Tag: Berlin Germany

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Nando the Native Shares a Tale of Heartbreak and Betrayal

Nando the Native is an emerging Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based R&B/indie pop artist, whose career started in earnest as a member of acclaimed, award-winning R&B outfit A Song For You, led by Noah Slee. And as member of A Song For You, the Nicaraguan-born artist has shared stages with the likes of JOVM mainstay Nick Hakim, Kelvyn Colt and Annahstasia while collaborating with Carhatt, Dr. Martens, and Levi’s.

The Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based artist stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist. His music as a solo artist serves as a genuine reflection of his innermost thoughts and emotions, inviting listeners into his world with raw honesty and vulnerability. Although he cites Frank Ocean, Miguel and a list of other artists as influences on his overall sound and approach, having grown up straddling two contrasting cultures have informed his vocal and musical versatility while being a testament to wholly embracing one’s own identity.

Rejecting the confines of traditional labels and genre boundaries, the Nicaraguan-born, Berlin-based artist has forged his own path, creating music that draws from his heritage and the cosmopolitan energy of Berlin’s rich creative scene.

In a relatively short period of time, Nando the Native has made a name for himself in the Berlin R&B scene through collaborations with a collection of local and international artists and producers including Jonny Wood and Axel Benamar.

Released last month, his six-song solo debut EP Nothing But A Lesson thematically touches upon the complexities of heartache, toxic relationship, love, fetishization and more. The effort sees Nando the Native pairing poignant, lived-in lyricism with velvety-smooth production while showcasing an old-school inspired vocal prowess and attention to craft. “Nothing But A Lesson is a collection of songs I wrote during a time I was still learning how to set boundaries in relationships,” the Berlin-based artist explains. “This EP is a little reminder for me not to fall into something toxic again.”

Nothing But A Lesson‘s latest single “Honest” is a vibey bit of R&B anchored around a production featuring skittering beats and a looping arpeggiated acoustic gutter sample serving as a lush, satiny bed for the Berlin-based artist’s soulful, heartbroken croon. Written from the lived-in perspective of someone who has been fetishized for being of color, the song addresses the fetishization of BIPOC folks from whites and others, who fixate on the seeming exoticness of someone’s ethnicity or skin color — and not on who they actually are as a person. And throughout the song’s narrator expresses a sense of betrayal, hurt and confusion, as well as the sense of foolishly taking part in their own fetishization.

The accompanying video as Nando the Native explains portrays the situations described in the song: The love interest in the video seems to get off on having Nando speak Spanish all the time, but for the rising artist, there’s a sense that he feels a bit like an accessory. Later, we see the same girl at a party full of BIPOC folks, flirting with another guy. Towards the ends of the night, she’s calling Nando but little does she know he knows she’s up to no good.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays The Lovelines Take a Gamble on Love

Currently split between Berlin and  Orlando, the JOVM mainstays The Lovelines — the sibling duo of Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and prodution) — have released material from their forthcoming full-length debut single-by-single.

So far, I’ve managed to write about four of the album’s singles:

  • “May Be Love,” a slow-burning torch song-like take on trip hop and neo-soul built around shimmering pedal steel and congo-led percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful vocal expressing an aching longing for love — and to be loved. 

  • “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love?” a breezy pop song built around a looped, shimmering, finger plucked acoustic guitar melody and percussive percussion paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. On one level, the song views love with a healthy cynicism — but as the band’s Todd Goings explains, “What Kind of Fool Would Want to Fall in Love is a portrait of the fool in love. Do only fools fall in love or does love make us fools?“

  • “Low Fidelity” is a decidedly jazz pop/pop jazz take on their firmly established trip hop-inspired sound that’s rooted in their penchant for incredibly catchy hooks, dusty, old-school inspired production paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning. 

  • “Darlin’,” a slow-burning torch song that’s one-part neo-soul, one-part old school pop-meets trip hop anchored around a dusty, lo-fi production featuring twinkling Rhodes, boom-bap like drumming and a supple bass line serving as a lush bed for Tessa D’s soulful and yearning crooning.

The album’s latest single “Killing Floor” is a vibey bit of psych-tinged neo soul, rooted in glistening vaguely Eastern sounding guitar, congo-driven percussion, samples of casino games blaring and bleeping serving as a lush yet strangely atmospheric bed for Tessa D’s soulful croon.

“‘Killing Floor’ is about the abstract connection between three subjects: a casino, a slaughterhouse, and life itself,” the band’s Todd Goings explains. “Every one of these places/things is a killing floor in its own sense. The idea is a ‘if the game is rigged and you’re bound to lose, you might as well gamble’ thing… gamble on love, gamble on pursuing a dream, etc.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: MERON, deathbypeanuts and an All-Star Band Team Up on Sultry “Cold As Usual”

deathbypeanuts is a mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer, who has collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed and rising artists including Kelvyn Colt, Chris James, Noah Slee, Beau Diako, JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrom, Sipprell, J. Lamotta, and a lengthy list of others. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Superspeed,” a slickly produced track featuring a simple yet eerie piano melody, trap beats and wobbling, tweeter and woofer railing low end paired with MERON‘s delivery which alternates between hip-hop swagger and aching yearning for the song’s verses. Much like Majid Jordan‘s work, deathbypeanuts’ latest single manages to mesh the sultriness of contemporary R&B with trap swagger and catchy, pop hooks.

Recently, the rising Berlin-based producer released a live version of his debut single “Cold As Usual,” his first collaboration with MERON. The live rendition features MERON backed by a talented crew of players that includes Krept Konan’s, Lady Leshurr’s and Lion Babe‘s Jay Cobain (drums); Moses Yofee Trio‘s and Peter Fox‘s Roman Klobe-Barangǎ (guitar); A Song For You’s Alyssa Grace (keys); and deathbypeanuts (bass). The live rendition is a sultry and slow-burning, neo-soul-like take built around an easygoing and understated arrangement of fluttering keys, a supple bass line, bursts of squiggly guitar and a skittering yet propulsive backbeat serving as lush bed for MERON’s silky and yearning delivery expressing confusion, longing and frustration.

“’Cold As Usual’ captures the honesty of a situation, rather than dressing it up with unnecessary sentiment or cliches,” MERON explains. “It’s about those moments when relationships get frosty, and I wanted it to resonate with anyone who’s ever felt that same emotional distance.”

Conceived by Cycles Studio, the live video features MERON and the incredibly talented live band in a minimalist back set, shot with spotlighting and silhouettes to create a dramatic, cinematic quality.

“The vision was to translate the smooth and effortless sound of deathbypeanuts into a visual world,” Cycles Studio explains. “A minimal set, creative lighting, and a gliding camera were the tools we used to bring the song and the image together into an artistic union.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, photographer and JOVM mainstay Laura Carbone‘s first two albums 2016’s Sirens and 2018’s Empty Sea were released to rapturous critical praise, with both albums drawing comparisons to PJ Harvey, Shana Falana, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and others. 

Carbone’s highly anticipated third album, The Cycle is slated for an April release. The Cycle is a concept album that explores the emotional turmoil, triumphs and transformative experiences that the album’s protagonist experiences through the course of the passing seasons of a year. Throughout the course of a calendar year, up until the album’s release, Carbone released a new single every season. Each single represents an experience or inspiration associated with that particular season and the story of the album’s protagonist. 

Last year I wrote about album single “Horses,” a slow-burning song built around lush and shimmering acoustic guitar, Carbone’s expressive and yearning delivery, paired with a supple bass line and dramatic drumming. Sonically bringing PJ Harvey’s “You Said Something” to mind, the song is set in the fullness of summer. The song’s protagonist is experiencing the heat, humidity and passion of the season — when fields become gold and heatwaves and wildfires turn them into ash. But there’s a reminder that Mother Earth will restore and reclaim burnt ground in time. 

The Cycle‘s final single “The Good” is slow-burning and breathtakingly gorgeous song featuring shimmering and reverb soaked guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line, gently padded drumming and bursts of soaring organ serving as a lush bed for Carbone’s expressive vocal. At its core, the song is rooted in the lived-in personal experience and hard-fought, harder-won wisdom of someone who has lived a full, messy and complicated life. And a result the song is profoundly empathetic and understanding examination of human behavior that seems to say “I’ve been there, too.”

Carbone explains that the track looks at our puzzling capacity for denial — not just of the truth, but of the embrace and love we owe ourselves.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: D1V4 Shares Minimalist “WINTERSPORT”

Featuring members split between Berlin and Yberg, D1V4 is a German New Wave duo — Luis (vocals) and Cosy Mo (production) — that officially formed not too long ago, and can trace its origins back to when the duo met while collaborating in film: Luis worked as a filmmaker and director and Cosy Mo as a sound designer. In an attempt to enhance their work, the duo experimented with their own beats, gradually developing a common musical language – which resulted in their debut single “WINTERSPORT.”

“WINTERSPORT” is a minimalist bit of synth pop built around skittering beats and twinkling synth arpeggios and chanted mantra-like vocals that sounds a bit like Kraftwerk and John Carpenter soundtracks with a mischievously anachronistic quality.

The accompanying video features slickly edited footage of what appears to be Olympic Ski Ballet shot during the 1984 Winter Olympics. Each of the competitors manages to move almost in time to the accompanying song’s beats.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Montréal’s Das Mörtal Shares Chilly and Uneasy “NOSHAME”

Montréal-based singer/songwriter, producer and electronic music artist Cristóbal Cortes is the creative mastermind behind the rising chillwave/goth project Das Mörtal. Cortes’ music career started in Berlin, where inspired by Steve Moore and Aphex Twin, he began to craft a dark, nostalgia-inducing sound that meshes an array of influences including German techno, horror and sci-fi soundtracks.

Cortes has released a handful of EPs and albums that have amassed over 20 million streams on Spotify. He has supported those efforts with tours as an opener for Vitalic, Pertubator, Carpenter Brut and a lengthy list of others and as a headliner with stops across the States, Scandinavia and France among others. He has also played sets across the global festival circuit, including Osheaga, Transmusicales de Rennes, FME, and Meg Festival. Adding to a growing national and international profile, the Montréal-based artist has also received airplay in over a dozen countries and several influential YouTube pages.

While still rooted in the dark, occult vibes that has won him attention both nationally and internationally, Cortes’ fourth Das Mörtal album Bury The Sorrow is a change in sonic direction for the Montréal-based artist, with the material rooted in a sound that meshes elements of trap and trip-hop. Thematically, Bury The Sorrow may arguably be Cortes’ most personal to date: The album is informed and inspired by the isolation, unease and stress of the past couple of years, starting — naturally, perhaps — with pandemic-related quarantines. As the Montréal-based artist explains in press notes, Bury The Sorrow in many ways is about how difficult it was to actually make the album — with the album’s material constantly hinting at the unstable mindset that created it.

“NOSHAME,” Bury The Sorrow‘s latest single is a chilly bit of coldwave built around dense layers of glistening synth arpeggios, a relentless motorik groove paired with skittering four-on-the-floor, a remarkably catchy hook and Cortes’ achingly yearning yet detached vocal. While sonically recalling early Depeche Mode and others, “NOSHAME” accurately captures the boredom, unease, self-loathing and anxiety of someone who’s been isolated and left with their own pride, thoughts, memories and regrets.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s light heads Share Breezy Pop Confection “Got Me LIke”

Berlin-based indie electro pop duo light heads — Erin Renfro (vocals) and Alexandre Haudiquet (guitar) — can trace their project’s origins to their meeting in Paris. Both members have backgrounds in commercial music production, but they see light heads as a way to eschew hard and fast rules and strictures of songwriting and production — and as a way for the duo to embrace nostalgia, follow their instincts and tap into pure serotonin-driven pop.

Back in 2020, they relocated to Berlin, where they began writing and recording their debut single “Yellow House,” which saw the duo quickly establishing a sound that draws from a wide-ranging array of influences including psychedelia, funk and dance music in a technicolor indie pop package.

Released earlier this year, “Got Me Like,” is a breezy pop confection built around shimmering synth oscillations, a supple bass line, squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar and Erin Renfro’s ethereal delivery paired with an incredibly catchy hook. Sonically, “Got Me Like” brings a slick synthesis of Stevie Nicks‘ “Stand Back,” ACES and others while being a contented sigh that can only come from stumbling into love.

The duo explain that the song was created on a hot summer day last year: Haudiquet was jamming away while Renfro was dancing on the bed and singing the first words that came out of her mind “You got me like ooh ooh . .” For the duo, the single was an adventure into letting a song exist as it arrived to them, rather than picking it apart and cover complicating things as classically trained musicians tend to do. “I started off with lyrics that were simply fun and it evolved into the story of a summer fling turned into lifelong love,” light heads’ Erin Renfro says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s Max Blücher Shares a Sleek and Cinematic Banger

Hanover-born, Berlin-based electronic music producer and artist Max Blücher has quickly developed a reputation within the global electronic music scene for using his deep understanding of melodic techno and progressive house to boldly push the boundaries of electric music while simultaneously attempting to create music that’s innovative and emotionally resonate.

“Witching Hour,” the German electronic music producer and artist’s latest single pairs Giorgio Moroder-like synth arpeggios, skittering hi hat, and a Kraftwerk-like motorik pulse with organic instrumentation to craft a song that’s both cinematic and dance floor friendly.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Gotts Street Park Teams Up With Pip Millett on Yearning and Soulful “Got To Be Good”

With the release of a handful of singles the rising British neo-soul and hip-hop outfit Gotts Street Park— Josh Crocker (bass, production), Tom Henry (keys) and Joe Harris (guitar) — quickly amassed fans and acclaim while working with Rejje Snow, Kali Uchis, Cosima, Yellow Days, Chester Watson, Celeste, Rosie Lowe, and a growing list of others. 

2021’s Diego EP, which featured a collection of compositions informed by the raw energy of being together and creating in the same room, served as a further introduction to the rising British trio. 

Building upon a growing reputation both nationally and internationally, the British neo-soul outfit released ““Lost & Found,” a slow-burning and vibey bit of neo-soul featuring Charlotte Dos Santos’ self-assured and soulful vocal delivery, shimmering and reverb-drenched Rhodes and synths paired with a two-step inducing groove. 

The single, which was recorded between Leeds and New York, where Dos Santos was based at the time, can trace its origins back to when the Norwegian-born and currently Berlin-based singer/songwriter and the rising British outfit worked together on last year’s Morfo.

“’Lost & Found’ is a song about falling in love and not being able to forget about a person. It’s about being in all shades of love,” Dos Santos explains in press notes. 

“​​The instrumental track was from a batch of jams that were recorded during lockdown,” Gotts Street Park’s Josh Crocker explains. “Charlotte heard the instrumental whilst some of us were working with her on her record last year, we’d been looking for a way to collaborate and this one jumped out as being really well-suited to her.”

Gotts Street Park previously collaborated with Rosie Lowe on “Everything.” Last year’s “Summer Breeze” continued their ongoing collaboration with Lowe. Built around a slow-burning and vibey Quiet Storm-like groove paired with Lowe’s ethereal yet deeply expressive delivery, “Summer Breeze” is rooted in a simple yet powerful mantra: that its narrator – and in turn, the listener — deserves the best and should never settle for anyone or anything that makes them feel less than amazing. 

“‘Summer Breeze’ is an ode to anyone stuck in a toxic relationship. I wrote the chorus as a mantra, a reminder not to settle for anything less than someone who makes you feel amazing,” Lowe explains.  

“The instrumental for ‘Summer Breeze’ is basically us hanging out in the studio and jamming – you can hear us chatting and laughing in the background,” the rising soul outfit adds. “Sometimes you can lose the essence of a song when you decide to tidy it up and re-record it, so we just kept it for what it is. Collaborating with Rosie is an absolute no brainer for us, she’s super talented and creative and there was instant chemistry on this tune.”

The British outfit’s highly-anticipated full-length debut On The Inside is slated for an October 13, 2023 release through Blue Flowers. And along with the album announcement, the trio share the album’s latest single “Got To Be Good” an effortless vintage soul strut, built around skittering boom bap-like drumming, glistening Rhodes, bursts of funk guitar, and a sinuous and supple bass line paired with Pip Millett‘s yearning delivery.

“’Got To Be Good’, came together pretty fast. Whenever we’ve been in the room with Pip, it’s pretty free and fruitful,” the members of Gotts Street Park explain. “When a song comes together like this, we don’t overthink it or alter the final take too much and just hope to have the same energy come through to the listener as we felt in the room creating it.” 

“’Got To Be Good’ is about pulling yourself out of the darkness,” Pip Millett adds. “You have to really want for a change in order to pull away from that sadness, and that’s what I was writing about.”

Directed by Harry Pearson, the accompanying video depicts the feelings of isolation and unwanted solitude expressed within the song through the protagonist’s lonely journey through a nightclub — one in which Gotts Street Park is playing. We see everyone else frozen, yet having a good time, while the protagonist walks around with her misery and despair, while trying to pull herself into the fun everyone else is having.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Berlin’s Wind Mile Shares Dreamy and Atmospheric “Alone”

WIND MILE is a Berlin-based emerging and mysterious singer/songwriter, musician and photographer, also known as Antonin Côme. Music allows the emerging Berlin-based artist to shut down the scientific/logical mind and follow his instincts.

Côme debut EP was written during a rather liminal period of his life: between Germany and France, and between his time as a student and adulthood. The EP’s material is rooted in the ambition to craft a coherent batch of songs that the listener can dive into repeatedly — built around guitar arpeggios, glistening synths and propulsive bass lines paired with dreamily delivered vocals.

The EP’s latest single, the dreamy”Alone” is built around glistening guitar arpeggios, twinkling synths, the Berlin-based artist’s dreamy and plaintive delivery and enormous hooks. While sounding indebted to 80s pop, “Alone” is rooted in a lived-in earnestness — and is inspired by personal experience: The one was written between two different conversations with his six new roommates, who were — thankfully for him — becoming his friends. And as a result, the song is an ode to socializing and meeting new friends while reflecting his own need to be surrounded by people.

The accompanying video is comprised of footage of Côme hanging out with friends at various locales in Berlin, playing a house show and pensively hanging out on rooftops. The end result is an intimate visual portrait of a young, emerging artist.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rozarc Shares Cinematic Banger “For the Sake of a Long Night”

Over the past week or so I’ve managed to write a bit about Sinan Özgur Koç a Berlin-based, Turkish electronic music producer and artist, drummer and sound engineer, best known as Rozarc. Koç has grown up with a diverse array of music influencing his own work ranging from Bjork, Amon Tobin, and Nine Inch Nails to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kyuss among others. But as an electronic music producer and artist, his work is influenced by techno, tech-house. industrial, synth wave, downtempo, glitch and IDM while paired with sound design ideas moulded with narrative and cinematic structures. 

The Berlin-based producer and artist first emerged into the electronic music scene with his debut EP, 2019’s five-song  Odds Are Tough, which saw him quickly establishing a forward-thinking, genre and style-defying sound and approach to his productions while being remarkably harmonious. Koç’s full-length debut, last year’s 12-song Flamacue was released to quite a bit of attention with the album being showcased in FAZEmag, The Groove Cartel, The Further, Zero Music Magazine, R+, Roadie Music, Zone Nights, Electronica.org.uk, and a list of others. 

I’ve written about two tracks off Flamacue:

  • “Sand Grains,” a track built around layers of fluttering and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and skittering beats that seemed like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” — but with a club friendly accessibility.

  • “S.S.7,” a track that begins with a brooding introduction featuring twinkling piano that’s gradually paired with propulsive thump. Eventually, the piano is replaced with gentle layers of glistening and bubbling synths. The end result is a trippy mix of downtempo, cinematic piano and minimalist techno that nods a bit at some of the atmospheric, classically-inspired moments of Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express and others.

The expansive “For the Sake of a Long Night” is built around glistening synth arpeggios, twitter and woofer rattling thump within a shapeshifting song structure. The single manages to continue a remarkable run of cinematic, yet club friendly house — but while being arguably the most sensual and soulful single off the entire album.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s Rozarc Shares Shimmering and Minimalist “S.S.7”

Sinan Özgur Koç is a Berlin-based, Turkish electronic music producer and artist, drummer and sound engineer, best known as Rozarc. Koç has grown up with a diverse array of music influencing his own work ranging from Bjork, Amon Tobin, and Nine Inch Nails to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kyuss among others. But as an electronic music producer and artist, his work is influenced by techno, tech-house. industrial, synth wave, downtempo, glitch and IDM while paired with sound design ideas moulded with narrative and cinematic structures. 

The Berlin-based producer and artist first emerged into the electronic music scene with his debut EP, 2019’s five-song  Odds Are Tough, which saw him quickly establishing a forward-thinking, genre and style-defying sound and approach to his productions while being remarkably harmonious. Koç’s full-length debut, last year’s 12-song Flamacue was released to quite a bit of attention with the album being showcased in FAZEmag, The Groove Cartel, The Further, Zero Music Magazine, R+, Roadie Music, Zone Nights, Electronica.org.uk, and a list of others. 

Last week, I wrote about “Sand Grains,” a track built around layers of fluttering and shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and skittering beats that seemed like a slick synthesis of John Carpenter soundtracks, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and Snap!‘s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” — but with a club friendly accessibility.

Album track “S.S.7” begins with a brooding introduction featuring twinkling piano that’s gradually paired with propulsive thump. Eventually, the piano is replaced with gentle layers of glistening and bubbling synths. The end result is a trippy mix of downtempo, cinematic piano and minimalist techno that nods a bit at some of the atmospheric, classically-inspired moments of Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express and others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s KAYAM Shares Dreamy “Omens”

Berlin-based sibling duo KAYAM — Kim (vocals, Celtic Harp) and Mike Rauss (vocals, guitar, loops) — have had a multicultural upbringing with stints residing in England, Germany and Israel, and understandably those experiences have influenced the duo’s eclectic and continually expanding sound and approach, which they’ve dubbed “Falafel Pop,” a playful and affectionate reference to the fusion of styles that defines their work — and a reference to their love of chickpeas.

The sibling duo’s sophomore album Omens was released earlier this year, and it features album title track “Omens,” a gorgeous and dreamy bit of folk built around looping and lush finger plucked guitar, twinkling harp and the sibling’s breathtakingly beautiful harmonies. Sonically, “Omens” reminds me quite a bit of Loving‘s gorgeous If I Am Only My Thoughts.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Berlin-based duo Waking Dreams — Angela Chambers and Jason Letkiewicz — emerged from a three year hiatus, in which the members pursued solo projects, with the recently released album Sliding Lines. The new album’s material features a wide stylistic array with songs ranging from pop rock and ballads while seemingly influenced by Teenage Fanclub, Blondie, Annie Lennox, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Catherine Wheel. And they do so while retaining the elements of their sound that has won them attention — Letkiewicz’s ever-shifting soundscapes paired with Chambers expressive vocal.

Sliding Lines‘ latest single, the brooding “Not So” is built around a relentless post-punk thump, Letkiewicz’s spectral and wiry bursts of guitar paired with Chambers’ supple yet ethereal delivery before building up to a brewing storm across the horizon. “Not So” manages to recall the brooding and creepy eeriness of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Garlands-era Cocteau Twins.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded in 2021, the Berlin-based indie electronica duo Bromsen — Richard and Carlo Bromine — have developed and honed a sound that is built around their love of catchy melodies and elements of synthwave and guitar rock. The German duo’s first two singles “Merryman” and “The Photograph” were released to critical praise from the indie press. They also received airplay from indie radio stations in North America, the UK, France, Brazil and elsewhere.

The duo’s third and latest single “We” is an upbeat anthem. Built around glistening synth arpeggios, scorching guitar riffs, tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with swaggering, arena rock bombast, enormous hooks and earnest, lived-in lyrics and vocals, “We” is the sort of song that deserves the raise your beer in the air, while hugging your best friend and shouting along lustily to the song’s chorus treatment.

The German duo explain that the song celebrates the unshakeable power of friendship. Richard and Karlo have been friends for 20 years, and they are convinced that their deep bond has helped carry them through both high and low points in their lives. “Such a deep and long-standing friendship can carry you through a period of weakness and often you emerge even stronger afterwards feeling free like a bird again who wants to fly higher and higher as described in the song…,” Karlo Bromsen explains.