unhappybirthday
Hamburg’s unhappybirthday; photographed by Hannah Lora Freeman.
Over three years back you may remember our feature covering lo-fi pop experimenters unhappybirhday’s album Sirup, and today we premiere the Hamburg based trio’s title track “Schauer” from the forthcoming album of the same name available January 25 from Night-People Records. Daniel, Tobi, & André continue to build upon their own sincere-styled neue deutsche welle pop that relishes in succinct sound crafts like the punky-moxie of “Artie”, with syrupy synths as heard in further warped passages on the ballad “Keanu”, to the economically precise “Juma” that could have been ripped from the Captured catalog, to the Tawanese day tripping odyssey to country’s capital of Taipei on the sun soaked “Taipeh”. The sad boy bedroom sound from unhappybirthday only continues to create music for everyone out there whose idea of a great birthday party is spent confined to the locked door security of one’s room.
“Schauer” kicks off on a mechanical drum beat axis that invites the new romantic like riffs and bass rhythms to roll forth on the tape. The retreats and hibernation that winter requires are present here where the surface of the tape stirs up a snow globe’s blizzard of elements that are heard like gilded emotionally imbued confetti and chrome-cast glitter. Here unhappybirthday allows all the emotions to sort of rise to a simmer as synths later join on the “Schauer” affair as the guitar tempos are increased as the song draws to somber (yet sweet) close. We caught up with the unhappybirthday birthday trio in the following interview round.
Describe for us the nearly four year journey and jump from your first album Sirup on Crash Symbols to the making of your new album Schauer for Night-People Records.
After the release of Sirup in fall 2012, we played a lot of shows, released an EP and in spring 2013 we started recording the new record. Moving to Hamburg slowed things down a bit. We came here to get some new impressions for our music, but it certainly was difficult for us to gain a foothold.
Eventually we discovered an early demo of the album title cut “Schauer” on an old tape. We had forgotten about the song, but when we heard it again, we suddenly realized how the album had to sound.
Sitting on the dock of a Bay in Deutschland with unhappybirthday; photographed by Hannah Lora Freeman.
How have these past nearly four years changed, strengthened, or altered the focus of your visions?
Sirup emerged very spontaneously, we didn’t have a clear vision. The sound developed itself quite intuitively, track by track. When we started recording Schauer, we felt we wanted to continue working with that lo-fi aesthetic, but we wanted to use it more nuanced and subtle.
As well as the sound, our attitude changed quite a bit over the last four years. The levity had given way to some kind of apathy and exhaustion. This feeling also contributed to our songs. Instead of anger and optimistic drift, we felt more refusal and stagnation.
Tell us more too about the new lo-fi economies and precision in sounds that you all have been fine tuning as heard on Schauer.
Perfect hi-fi productions seem mostly boring to us, so it was clear that the new album had to be recorded on tape again. Indeed we wanted to use our tape-recorder as an instrument itself this time and work with the narrow limitations of the cassette tape. We wanted to utilize the unpredictability of this recording method.
Water gazing with unhappybirthday; photographed by Hannah Lora Freeman.
What else is happening in Hamburg right now that is of interest?
We barely go out. That’s why we can hardly tell anything about certain movements in Hamburg. Daniel is DJ-ing from time to time and enjoying some experimental shows, Tobi is standing on the Reeperbahn at night and André buries himself in the local doom and drone scene.
What else has been inspiring unhappybirthday right now in terms of music, books, film, art, exhibitions, tours, etc?
When it comes to the music, we feel more inspired by certain details and atmospheric pictures rather than by specific songs, records or movies. The lyrics of the new album have been heavily inspired by the book A Man Asleep by Georges Perec; an exhaustive exploration of the terrains of both melancholy and indifference.
Prayers, thoughts, and wishes for 2016?
We’d love to play some shows, to hole up and record some new tunes and no dancing on the volcano please.
unhappybirthday’s new album Schauer is available now from Night-People Records.
