In the fall of 2013 the debut-album of Holler My Dear was released and since then they have been touring many countries all the way to Cairo. For their new creation Eat, Drink And Be Merry they took more time to give the songs distinctive individual style and fine details. “With trumpet, accordion and mandolin, the basic sound of the band is rather bright”, Laura Winkler says, “therefore we have now also recorded a few darker sounds with Rhodes piano and electric guitar. Furthermore, we invited guests on violin, viola, cello and vibraphone for even more complementary tone colors.” During the creative work in the “ballroom” of the Traumton-studio further sounds were added. “We already created live at the studio, what is usually done in post-production in pop-music”, Lucas Dietrich explains. “The spherical intro is not generated electronically, but is completely acoustic”, Valentin Butt grins, “we have captured the sounds of falling plastic bags, scattered voices and instruments in the room and layered several tracks on top of another.” Live and directly recorded songs, which eradiate that uplifting energy that fascinates Holler My Dear fans at concerts again and again, are also part of the album’s dramaturgy. Laura Winkler describes her lyrics as “optimistically verbalized thoughtfulness”; in the song Tiramisu she inverts clichés with relish and sarcasm. The hymnal Have You Seen The Troll deals with a self-discovery and was already written a while back. “Although I don’t know yet how I’ll get there, I have a goal in mind clearly and I set off on my way”, the author summarizes the metaphorical story. Quite deliberately the term “pride” is used in this context. A similar idea is behind the song Move On. It is about the power of societal norms, which, for example, become manifest in conventional gender roles, from which many try to escape. Laura Winkler’s poetry is personal, but not a diary set to music. She always leaves room for interpretations of the listener and in a way takes after the lateral thinkers Joni Mitchell and Antony Hegarty, whom she holds in high esteem.
What does the title of the album, Eat, Drink And Be Merry have to do with all of this? “It captures the spirit of the band”, Laura Winkler explains, “the piece itself is a declaration of love to Berlin, to this crazy city, in which so many cultures, mindsets and orientations can coexist.” Stephen Moult adds: “We as a band are certainly just as colorful as the city. Apart from that, we are also unified by the fact, that we all have a leaning towards indulgence. When we’re on tour, the main subject is mostly where to find good food. On our website we even have a blog about cafes and other culinary things.”
The courage to have confidence in own ideas and ideals turns out the briskness of Holler My Dear. Their urban songwriter-gypsy-folk-pop, which the band smartly describes as “hand-stirred gourmet music”, is programmatically described by the first lines of the album: “This is a new beginning, a brand new fearless start.” The cheerfully expressed confidence, “take the risk to slip on the banana peel”, lasts until the last piece, You Can Be Anything. Who would want to close themselves to such esprit?