From German Error Message, “What Welcoming” is a track fit for autumnal listening, featuring a mellow vein of rock with well-constructed hooks and reversed guitar solos. The guitar-based escalation at 01:31, with vocals ascending in pitch alongside the guitar, cohesively navigates toward the satisfying conclusion. “What Welcoming” is a brief track, though one that excels atmospherically and melodically.
German Error Message is the songwriting project of producer and engineer Paul Kintzing, releasing “What Welcoming” as well as “Hand Comes Down” (below) in the past week. Both tracks showcase a project worth keeping an ear out for.
Kintzing elaborates more on the track below:
I originally wrote and recorded ‘What Welcoming’ in 2016 after not making music at all for several years. I had been working corporate desk jobs that left me emotionally drained with nothing left over to make songs with, had stopped processing my feelings through song, was avoiding myself, and was just generally pretty unwell. This song was a look back at the past as I reoriented my life around making music again. The line “I don’t remember getting home/tried to stop thinking” immediately pops into my head when I think about this one. Themes of reckoning with self-destruction, moments of clarity, and making conscious choices to be present in my own life.
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“What Welcoming” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of November 2019’ Spotify playlist.
