Provocation as a poetic form of expression? It doesn’t just sound like an artistic gamble – it is one. However, Marlo Grosshardt manages to pull it off with a deeply relaxed coolness that is nothing short of impressive. For a few years now, the 23-year-old from Hamburg has been conjuring up songs with a culturally critical combativeness that is all too rarely displayed these days. His voice is reminiscent of the great German singer–songwriters of the 70s and 80s, such as Achim Reichel, Hannes Wader, and Witthüser & Westrupp. But then, there is also this youthful freshness in the lyrics and instrumentation that fully characterises his EP, “schön, provokant” (2022), and his wonderfully biting debut album, “Ein letztes Liebeslied” (2023). Grosshardt knows how to sound both laid back and confrontational at the same time, which lends an uncommon aplomb to songs such as “Tanz für mich” and “Christian Lindner”, the latter of which is the long-overdue swan song to the perversities of neoliberalism. Critical contemporary poetry in a curly-haired, scratchy pop design – and it’s exactly what Germany has sorely needed for so long.