Die Kneipen schließen, die Kinos auch

The bars are closing, the movie theaters too – "12" by AnnenMayKantereit

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been four years since the COVID-19 virus brought the world to a halt, ushering in a strange collective experience of lockdowns, social distancing, Zoom meetings, and toilet paper shortages. 

The difficult realities of life in a pandemic, which acutely affected the livelihood of musicians worldwide, also served as musical inspiration for some artists. One example of such crisis-inspired art in the German music scene is the album “12” by AnnenMayKantereit. The band’s surprise album was completed during the early months of the pandemic, and does a fantastic job at capturing the Zeitgeist of this unique moment in world history.

If you’ve got around 40 minutes to spare, the entire album can be viewed online, along with subtitles in German and a variety of other languages. The album’s focus on time (with the album’s title “12” referencing a clock) is reflected in the names of several of the songs – Gegenwart (Present), Zukunft (Future), and Vergangenheit (Past).

You can also watch the band perform two songs from the album live with orchestra accompaniment on the television program ZDF Magazin Royale – the sight of musicians playing with masks and in isolation chambers is bound to take you right back to 2020.