Best-of album

Thees Uhlmann: “Appreciation of normal conditions”

German musician and singer-songwriter Thees Uhlmann can look back on a moving career.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Grand Hotel Van Cleef, Ingo Pertramer)

On "Sincerely, Thees Uhlmann", the 50-year-old North German music poet once again congruently summarizes his exciting career with Tomte and then solo. Fans and interested parties can immerse themselves in a colorful panopticon of sound from a unique storyteller.

There are people who need a good melody to like a song. And there are people who need the lyrics and a story to pick them up. The latter should listen to Thees Uhlmann - and his best-of album "Sincerely, Thees Uhlmann". The 50-year-old music poet, who sometimes gets good lines into people's heads and hearts with a fine feel for language, sometimes wonderfully bold and sometimes by bending and breaking, looks back on a 30-year music career.

Music as a dream world
It is a strict but fine selection for loyal fans - and also a great opportunity for all those who are not yet familiar with the indie rock artist, who first sang his way into many hearts with his band Tomte (1994-2010) and then solo. When asked about this, Uhlmann says: "I think people can become new fans of mine if they want music that doesn't give them shit," says the musician in an interview with dpa. "It's totally fine for music to tell a dream world, but life isn't easy. There probably won't be any snogging next Saturday and the boss won't say, here's an extra 400 euros because you've worked so hard."

This life is hard, it's wild, exhausting and annoying - "and that's why life is often trivial. That's exactly what I sing about, so that normal people and normal conditions get an appreciation," says Uhlmann. And he does this better than most, with simple, clear words. Want an example? "Life is not a highway, it's the B73".

Diverse choice of themes
The selection, which spans three decades, is rich in themes: Uhlmann sings about growing up and getting along ("The salmon go up the river to spawn and die"), about creative crises ("Five years of not singing"), about break-ups ("No matter what I do, I've always thought of you") and the fears of break-ups ("What will happen to Hanover when the Scorpions are no more?"). He deals with horror author Stephen King ("Thanks for the fear") and he makes it clear: "Nothing is as beautiful as listening to sad songs while drunk".

He can't name the one title that would best represent Uhlmann in the interview - and tells us how much the opinions of the singer and his manager alone differed when they were jointly selecting the best songs for this album. "Once I said: 'This is the best thing I wrote until I turned 40. And he was like: 'I listened to that song half a time and then kept skipping it because I was so bored with it'," says the singer about the weeks-long selection process. "We were like children playing Panzer Quartet - I thought that was great."

Music for all stages of life
The result is a compilation of 29 songs, which is also a chance for Uhlmann's fans to rediscover some familiar pieces for themselves. Because anyone who sings about life also offers songs that only appeal to listeners in certain phases of life. For example, "17 Worte" about too much everyday life and a heart that cannot be conquered at the moment because "I have a child to bring up, a letter to write to you and a soccer team to support".

Uhlmann inevitably had to revisit his old works - and rediscovering them was not easy in some cases. "I can't create myself," he says of his older songs. "I used to put so much energy into this music and I wanted so much to become what I am now." A huge challenge. "And that was also embarrassing and hard." But then, when he recently got to grips with the old songs for a concert series in Hamburg in early 2025 and played them slightly altered, another feeling came along: "I found a whole new cuteness for what I used to do." At the same time, it was "very nice" for him to realize how much he had changed over time.

Knowing where you stand
Perhaps Uhlmann is being a little too hard on himself. After all, the oldest song on the album - the loud, punky "In Köln und dann in meinem Zimmer" (In Cologne and then in my room) from 1994 - contains a true-to-life statement from the band Tomte, for which their ex-singer is loved by his listeners today: "You think you're just behind New York, but Hemmoor (small town in Lower Saxony and Uhlmann's birthplace, note) is cooler than you. At least you know where you stand."