TAINTED

It took four years for Trude and Christian to come back with their second album, and again the vast majority of the album is just the two of them, although they have used some additional musicians and singers on a couple of the songs. The album is inspired by the classic tale of Faust, the man who drives himself to damnation in his search for true enlightenment. It is shaped like a German Song Cycle and draws inspiration from the Franz Schubert song "Gretchen am Spinnrade", in which he portrays the mental and emotional turmoil of one of the characters. It is both more electronic and heavier than the debut album, with a darkness in place of the lightness.

Trude is also often singing in a more standard rock style, with "Soothing Stitches" being a case in point. This is almost commercial, and would find a happy place on the radio (apart from the drum machine, which has still yet to be taken out and shot). There is a gothic element, as the guys bring together classical, art pop and trip hop among others. In many ways this is an easier album to listen to than the debut, one that is much easier to get inside, and possibly that is why I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the debut. I would much rather that they had followed their own path instead of conforming to be more like others.