The Take That star covertly formed a trio band/project alongside Tim Metcalfe and Flynn Francis during lockdown in 2020. The band goes by the name Lufthaus and is inspired by the electronic scene in the German capital, Berlin. The band are determined to take the project as far as possible delving straight into the dance scene. There has been talk of their debut album release to be soon, however, there is still no official date.

It seems like they were hesitant to unmask the brains behind Lufthaus’s music at first until, after a few live appearances in Ibiza and a couple song releases, they revealed who the mysterious trio was. The three were brought together by their mutual love for Berlin electronica and have surfaced with a melodic delusion alongside a series of frenetic basslines. It is bound to be quite the intriguing project, bearing in mind the diversity of genre influences and experience between them.

The band has accompanied Robbie Williams on his worldwide tour. They have been playing as the opening act and have been greeted with positive feedback from the vast crowd. Up until now, the band have four single releases under Lufthaus. Via the electronic label, Armada Music, they have released “Sway”, “To The Light”, “Soul Seekers” and their most famous one “Unloveable”. 

In an interview with MixMag, the band discuss the dynamic between the members. There’s an easy interaction between Metcalfe and Francis. They focus on songwriting and creating the top line ideas of the tracks, who then proceed to put the melody and lyric writing into Williams hands. He specifies in the interview:“The boys send me a track and then I usually listen to the music and see where it takes me melodically and lyrically. I want these lyrics to be different from what I usually do, I guess they’re more spiritual and from the heart”.

A desire to meet halfway between the essence of an electronic track and a more traditional song is focused within the group. Trying to take a little bit of both, they aim to acquire the sounds of an atmospheric, melodic electronica. “A lot of our unreleased music will reveal the other sides of Lufthaus in the coming months” explains Tim.

There is no official date for their new upcoming release. All we know is that it is on it’s way.

it’s here it’s yours — welcome to the world, baby https://t.co/R7KuDBnAW9

— Fenne Lily (@FenneLily) September 18, 2020

Lockdown swirls around Breach. Although, in this instance, it is Lily’s self-enforced, pre-pandemic period of isolation in Berlin that drew an album out of her. Nonetheless, now we all have a sense of how that probably felt.

The album opens with the whispering of ‘To Be a Woman Pt 1.’, which encapsulates the series of expansive themes that Breach flirts with. This is followed by the first two of Breach’s singles, ‘Alapathy’ and ‘Berlin’.

In isolation, ‘Berlin’ was a great single. As the third track of the album it is little less than perfect. At just fifteen lines, you can’t help but be reminded of one of those fragmentary tracks like ‘Wish You Were Here’, where every word is precious. It was composed out of voice notes that Lily managed to recover after a phone crisis during the trip.

Lily lets us all the way into her thought process. Like being inside your own brain, it makes complete sense and no sense at all. ‘I, Nietzsche’ is perhaps the best example of this; it circles around all its own points. By contrast, the latest single, ‘Solipsism’, is a fresh burst of energy – it is certainly one of Breach’s standout moments.

Following ‘Solipsism’ is one of the most memorable tracks on Breach: ‘I Used To Hate My Body But Now I Just Hate You’. The universality of this song translates into lines such as, “I read all of the books you recommended / I listened to your friend’s band all the time.” As the chorus builds for the first time, into the titular sentiment, you feel Lily regaining her autonomy with every word.

This is one of the ways that Lily’s new, cynical, honest voice comes through. It’s a fantastic take on a break-up song – it’s not comfortable or easy or tragic, but rather challenging. It turns heart-ache upside down and inside out to get to its very core: the song is heavy with self-questioning and monotony, but it is relatively free of bigger, existential questions about break-ups. The outro reaches great heights, and the final half line reasserts a note of triumph and control.

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there are 1,271 words on this record but it’s hard to find the right ones to send it into the world with. I’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long time and it feels surreal to say that BREACH is yours now — every side of love and pain reduced down to two. my dad used to call me a tiny warrior and that’s how I feel about this record — I hope it gives you something. it’s given me a lot. there’s no way it would’ve happened without the following people : @slonkslonkslonk @joshuadavidsparks @alichant @brian.deck @hollyshay @rfjaffe @deadoceans @joncoombs @lucydacus @luxtonluxtonluxton @nicoleloucaides and my little orchestra — thank you big time

A post shared by Fenne Lily (@fennelily) on Sep 18, 2020 at 3:54am PDT

Breach starts to wind down here, starting with ’98, a touching audio clip from Lily’s childhood. Situated between ‘I Used To Hate My Body…’ and ‘Someone Elses’ Trees’, it is perfectly placed to reinject a note of nostalgia. Generally, Lily is one of those people who finds their magic in the everyday; toothbrushes, cold baths and laundry all work together to cover much vaster ground.

Many reviews have noted that where Lily was struggling to be alone with herself on her previous album, she has confronted this from every angle. The album comes with a statement from Lily declaring that she no longer needs to “fixate on relationships to make myself feel like I have something to talk about.” A previous press release spoke about Lily was working out the difference between “being alone and being lonely.” 

 On Instagram, she touchingly described Breach as a “tiny warrior”, something her dad used to say about her. Somewhere between “tiny warrior” and “I used to hate my body” – where “used to” is emphatic – and the fragments of ‘Berlin’ and ‘To Be A Woman Pt. 1’, Lily is excavating as many answers as she is raising questions.