Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
A country that’s divided is one of the great physical expressions of political dogma that humanity can impose upon itself and be seen from outside the boundary or map by others as shame, of dishonour, and to its worst degree, pride in ideological breakdown.
From Korea to Ireland and Cyprus and into the political chains of the question that governs the issues facing Moldova and Romania and North and South Ossetia, a divided country is one of frank circumstance that is only defeated by either war, or by love.
A city torn apart by ideology is equally, if not more, an unhappy state of affairs in which to conquer, and Europe felt the bitterness of this all too well as Berlin was split between the west and east as if it were a cake, to be divided, to be spoilt, for a generation. Once more though, love and friendship found a way to reunite both sides; but not without a cost to the psyche of the city, and the lives of some of its citizens.
To highlight such drama has become a matter of course for many an artist, but few have perhaps captured the raw emotion of love’s divide and conquer so well as Leonie Jakobi in her sensational and utterly devastating new single, Walk To West Berlin.
Regret will always carry a song directly to the heart, but it takes heartache and hope to make it real, strong enough to pierce the mind and bring the listener into the place where they can not only see the injustice, the fear and the confidence of faith, but that they feel it also, that they live with conscious decision of governments to split a community in half, separating friends, family, and lovers behind a wall.
Ms. Jakobi understands this, the art of listening and reflection has been engrained into her own musical appreciation, and with a personal family history behind the song that makes it even more valuable, more direct and to the point.
Walk To West Berlin is astonishing, beautiful, full of precious doubt, declaring its intentions straight away; Leonie Jakobi once more hitting a high note of sincere musical contemplation.
Leonie Jakobi releases Walk To West Berlin on July 31st.
Ian D. Hall