Time is relative. It can fly by. Or stand still. With his snapshots of happiness, but also time travel to his own roots, Stefan Waldow manages to create a very personal space-time vacuum with his debut album "Ewiger Moment". Timeless pop songs, lasting confessions and again and again the music as a slow motion of the present and a medium to capture situations and feelings, conglomerate into a work that has something to oppose the real principle of transience: the life and experience of music as an eternal moment.
The songwriter and his band manage to mix pop, jazz and chanson styles with subtlety and enthusiasm. In addition to Stefan's warm, honest voice, which lacks any vocal calculations, and his accurate lyrics, it is above all the songs themselves that act as storytellers with attention to detail, careful arrangements and strong melodies that give the listener a feeling of unusual familiarity and tonal sustainability.
The palette of songs was recorded entirely by the three-piece ensemble and ranges from yearning accordion sounds from the Hamburg Elbe beach (“Ebbe und Flut”), folky Dulcinet and tin whistle sounds with the declaration of love to the old hiking boots (“Unicornwall”) to vibraphone Swing with nostalgic easy-listening flair (“My invisible friend”) to intentionally pathetic Viking choirs (“The eighth Dane in me”) and percussive salsa rhythms (“The wind sends me your songs”), always carried by the contra and fretless bass playing of Stefan's bassist - and old school friend - Christian Glauß and the sensitive, multifaceted drums of Kai Ortmann, who was also at work here as a producer.
Stefan Waldow's songwriting combines lightness and depth, connecting catchy motifs with surprising rough edges. The result is an album worth listening to, pausing and at best, if only for a moment, staying in the eternal moment.
1. One man, one word
2. Unicorn wall
3. The eighth Dane in me
4. Ebb and flow
5. My invisible friend
6. Once is not zero
7. Where is the journey going?
8. Without music
9. The rest is silence
10. The wind sends me your songs
11. My weary cavalry
12. Eternal Moment
