Music: More than just old white men: The Baden band New Polarities packs social criticism into spherical sounds

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Molnar doesn’t want to classify exactly which sound the listener can expect on the new record “Œ”. “The categorization is a job for the listener,” he says. Molnar wrote the lyrics for the nine songs himself. He finds inspiration always and everywhere. “I often have a melody in my head first. Only then do words or concepts crystallize, around which I build a story, ”he says. It is important to him to leave things open so that as many people as possible can find themselves in the texts: “Ultimately, we all deal in some way with the same issues in life.”

“In my opinion it is five to twelve”

One thing, however, shouldn’t be neglected: the artist’s criticism of society. He is not afraid of offending with his opinion on environmental issues. “In my opinion it’s five to twelve. You can express it that way, ”he says.

And so Molnar sings about not only the end of the white old men on «Œ», but also that of all struggles and facts. From now on the fear of the new age should be. “Visions of Utopia / And there seems to be no time and space”. When the world is almost going to the dogs, opposite tones are needed. As the band name «New Polarities» describes. Spherical sounds. First distorted and then harmonious. “Humanity of contradiction” is what the band calls it.

Ready for publication even before the pandemic

The bassist Marcel Suk, drummer Tobias Suter and the guitarist Djamal Moumène are always on hand. Although the band has existed in this form for seven years, so far only two EPs have been released in 2015 and 2016. Nevertheless, Molnar never felt any hurry. «Nobody is waiting for us. So let’s take our time to let the whole thing mature, ”he says.

Even before the pandemic, the album was actually ready for a release. The songs were done. It wasn’t the band. Then the pandemic came – and yet at the end of January everything suddenly seemed to fit.

Molnar still sees the fact that the group of four cannot present their work to the public as a disadvantage. In the coming years, the competition for appearances will hardly get any smaller. “We have to fight for our stage time,” says Molnar. However, he does not regret the late publication. «I am not a person who regrets things. It all makes sense, »he says. And: “We have time.”

Even if his songs sound detached from the earth, Molinar is grounded. Thanks to Baden. The album title pays homage to the Oederlin area, where the songs were created and recorded. The city is home to Molnar. Stability. Rooting. “Something that makes me feel like I never have to leave,” he says. In times like these in particular, it is nice to get things going regionally for and with one another. After all, an old white man doesn’t always have to be offensive.

How things will continue with the troublemaker from the Baden Royal will be resolved on February 19: There will be a sequel in the video for the single “Echo”. This time the film was shot in the bathing area in Limmathof. Bathing remains a constant.