Philipp Poisel – 'Gute Zeiten' review: polished indie pop in the comfort zone
The German songwriter's fifth studio album is out today. Musikexpress hears polished indie pop but always the same melancholy. Poisel goes on tour in spring 2027.
Photo: Martin Schumann / Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Single video: YouTube · Philipp Poisel · youtube.com
Single: Schön
Philipp Poisel released his fifth studio album 'Gute Zeiten' ('Good Times') on Grönland today. According to the label, the twelve songs were largely written in Sicily with producers Tobias Kuhn and Philipp Steinke; in Hamburg Poisel also worked with Fayzen. The label says the album centres on hope, solidarity and empathy.
Musikexpress critic Thomas Winkler hears 'polished indie pop that doesn't push anyone out of their comfort zone'. The disco excursions since 'Mein Amerika' (2017) are over. He highlights the opener 'Schön', which nods to Echt's 'Alles wird sich ändern', and 'Weltzeituhr', where the vocals briefly tip towards rap. But Poisel constantly sings about his phantom pains and his inability to take action, and the anger with which he wants to dance with his 'demons' in the song 'Party' is not believable.
Poisel takes the 'Gute Zeiten' tour on the road in spring 2027: it opens on 20 April in Luxembourg and ends on 10 May at Munich's Circus Krone, with 13 concerts in Germany in total plus one each in Zurich and Vienna. The video shows 'Schön' on the official YouTube channel Philipp Poisel.