Maybebop shines in this collection of German folk songs revived for a modern audience. The source material is rich in lyric and melody. The arrangements run the gamut from Oktoberfest to Scandimetal to '80s soft rock, complete with vintage key changes. All of it sounds good and some of it sounds terrific.

Vom Schlaraffenland is my favorite, smooth and catchy with a very hummable hook. I also enjoy the choral interludes, from the formal setup to O Täler weit to the familiar strains of Nehmt Abschied, Brüder, a German translation of Robert Burns's Auld Lang Syne. As a composition, I quite enjoy Nur eine kleine Geige, with its 10/8 fiddle tune. As a performance, it suffers from too much twang and what I take to be deliberately poor tuning. Anyway, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. Ditto for Bolle reiste jüngst zu Pfingsten, a jolly drinking song that tells the adventures of hapless Bolle and his various violent misfortunes.

My personal tastes run to the folksier numbers, like Mauskätzchen and Mädel ruck ruck ruck rather than the rockified tunes with vocal percussion. That said, the ones that got the contemporary listening treatment will probably blend better into a general playlist and sit easily in any kind of live set. For Maybebop, which seems to have a broader mission of circulating these tunes as well as making a new record, this kind of diversification makes sense.

"Wanderer looks into the distance, looks at the stars in kind eyes," goes An der Saale hellem Strande, my favorite of the pop ballad numbers. This music is worth listening to enough to hear what is below the surface, as well as the history that brought these songs alive, buried them in cobwebs, and brings them out to shine again.

Stand back! Maybebop is here to save the forgotten German folk songs! Appropriated by the Nazis in the 1930s and '40s and then shunned or ignored for decades as the country regained its moral footing, the folk music that Maybebop interprets on Die Gedanken sind frei has to be reintroduced as much as reinvented. But who better to do both than Germany's preeminent a cappella group, Maybebop!

Interpretation tends to follow two paths. One is respectful, obeying all the original's commandments and sharing its values. The other involves the substitution of a different aesthetic in place of the original. What Maybebop does here is quite unusual in that it both embraces the century-old feeling of the source material while also relentlessly supplanting it with modern textures and harmonies. It shouldn't work. It should feel like a half measure that fails for failing to commit. But in Maybebop's talented hands, it works brilliantly. Both the praise and destruction feel genuine and refreshing. Rare is the group that can deliver industrial rock and carolling, contemporary jazz and pop and chanty — all phrased with life-giving dynamics and riveting timbral choices.

Maybebop is sure to appeal to aca-purists as well as more contemporary ears. And their musicality is so universal and so evident that English monoglots have nearly as much to enjoy as those who actually understand the classic German lyrics underlying these seventeen tracks. Yes, Google will cough up a fair amount of awkward translations. But it won't matter. This beautiful music speaks for itself. And you'll still get the gist.

More than the excellent production and mixing — and both are absolute perfection — Maybebop propels every track forward with brilliant arranging and a dynamic sense of phrasing. Maybebop uses the modern studio and its far-reaching abilities to alter nearly every aspect of the human voice. But where so many others produce the most robotic of final products, Maybebop makes it sound like the group just happened to sing perfectly, delivering effortless intimacy, epic grandiosity, and everything in between.

After more than 20 years and 25 projects, Maybebop is still at the top of its game. Die Gedanken sind frei is the proof.

If you told me I'd be reviewing a 17-song German folk song album, I certainly would not have envisioned the massive amount of stylistic and genre-bending range packed into Die Gedanken sind frei. But that's Maybebop for you: innovation, personality, and musical genius seamlessly combined. In tackling a folk song project, Maybebop reminds us of the sheer beauty of language through varied expressivity.

Chiefly at the forefront of Maybebop's multitudinous successes on this album is the delivery of text. Folk songs, with their melodic simplicity, live and die by the expression and clarity of lyrics. While lyrics are often smashed into a predetermined melody in popular music and translations of classical pieces are often clunky due to poor text setting, this album serves as a contrasting breath of fresh air. Maybebop's sensitivity to musicality through wordplay is on full display in nearly every track; one might even say each stanza is handled with specificity and care. The group gives so much attention to syllabic stress, intentional phrasing, dynamic contrast, varied interpretation to repeated text, and timbre choices based on conveyed emotion. Quite simply, there are vocal storytelling devices galore, and so much to marvel over.

The stylistic range between tracks is also staggering. For an example, look no further than O Täler weit, which is almost a BOGO special in and of itself: a straight-up delivery in a traditionally elevated style followed directly by a syncopated, funky rendition of the same tune. Such a theme-and-variation device is also, to the listener's delight, not overused. "Stagnant" would be one of the last words to describe this album, as a neo-madrigal (Es führt über den Main) might unfold into a faux-drinking song telling a cautionary tale in a humorous style so emblematic of Maybebop (Bolle reiste jüngst zu Pfingsten).

Additionally, each track has a different feature to appreciate. Numerous times, I was struck by the richness of background bass; in others, a countertenor solo voice piqued my interest. Sometimes the main focus is the sheer fun in delivery, and sometimes, the arrangement thrills with a texture that constantly shifts. Other times, the awe-striking element is the genre itself, such as the surprising grunge of Mädel ruck ruck ruck. Lyrical expressivity is served in every track by different means, which keeps the journey fresh and interesting at every turn.

Musically diverse and vocally excellent, Die Gedanken sind frei is a stunning album, and unsurprisingly so, given Maybebop's stellar discography. That said, if you enjoy music, there is undoubtedly something for you to enjoy here.