BIOGRAPHY
2011, LALAH, “I’d Be Ready Then” (Freibank Records)
Buy on Itunes
LALAH is Doerte Benzner and Lalah loves the sea. “I ride the sea, it is my lover“. Her voice sounds like the swing of the waves, the whisper of the wind, the beauty of nature and yet, the city sneaks into her verses and makes her timbre a little hoarse right at the end of the word. “She moved to a bigger town, although she knew no one“. Lalah moved from the North Sea to the Pacific Ocean, from Hamburg to L.A. and back again. She can move everywhere, all she needs is a laptop, guitar, snare, percussion, some basic studio equipment. “We’ll meet again – due to mathematics and intersections“. So she can’t get lost and she is not broken by dangerous voyages. Curiosity does not kill the cat. She’s a hobo, a hitchhiker through the genres of music. Pop, jazz, chanson, even Lieder.
“I’d Be Ready Then“ is a very personal album full of sadness, wit, irony and - as she played most instruments herself - full of Lalah’s way to express her little madnesses, her musical intuition and her radical love for music. She studied photography, travelled. She toured Europe and the U.S. She goes on stage, because she feels something inside that she wants to become real. Make the audience feel what she felt when she wrote the songs. “The darkness smells sweet and soft – It’s connected to my breath – The temperature is just the same“. Sounds and melodies are hanging in the air and while composing Lalah feels that she can just harvest them like fruit from a tree. Unconsciously. Her instinct is precise, though. The music is minimal, right there, right to the point. Every note, every sound, the rhythm.
“Also my songs – They obey the numbers“. “Neither white nor black.“ It is everything in between. Or one day white and one day black. She loves to play around with expectations. Prejudice. She’s vulnerable and has the guts to show us. Go see her, the European vamp from next door, the German chansonette who slips her words so smoothly into the music that some audiences might not even realize which language she is using. A silvertongued performer who makes German songs sound sexy. And that is something.
(Text: Marianne Enzensberger)
RELEASES
2011 LALAH, “I'D BE READY THEN” (FREIBANK RECORDS).
2009 LALAH, “ICH WAER SO WEIT” (FREIBANK RECORDS).
2008 Venus International, “Venus International” & “The Virtual Diamond of Virgo” (Phazz-A-Delic). Lalah can be also heard on Johnny Liebling’s longplayer (Universal Jazz ) and on one album by Ocker (Popup Records). Further releases by Doerte Benzner can be found on Pussy Empire (Lalah), Free Form Network (with Hippiehaus), Vielklang (with Rotoskop), Supersonic/BMG (with Punch TV) as on several compilations (e.g. Hôtel Costes with Hippiehaus).
LIVE
She played at the CBGB , New York, SXSW -Festival, Austin and CMJ -Festival, New York. Lalah organised and played the NYC-Club-+Poetry-Tour "RSSP" (e.g. as special guest of the Friday night slam at the Nuyorican , NYC). She played numerous festivals (e.g. Fusion Festival , Germany),club-tours and theatres (e.g. Deutsches Schauspielhaus) all over Germany and several European cities. In 2009 she played many successful gigs and at art exibitions in Los Angeles.
2011, LALAH, “I’d Be Ready Then” (Freibank Records)
Buy on Itunes
LALAH is Doerte Benzner and Lalah loves the sea. “I ride the sea, it is my lover“. Her voice sounds like the swing of the waves, the whisper of the wind, the beauty of nature and yet, the city sneaks into her verses and makes her timbre a little hoarse right at the end of the word. “She moved to a bigger town, although she knew no one“. Lalah moved from the North Sea to the Pacific Ocean, from Hamburg to L.A. and back again. She can move everywhere, all she needs is a laptop, guitar, snare, percussion, some basic studio equipment. “We’ll meet again – due to mathematics and intersections“. So she can’t get lost and she is not broken by dangerous voyages. Curiosity does not kill the cat. She’s a hobo, a hitchhiker through the genres of music. Pop, jazz, chanson, even Lieder.
“I’d Be Ready Then“ is a very personal album full of sadness, wit, irony and - as she played most instruments herself - full of Lalah’s way to express her little madnesses, her musical intuition and her radical love for music. She studied photography, travelled. She toured Europe and the U.S. She goes on stage, because she feels something inside that she wants to become real. Make the audience feel what she felt when she wrote the songs. “The darkness smells sweet and soft – It’s connected to my breath – The temperature is just the same“. Sounds and melodies are hanging in the air and while composing Lalah feels that she can just harvest them like fruit from a tree. Unconsciously. Her instinct is precise, though. The music is minimal, right there, right to the point. Every note, every sound, the rhythm.
“Also my songs – They obey the numbers“. “Neither white nor black.“ It is everything in between. Or one day white and one day black. She loves to play around with expectations. Prejudice. She’s vulnerable and has the guts to show us. Go see her, the European vamp from next door, the German chansonette who slips her words so smoothly into the music that some audiences might not even realize which language she is using. A silvertongued performer who makes German songs sound sexy. And that is something.
(Text: Marianne Enzensberger)
RELEASES
2011 LALAH, “I'D BE READY THEN” (FREIBANK RECORDS).
2009 LALAH, “ICH WAER SO WEIT” (FREIBANK RECORDS).
2008 Venus International, “Venus International” & “The Virtual Diamond of Virgo” (Phazz-A-Delic). Lalah can be also heard on Johnny Liebling’s longplayer (Universal Jazz ) and on one album by Ocker (Popup Records). Further releases by Doerte Benzner can be found on Pussy Empire (Lalah), Free Form Network (with Hippiehaus), Vielklang (with Rotoskop), Supersonic/BMG (with Punch TV) as on several compilations (e.g. Hôtel Costes with Hippiehaus).
LIVE
She played at the CBGB , New York, SXSW -Festival, Austin and CMJ -Festival, New York. Lalah organised and played the NYC-Club-+Poetry-Tour "RSSP" (e.g. as special guest of the Friday night slam at the Nuyorican , NYC). She played numerous festivals (e.g. Fusion Festival , Germany),club-tours and theatres (e.g. Deutsches Schauspielhaus) all over Germany and several European cities. In 2009 she played many successful gigs and at art exibitions in Los Angeles.
