B-Side Guys

The Notwist found “How the Story Ends” on an old Kill Rock Stars compilation—a stripped-down Athens, Georgia folk-pop gem by Lovers that the Munich veterans decided needed jangly, clacking percussion and the full live band treatment. It’s one of two covers on News from Planet Zombie (out March 13th via Morr Music), alongside Neil Young’s “Red Sun,” and both slot into the album’s narrative like old friends. The band recorded everything in one week at Import Export, a non-profit arts space, with their expanded seven-piece lineup playing live in the studio. You can hear it: rough edges, collective energy, songs that breathe and mutate instead of achieving sterile perfection.

What Does “How the Story Ends” Mean?

Markus Acher frames News from Planet Zombie around horror-movie imagery—specifically B-movie zombies as a metaphor for our “crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.” But “How the Story Ends” isn’t about apocalypse; it’s about interpretation and generosity. The Notwist aren’t covering Lovers to show off their arrangement skills—they’re acknowledging fellow travelers, transforming quiet folk into something that sounds unmistakably Notwist without erasing the original’s DNA. That tension between preservation and transformation mirrors Acher’s thoughts on Munich’s river, which he visits regularly: “Always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back.”

The production captures that philosophy. Import Export’s non-profit space gives the recording room to be imperfect, and the seven-piece formation—Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, Andi Haberl, plus guests on taishōgoto, clarinet, and trombone—creates texture without overcrowding. It’s their first studio album since 1995’s 12, where they recorded together live, and that decision gives “How the Story Ends” urgency that programmed perfection couldn’t manufacture. We’ve added this one to the B-Side’s Best Playlist because sometimes the best response to chaos is covering a 20-year-old folk song and making it sound like hope.

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