SOPHIE HUNGER

“Halluzinationen” are what we see, hear, taste or feel which does not exist outside our minds. It’s an essential tool for creating music. It is an ambivalent power. On the one hand it creates a parallel world in which we can live and exist under conditions we desire but at the same time it can lead into isolation because it is not a collective experience.

It’s a kind of deep friendship that expresses itself through music

After having written the songs, we decided to record the album live as one continuous take, in opposition to the way we did the last album “Molecules” where we spent a lot of time processing sounds and really building the album as if it were architecture. This time we wanted it to be one breath, everyone playing at once, no overdubs, one movement.

As any singersongerwriter of the 21st century I am most influenced by british/american music culture. So that impregnation is hard to get rid of, also I grew up in London as a small child so English never felt extraterrestrial. But still I insist on using my other languages, it has alwyas shaped my identity and is an expression of being European that I wouldn’t want to neglect, I’d rather celebrate it as much as I can.

We all know that the world is more divers and complex and multi-dimensional. Especially as a European we understand this notion, it’s what defines us. The more signs we have at hand to express our complex, ambivalent selves, the easier it is to breath and feel confident and live a life on a higher level than merely to function.

I think my understanding of what quality means has changed, my judgment. I used to think putting tons of reverb on everything was amazing and sounded spooky and mysterious. But other than that I don’t think we develop in a linear way. I’m sure at times I had much more to give than at others. This comes and goes, I don’t like to think of this occupation as an infinite competition. I think music should be a rebellion against logic, it should defend chaos and failure as much as it should also impress at times.

Since a couple of years I work with a graphic designer called Jerome Witz. Usually, I just send him the music and then I let him do whatever comes to his mind. His artwork is more like an artistic reaction to the music rather than an illustration of what I think. Thank God.

I spent the quarantine quite withdrawn. Working, however, much like before, writing songs, playing around on the instruments. Musicians are maybe naturally resilient, used to change, to uncertainty, we are used to living off empathy and hallucinations! I worry more about the women in our societies, who carry the essential burden of these crises, in child- and healthcare and still don’t have equal structural power. All the economic programs should now be a reflection of this acknowledgment, but I worry they will be the contrary and halt the feminist movement or even set it back.

I’m going to film the whole album played in a trio setup next week, this will come out for the release, together with some b-side material. Much looking forward to that!