Peter Heppner is on his own now, following a lawsuit from his former band-mate Markus Reinhardt and their subsequent separation, but the man with the enigmatic voice is doing just fine post-Wolfsheim. His latest album called Solo was released about two months ago on September 12th, with the single “Alleinesein” being released a week earlier.

There was some initial concern about Heppner’s music composition skills because that was Reinhardt’s job in Wolfsheim, but once you start listening to Solo, you quickly realize that any worries are unfounded. Solo delivers that familiar dark synthpop sound that you loved about Wolfsheim, and it is just as exquisitely executed as you would have expected from Heppner’s former band as well. It’s nearly impossible to tell that Solo really isn’t just a continuation of Wolfsheim, as if they had never split. It’s an excellent album from beginning to end.

Listen to Peter Heppner’s “Alleinesein” right here and be the judge for yourself.

What do you think? Not bad, eh? If you like what you hear, you can buy the “Alleinesein” single or the whole Solo album on Amazon.de. That link for Solo is actually for the limited edition digipack that has a bonus “making of” DVD included, by the way. It’s a pretty good deal at 14.40 Euros. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the song samples on Amazon, too.

Peter Heppner - Solo album track listing
01. Easy
02. Alleinesein
03. Suddenly
04. Vorbei
05. Being Me
06. I Hate You
07. No Matter What It Takes
08. Walter [London or Manchester]
09. Wherever
10. Das geht vorbei…
11. Vorbei (feat. Moonrise)

Bonus DVD
Making of Solo

You may have noticed that it has been nearly five years since Wolfsheim’s most recent album, Casting Shadows, released in 2003. During that time, Wolfsheim’s founder Markus Reinhardt has been trying to move the band ahead with new work, but the band’s singer Peter Heppner has since announced his ambitions for an extensive solo career. In late 2005, he signed a multi-album contract with Warner Music for his own music. Upon hearing this, Markus considered it a breach of contract and a disregard for the basic interests of Wolfsheim because Peter’s new plans did not allow the production of a new Wolfsheim album until 2010. He filed a lawsuit against Peter at the Regional Court of Hamburg to have him excluded from the Wolfsheim partnership so that the band could continue without him. The court tried to negotiate a more peaceful arrangement, but it was just not possible. Their final decision for the lawsuit will be announced sometime this Spring.

It is always very unfortunate when such talented musicians who worked so well together in the past suddenly cannot resolve their differences without a court battle. Every musician’s career develops and changes over time, and all good things must come to an end eventually. Sometimes, you just have to quit what you’re doing and move on to a different project, but Peter Heppner seems not to understand this. His desire to stay with Wolfsheim during all of this was just unreasonable, he cannot expect his bandmate Markus to wait several more years before he makes some time for Wolfsheim again. Peter should have just accepted that his time with Wolfsheim was over and left peacefully when he signed such a major deal for his solo work. Markus may not have been happy about it, but at least Peter would have been more polite and considerate of someone he has worked closely with for so many years. That’s the way I see it.

There is a full press release (PDF file) that was released yesterday on Wolfsheim’s website that explains the entire situation in detail. I’ll keep you updated about the final court decision and the future of both bands in the coming months.