Kölsch releases ‘1989’ the final chapter of his album trilogy on Kompakt and is heading to Australia [Interview]

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Kölsch releases ‘1989’ the final chapter of his album trilogy on Kompakt and is heading to Australia [Interview]

Kölsch returns to Kompakt with the third and final chapter in his autobiographical album trilogy, featuring contributions from Gregor Schwellenbach with the Heritage Orchestra and Norwegian vocalist Aurora. With new full-length 1989, Kölsch presents the final chapter of an elegant, anthemic album trilogy that started with an exploration of early childhood memories and influences on “1977” – the year of his birth – and continued on “1983,” a vibrant and picturesque journey sound-tracking the year he travelled through Europe aged six.

The 24-person Heritage Orchestra consists of violins, violas, cellos and double basses, adding the sweeping drama and organic, richly layered textures that only real strings can produce – a deeply humane tone that is set with the album’s opening recording of the orchestra tuning its instruments (which incidentally also incorporates a voice recording from 1989 of Rune Reilly’s grandfather Ludwig). Seeing Kölsch’s propensity for vocalist cameos on his albums (Trœls Abrahamsen on “1977,” Tomas Høffding and Waa Industry on “1983”), one shouldn’t be surprised to find beautiful cut IN BOTTLES, which features vocals written and performed by Aurora Aksnes.

We thought it relevant to sit down with Kölsch to discuss and celebrate his album release, but also in light of his debut new live show in Australia on December  8th in Melbourne, followed by Sydney on the 9th. This is how it went…

SR: 1989 is incredible! We’d love to more about the process behind making it? 

K: Its been 3 Years in the making. From first ideas to end result its a long process of trial and error. Usually I start with a short demo. I’m constantly on the road, so this happens on planes, trains and automobiles. The idea is to get the emotional message down as fast as possible. In that way it feels “pure.” After that I’ll take it to the studio and make a crude arrangement. For some months I’ll test the demo out in my dj set. A lot of the tracks I play are unreleased demos, so its a perfect place to test my own music. After that I send parts of for re-recording with musicians. In this case, a lot of the parts where re-recorded to add that human touch to the record. I ended up discarding around 20 demos before ending up with the final 13 tracks. Kill your darlings.

SR: How was it collaborating with Aurora and The Heritage Orchestra on the album? What do you feel their involvement brings?

K: As mentioned above, the human touch is very important for me in music. I love those minute variations, and I believe they make the music alive. Therefor I decided to involve a symphony orchestra, and who better to get involved than the Heritage gang. They know exactly what they are doing. The combination of them and Gregor Schwellenbach, really brought out a whole new side of my music. It has been a very humbling experience. Auroras collab, was long in the making. Ive been in love with her voice for a long time, and i really wanted her on the album. Thankfully we could make it happen

SR:  Can you explain what this grey area meant for you, and how you’ve grown since?

K: The late 80s was a tuff time for me. Dealing with my parents divorce and trying to find my place in the world was not easy. I always escaped on my skateboard with my walkman, so music became a soundtrack to this greyness. It has always been there, even though my mind, the weather and the concrete was grey.

SR: What advice you would give your younger self?

K: Don’t take everything so seriously.

SR: After the trilogy, what comes next?

K: First of all im going to enjoy the fact that it is finally done. Since I started the series, my life has changed a lot, and I need time to digest all these amazing moments I’ve lived. After that I’ll start thinking of what to do next.

SR: Performing on the Eiffel tower is an incredible life achievement! How did preparing for that set differ from a usual DJ set and how was the experience? 

K: I decided it was to be an Ode to the most beautiful city in the world. Paris has been through so much over the last couple of years. The terrorist attacks, have hurt the city, yet the the Parisians are so resilient. Some of my shows in Paris have been very closely after attacks, yet everyone came out to have a good time. It felt like it was their way of giving the middle finger to terrorism. I love that energy and I wanted to salute it. Also i always wanted to play Acid Eiffel by Laurent Garner on the Eiffel Tower.

SR: We’re excited to see your live shows in Australia. What have you got planned and how will these differ from a regular DJ gig? Can you tell us a little bit about your set up?

K: The live show consists of only my music, paired with a killer visual side. I’ve spent the last couple of years in Conjunction with Showsynch and Ableton developing and testing a new software. It enables the synchronization of the lights with different elements of the music. Long story short, the visuals with stay in synch, even though I improvise my set. I’ts the perfect way to bring my artistic vision to the people. It is a much more immersive experience.

SR: Anything you’d like to say to your Australian fans?

K: See ya Soon

To order 1989 visit: https://kompaktrecords.lnk.to/1989.

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