Prinzhorn Dance School - Prinzhorn Dance School

DFA / EMI

You would be forgiven for thinking that with a name like Prinzhorn Dance School, and coming from the DFA stable, this would be in the same dance-punk vein as The Rapture or LCD Soundsystem. If you bought this album on that premise then you would be sorely disappointed.

This is sixteen tracks of minimalist, art punk experimentation consisting only of stripped down guitar lines (no chords), simplistic bass notes, vague drums and a male / female vocal exchange. The bands prerogative is to keep the music spacious and refined, to veer away from layering sound upon sound and cluttering the tracks. It’s an interesting approach, but one that feels like there is always just a little something missing. You’ll be intrigued at the offset, but over the course of the album it does wear a bit thin.

The seminal Young Marble Giants are a better example of how music can remain minimalist, yet still retain warmth. Prinzhorn are just too cold, clinical and repetitive.

Words_Jonny Tiernan

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