In their latest offering, “How the Story Ends,” the Munich-based stalwarts The Notwist pivot from their signature glitch-pop architecture toward a role as “poetic interpreters.” The single, the second preview from the forthcoming News from Planet Zombie (March 13th via Morr Music), is a percussive, “jangly” reimagining of an original work by the Georgia ensemble Lovers.
While the band’s discography is defined by a meticulous, hermetic precision, this track—and the album at large—embraces a “pleasingly rough” topography. Recorded during a visceral one-week session at the non-profit arts space Import Export, the arrangement eschews clinical polish for a breathing, mutable energy. This shift is bolstered by a globalist ensemble of collaborators, including Enid Valu on vocals, Haruka Yoshizawa on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone, reflecting a Munich that is both local in its roots and cosmopolitan in its reach.
The choice of “How the Story Ends” functions as an ideological counterweight to the album’s other cover, Neil Young’s “Red Sun.” Where Young provides a romanticist lens, Lovers’ composition offers a kinetic, loop-driven vitality that frontman Markus Acher has championed since hearing a demo.
The band share:
“We chose ‘How the story ends’ because we really love the song and the Lovers… it has a great energy, melody and lyrics and is really fun to play and sing. When I first heard the demo-version, ‘Honea,’ on a Kill-Rockstars-compilation, I played the song in an endless loop until I could sing along all the lyrics. And also as the other cover-version on the album is by Neil Young and has a more romantic view on relationships, we thought it is good to have this song as a sort of counterpart.”
Thematically, News from Planet Zombie utilises the kitsch of B-movie horror to navigate the “geopolitical impasse” of the modern era. Yet, beneath the anxiety lies a profound stoicism. Acher draws a parallel between the creative process and the flow of Munich’s Isar River: a constant, unidirectional movement where time cannot be reclaimed. In “How the Story Ends,” The Notwist acknowledge their “fellow travelers” while asserting that even in a world resembling a bad film, the act of collective creation remains a vital, precious necessity.
Pre-Order News from Planet Zombie (March 13th): LP/CD/ DIGITAL: https://linktr.ee/notwist
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April 15, 2026 // AT, Vienna – Arena
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