One year after the release of his first EP and some months after his album release, Wolfgang Tillmans is back with new music in a new extended play, Heute Will Ich Frei Sein, which translates to ‘Today I Want To Be Free’, to be released on February 2. In his remarkable experimental sound, the city comes to life with recordings of car alarms and screeching trains in New York City’s subway. On the other hand, there are songs about accepting one’s self and using fear as a spark, as a way of empowerment to do something and move ourselves.
The EP starts with the song Heute Will Ich Frei Sein, which gives name to it and sets the energetic tone for the following tracks. It features the experimental rock duo Wreck & Reference, and the lyrics go “Today I want to be free. Feel my body. Without fear and implosion. Acceptance.” This line is a call for preserving independent clubs as safe places for self-expression. Besides, the remix by the New York club legends Justin Strauss and Bryan Mette transform Fast Lane, originally written and recorded in 1986 with Bert Lessmann, in a seductive slow synth line. “I live in the fast lane but I have no fear”, sings the then eighteen-year-old Tillmans, knowing that fear might never be fully overcome but can be used as a force. Make sure you listen to the EP that will be released on Friday, February 2 in order to get energized by Tillman’s writing and constant strive for experimentation.