Your Eyes” and “One Minus One”. But the tougher, more aggressive side of Deine Lakaien shows up every now and then as for instance in “Hands White” and “Live Is A Sexually Transmitted Disease”. However, these pieces seem to be more striking and ironic and somehow make the impression to be concessions to the record label. They seem to be unnecessary on the otherwise wonderful melancholic and peaceful record. (text by Ingo Gebhardt/as)

The title of the seventh album of the duo Deine Lakaien appears in strong contrast to the motif: “White Lies” does not match the sacral, as dark as clear vocals of Alexander Veljanov at all. Lonely, medieval they form the superstructure for the electronic-half acoustic world composed by the pianist and conductor from Munich, Ernst Horn. The voice dominates the melodies of the twelve songs and is the origin of the homogeneity of the album. Deine Lakaien go as far as to put phonetics before poetry using the German “Wunderbar” within the English lyrics. This results in mainly sad ballades with a lot of classical instruments.

A Dark-Wave band entering the German charts as no. 9 without ubiquitous airplay and coverage in the media has to set itself apart from the crowd of German gloomy bards. Lakaien manage this because of their musicality uncommon in this scene. Sound-experimentalist Ernst Horn used to be conductor at Karlsruhe. And Alexander Veljanov does not only possess an impressive Gothic-hairdo but first of all a distinguished, charismatic voice. These qualities mark “White Lies” (Columbia/Sony) as well, even though some parts are extremely solemn. The lyrics lack the popular gloomy-clichés: Song titles like “Live is a sexually transmitted disease” clearly earn an originality award.

Vocalist Alexander Veljanov seems to focus the heartache of the world with his sonorous voice. Together with the minimalistic instrumentation skillfully used by producer Ernst Horn it forms a reflective-melancholic album…Producer Ernst Horn combines electronic sounds on this sixth album with string parts and medieval melodies. Veljanov’s voice hovers without weight above the soulfully wafting music. And at least one thing becomes obvious listening to the CD: Summer is still far. (4 of 5 stars)

After three years that were not really quiet due to the soloist activities, "White Lies" satisfies all wishes. Once again, Ernst Horn and Alexander Veljanov manage to present their own points of view. The songs paint a part of our world with melancholic keys in a predominantly peaceful and calm mood. … Electronic sounds play charmingly around Alexander’s baritone, sporadic effects tie skillfully in with elements known from previous productions. As especially haunting melody I recommend the folk-like "Kiss" to the fans, since the waltz beat driven by a hypnotic hurdy-gurdy has the potential to induce a trance. This makes it almost difficult to spend enough attention to the other pearls. But this is the reason why we have the repeat key. - ALBUM OF THE MONTH (Peter Heymann)