Lisa Wilhelm
Lisa Wilhelm
Lisa Wilhelm – SO CLOSE
Lisa Wilhelm’s new album SO CLOSE is released by BERTHOLD records on May 9th, 2025. The line up: Lukas Wögler (saxophone), Moritz Langmaier (piano), Franz Blumenthal (bass), Lisa Wilhelm (composer and drums).
Wilhelm’s compositions combine the lyrical melodic jazz of her debut album POTPOURRI, with dreamy pop sounds. SO CLOSE features the original jazz quartet, plus extra vocals (Mareike Riegert, Nate Dailey and Nico-Alexander Wilhelm), and a string quartet (Annette Köhler / Monika Beck – violin, Natascha Stromer – viola, and Laurens Groll – cello).
The composer blends her musical ideas with recent impressions, encounters and experiences. While her previous album was inspired by films, her new compositions are drawn from long journeys, literary discoveries and personal memories. “Music has the power to bring past experiences back to life at any moment,” says Wilhelm. “I translate my own journey into sound, creating an emotional connection to draw listeners closer to my stories, experiences, and emotions. My roots in pop music come through much more clearly this time. I added a string quartet and a textual layer to the music, with three great singers who are very special to me”.
Change the Game was written for her brother, who sings the very personal song about pressure and success. The piece is a great example of how Wilhelm translates her ideas into music. “We use sound effects that are part of the album,” she explains. “We start with some moody impressions on the piano, a bit wonky, then my brother starts to sing. We tried to create a dusty musical atmosphere in the background, reflecting tension and negativity, but it clears up and he breaks out in the string finale.” Four Voices, written for Mareike Riegert, explores the inner struggles and persistent thoughts many young women might experience, while In The Middle exudes hope.
Some of the instrumental tracks have strange, almost cryptic titles. Dreaming of Okapis concerns a novel by Mariana Leky. “A beautiful but sad story. Every time the old women dreams of an Okapi at night, someone in the village has to die. That leads the people to rethink and change their behaviour.” Mercy for a Dog is a quote from ‘Rose is a rose is a rose’ – a poem by Gertrude Stein, the American writer, publisher and art collector who settled in Paris. Banana Kitchen honours Banana Yoshimoto who wrote the book ‘Kitchen’. “All strong women, whose stories have inspired me to write music.”
Wilhelm often takes her ideas from unexpected characters and unusual situations, as in Hej, Ciao and Avião para o Porto (Plane to Porto). The latter was inspired by the recurring language barrier between the composer and a cleaner at the Stuttgart University of Music. “The kind-hearted man often tried to engage me in conversation, but I couldn’t understand him. It was only after spending six months in Lisbon that I realised he spoke Portuguese and looked forward to seeing his family again. He would say that his plane to Porto was going in three months and I was finally able to reply.”
Wilhelm admits that this album is more composed than her previous one. Her last album was centred around improvisation, this time the focus is more on arrangements. “The music always came first and then I thought about the drumming, which has become more concrete. This time, I not only spent hours on the drums before rehearsals, but also many hours on the computer and keyboard.” She still identifies her music as jazz, because there are “many moments of improvisation” but there is a pop, folk feel to the album.
POTPOURRI was described by WDR as one of the best jazz albums of 2023 and by NDR in February of the same year as jazz album of the week. SO CLOSE in its lyrical, melodic richness, and use of a wide range of sounds, is a great listen, and takes Wilhelm as drummer and composer to a new creative level.
Ian Bild
February 2025
