Super Tip!  Following Brannten Schnüre's definitive trilogy conclusion, Quirlschlängle continues its exploration of Central European cultural archaeology with Lebensglut (Life's Glow), a split album that examines four poets through remarkably different methodologies: Karl Wolfskehl, Stefan George, and Georg Trakl, all active in the early 20th century, alongside Julius Sturm, who had been active a century earlier and can be regarded as an early pioneer of Symbolist expression. Like Brannten Schnüre's "surreal folkcollage," this selection reveals deep understanding of a literary scene that could be described as neo-Romantic, stylistically close to Jugendstil, marked by formal Symbolism and an elevated, almost sacred use of language.

Georg Trakl, a unique figure who served as a link between Symbolism and Expressionism, receives particular attention with two musical settings compared to one poem each by the other poets. His admirer Ernst Jünger once wrote: "His poetry resembles the turning of a dream kaleidoscope that, behind frosted glass in the shimmer of moonlight, repeats few but genuine stones in monotonous patterns" - a beautiful image for the hypnotic quality that clearly resonates with Lebensglut's overall atmosphere. The collaborative methodology proves significant: each artist interpreted three poems independently using their characteristic styles and vocal expressions, while the two Trakl settings were created together as joint efforts. This cultural proximity proves more than coincidental - that both musicians, like Trakl himself, come from Austria suggests a shared understanding that helps them grasp and express this fragile, haunted mood with remarkable precision.

The artist behind Militia Aurora previously released music as one half of Glasberg, while Jota Solo had released music as part of Nový Svět. Both widely respected projects follow what could be described as characteristically Austrian approach: striking sample-based collages in post-industrial style, enriched with folkloristic elements. One might recall The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud in this context. Glasberg drew on themes from Brothers Grimm and the Nibelungenlied, while Nový Svět distilled various artistic sources into vivid, surreal magical realism.

Now, two experienced artists shape the ambivalent energy of Lebensglut with steady, confident hands. Militia Aurora moves in slow motion across blood-soaked battlefields, where gasps of the dying and fading echoes of war drums still linger. In contrast, Jota Solo's bittersweet synthesizers release strange scents, somewhere between sweet decay and intoxicating lilac. The album's title speaks of intense inner fire and dangerous ecstasy, close to life-weariness and fascination with decay - a work that moves between healing and unease, between excitement and pulling back, between burning bright and slowly dying down.