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We've got a total crush while listening the dark & bewitching compositions of the female duo from Berlin of MONOWELT.
This new formation composed by Daria Leere & Marta Raya have everything to become a black star in the ultra noir frozen wave's music scene as evidenced by the growing popularity among fans.
We tried to learn a little more about this stygian female duo who mix inspired Cold Synth Dark Wave with thunderous Bass lines & sepulchral spellbinding voices :
1) Can you introduce the members of your project MONOWELT, how did you create it ?
Motivated by which aspirations?
MW: Monowelt are Daria and Marta.
We are originally coming from Russia and Poland, but were both very much attracted by Berlin and it's subcultural environments.
This is also where we met in 2010 and shortly after that we realised we share very similar tastes in music.
Then we decided to form a band together because we thought our musical tastes might fit together perfectly.
We were both inspired by the alternative 80's movements in music and subculture and were both pretty much fascinated by the dark side of it.
This is what helped us realise we wish to make music together.
2) The vocal tone is very peculiar because low-pitched and disembodied which reinforces the black musical atmosphere of your compositions and brings a gothic touch (but in the good sense of the term ,not in the crappy mainstream pseudo "Goth" FM way; cause here you redefine the authentic gothic atmosphere , giving it back its noble letters).
So , from where you have this taste for total darkness ?
Overdose of crappy happy commercial tunes at the radio when you were young ? (Laughs)
Marta: For me to sing in a low tone is rather coming out naturally.
I have a pretty low voice while singing, so it is something I don't need to pretend.
But also I must admit I always loved low-tuned female vocals, like for example the one of Bettina Köster from Malaria. Besides I feel that low vocals can be full of sensitivity and depth and might be extremely expressive.
I must say I find it also a bit rebellious to sing with a low vocal being a woman, because it's not very "female-like".
Maybe that's why I like it so much, because it's so odd and not so standard :)
And the general love to, what you call, total darkness was accompanying me since I'm a child actually. I can't explain it why, but in a way I was always fascinated by everything that was dark, a bit strange, or unusual. That's why my love to subcultures and dark music started already when I was 11 years old.
Daria: Naturally I have high-pitched voice and it’s a pleasure for me to sing high, because it’s easy. But in the same time I was always fascinated by male and low female vocals and never be able to go deeper with my voice.
Since project "Monowelt" started I decided to improve my singing technique and succeed in it. I realized, that if you work on something, things that seemed impossible to you before, get possible :)
Surely there are some reasons why i choose that style of singing....:
the lyrics should be sang in a deep, dark, "from the cave" like, strong and cold way....to better express desperate feelings & the atmosphere of the music also needed this spiritual, ecclesiastical style.
Well, for me a sense of writing songs and create music is first of all connected with some kind of pleasure I get, letting the dark side of me and sad thoughts free. I don’t know how I would survive without writing...
I hope it also could help somehow other people, who like to spend their evenings, listening to sad tunes and feel released, because they know they are not alone with their fears...
3) What are your inspirations for your words and musical atmospheres; your lyrics are almost exclusively in German, (not being German) : What are your themes or obsessions addressed in these ones ?
how do you create your compositions ?
Do you write the lyrics first, or rather the soundtrack generates your lyrics ?
MW: The lyrical themes that have appeared in our songs so far are existential fright, loneliness, longing for deep feelings, nostalgia of the past, love, death, the questions which the humanity still hasn't found the answers to, problems of interactions between people... Generally personal issues.
Our lyrics are not only written in German, but also in English and Russian. But you are right - many of them are written in German. We did not agree on in which language will we write our lyrics, it was all rather freestyle. We think that German language fits our music quite well, as it sounds very dark and quite harsh to us, the non-native speakers. Also it seems that it's much easier to express of lot of thoughts using only few words when you write in German. Another thing might be that we like many German dark wave bands, which could have unconsciously be also our inspiration for writing lyrics in this language.
About writing songs - it always looks different. Sometimes the lyrics appear at first and then we try to write the music for it. Or sometimes we have already the melodies playing in our heads for some particular songs and we try to write some words for it. So normally we bring our ideas separately and show them to each other and then practice the song together but sometimes it also happens that we just jam in our rehearsal room and create everything with our joined forces - as well the music as the lyrics.
4) What are your musical tastes ? Are you sectarians or do you listen full of different styles ?
What are your favorites albums or artists of the moment ? & ancient Kult ones ?
Marta: I would not call myself a sectarian in music, since I am still open to anything that would just sound interesting to my ears from the musical point of view. But of course I still do have my favorite music genres, which I am mostly listening to. That would be dark-, cold-, minimal-, new- wave, in general dark synth music from the 80's, as well as many guitar dark wave and post-punk bands. And another beloved musical genre, which influenced me a lot is EBM and dark underground electronics. I like basically everything that sounds either dark and melancholic or danceable, or in the best case the combination of these all :)
My favorite artists are quite many.. But to mention just a few form the "cult ones" - The Cure, Chameleons, Clan of Xymox, Cocteau Twins, Sex Gang Children, The Opposition, Ausgang, Xmal Deutschland, Malaria, Siekiera, Wieze Fabryk, DAF, Trisomie 21, Lebanon Hanover, Absolute Body Control, Klinik, Invincible Spirit, Calva y Nada, Nitzer Ebb... I must stop here, I could go on for hours :)
From the newer bands I got totally into Qual, Transfigure, Winter Severity Index, Tropic of Cancer, She Past Away, Alles, Dream Affair and lately also I’m haunted by Hante .
Daria: Mostly I like coldwave from the 80s, I feel myself the most completed when I listen to light, romantic, dark synthesized tunes. I also like dreamy guitar sounds....the favorite bands are similar to the ones of Marta, as we have pretty common taste, I would just add few more bands I love: Neutral Project, Asylum Party, Cold Dreams, Norma Loy, Clair Obscur, Iron Curtain, Anne Clark. I like experimental and also harsh bands like Dead Can Dance, Einstürzende Neubauten, Alien Sex Fiend and of course very popular early Depeche Mode and Joy Division.
Of the actual artists I enjoy Qual, Transfigure, Urban Grey, Ciudad Lineal....and the others that were already named by Marta.... I am not sectarian, love music in general and in every song can find something interesting.
5) On your Bandcamp's official page , you've got enough tracks to seem an album.
Can we expect a Debut album soon ? Have you info about it ?
MW: Yes, you're right. The tracks are ready to be released on an Lp, on Geheimnis Records label from Greece.
Most probably we can expect the Lp this autumn.
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