Rope: Higher Violence - Album Review

Originally published in Tutti Frutti Magazine #2

In March 2023, our beloved Loophole enlisted two incredible Berlin-based acts that I had never heard of: Dead Finks and Rope. It was one of these evenings that subtly change your life, alter your music taste and make you wonder how these fucking bands are not constantly touring Europe. That’s how good it was.

Listen, Dead Finks are great. But Rope released a new album last August that we need to talk about.

Simple as their name implies, Rope’s songs are based around simple melodic ideas with an incredible weight. Their guitar riffs are heavy but far from complicated, every note seems thought-through, and the sparse but drastic changes take us to unexpected places.

Higher Violence is an album that doesn’t hesitate to throw us into a dark place right away. The first song is no warm welcome, and at 4 ½ minutes one of their shorter pieces. Because Rope like to take their time to tell their stories, as they do on Nightingale and Come Closer Now – with lyrics rooted in poetry, sometimes even as obvious as citing Heine:

Über mein Bett erhebt sich ein Baum,

Drin singt die junge Nachtigall;

Sie singt von lauter Liebe,

Ich hör es sogar im Traum.

The record’s loud, oceanic instrumental sections are always existential. They are rooted deeply, they feel like waking up from the most intense dream you’ve ever had. “What’s in my dreams / I’m not telling you next time”, sings Kai Woolen-Lewis, the voice of a thousand cigarettes. His expression is uniquely raw, bound in unequalled despair. When the band urgently raises the tempo once in a while, they are playing for their life.

Although the songs are long, there is no section too much. Everything on this record is an absolute necessity. Tracks like Neon Glow and The 36 Steps Bench Song” even have a certain indie pop appeal that adds another facet to the band’s output.

The short nostalgic Soft Talk gives us a minute to breathe, before the closer Ask Yourself Why crushes us under the burden of a static life. Fuck man. It’s so dark it makes you wanna scream, with just as much crispiness in your voice.

Rope are fucking incredible and you should go see them live as soon as you can.

Original page design for Tutti Frutti Magazine #2.