Solomun

"Nobody Is Not Loved" - who could even dare to make such a statement? Only music itself. Because music loves everyone, regardless of whether they are good or bad. It holds this very special, divine power. A metaphysical force that can unite all people, and has done so since the dawn of mankind.

But music needs people just as much as people need music. This moment in particular, where you experience music together with other people, has something spiritual, something transcendent. You become one with the crowd, with the music, and one great entity emerges that is more than just the sum of its parts. But one thing has struck me more and more in recent years.

That we all find it increasingly difficult to actually be in the moment without thinking about social media. How often have I seen people on the dance floor, who can't stop filming, writing and distracting themselves with things that have nothing to do with the party? I understand that people want to capture moments, but often at the cost of losing the real, the actual moment. When I say music loves everyone then we need the momentum to unite and awaken people under the wings of music.

But it's hard to achieve this momentum when you're just listening to music on the side. Music, in my experience, reaches its highest state in these special, these sacred spaces, to be enjoyed to the fullest extent. And when people and music come together in these spaces, there should be no distractions. 

A topic which I have been observing for years and which endangers the connection between people and music even more, which is much more important to me than Corona: The progressing digitalization. 
I'm talking about something that goes by the name of "digital isolation“. This apparently self-chosen isolation, where you always hear the same thing and an algorithm tells you at some point what you'd like to hear. You narrow down your diversity, you become numb.

And with the album and the five singles that lead up to it, or rather their respective music videos to be precise, Solomun is telling a story that couldn’t be more pressing for today’s modern youth: the looming dawn of digital isolation, its dangers, and ways of coping. 

„Home" spoke of people's desire for community in music, "Kreatur der Nacht" spoke of people's rebellion and departure towards it. "Tuk Tuk" talks about the awakening that music can accomplish when people come together again. 

"Ocean" about the merging of the soul in the eternal stream of music. And "Night Travel" as the last single and last video now tells about the end of the story, the end of the journey. And the end is actually the beginning. Corona will pass and people will go back to clubs or festivals. But this digital isolation, this dementia that you experience when you are no longer among people and instead only by yourself and your own algorithm, which is dictated by a few designers in Silicon Valley - that's what I find really dangerous.

Above all a plea against the limitations that we build for ourselves. Because I think music is too big and too important for that. We need diversity and we need community, that's what has always made us human. Because we've been doing this since the beginning of time: gathering and dancing to the rhythm of the drums. And have a little drink while we're at it.

This is “Ocean”, a collab-track between Solomun and Jamie Foxx. A deep and low-key beat builds the foundation, and Jamie’s voice does the rest.

The two met in Los Angeles. Solomun sent Foxx an instrumental he’d been working on for a while, Foxx recorded the vocals and then Solomun took it again from there. Later they met in Los Angeles again, for the video shoot of Ocean, in which Foxx walks through empty streets, only encountering deep sea creatures, with the underlying message: as vital as water, the essence of life, is for the body, music is for the soul. Jakob Grunert, one of Solomun’s oldest friends, shot the video and captured this idea in the images: the longing for this element, this essence, the real life.

One might call the encounter of Solomun and Foxx serendipitous: The videos that are released in the realm of “Nobody Is Not Loved” all share a specific idea - music can transcend people in moments when they are one with music and completely let go – a phenomenon that Solomun calls “Momentum”. Pixar’s latest animated movie “Soul” coined the term “Zone”, a place within the non-living sphere where those go, who completely immerse themselves with a passionate activity, like losing yourself in music. Sounds familiar, right? And who voiced the lead actor in “Soul”? Exactly: Jamie Foxx.

The original track comes with remix by Moodyman, who had so much fun with the project that he brought Amp Fiddler on board too, and together they created an eclectic reinterpretation which is almost 8 minutes long

After „Home“, „Kreatur der Nacht (feat. Isolation Berlin)“ and „Tuk Tuk feat. ÄTNA)“ comes Solomun’s fourth album single, a melancholic club track titled „The Center Will Not Hold“.

It begins with a very gentle, almost trickling arpeggio, but continuously builds and adds new elements, like a water droplet gliding over and off a leaf in the rain forest and gradually becoming a creek, a river, a wave. At the breakdown the track abates, only to return with even more force, culminating in a furious orchestral climax of strings, synths and drums.

„The Center Will Not Hold“ is yet another part of the journey towards Solomun’s upcoming second album „Nobody Is Not Loved“.

"Nobody Is Not Loved" - who could even dare to make such a statement?

Only music itself. Because music loves everyone, regardless of whether they are good or bad. It holds this very special, divine power. A metaphysical force that can unite all people, and has done so since the dawn of mankind.

“Tuk Tuk” is the third single from the album "Nobody Is Not Loved", that is now being released.

It is a highly energetic track that swerves across genres, first and foremost through the powerfulness of the extraordinary voice of Inez, singer of the German band ÄTNA. Her strong attitude stands above it all: "I'm the boss!"

The music video is a parable for the main idea behind the album title: The invisible protagonist of the video is the music, embodied by Inez. And she really has to fight. Throughout history, music has been misused, attacked or entirely forbidden – but until now has always prevailed. And once again in this case!

Because only music has the power to overcome everything - and to unite everyone in the end.

Nights, people and places
Lucid dreams and neo-romanticism

"As a child of the 80's I had wanted to make a track with this special feeling for a long time, one which is playing with the Punk and New Wave appeal of that time. So I was very happy that the band ‘Isolation Berlin’ and I got together and the track "Kreatur der Nacht" was born".

(Solomun)


Are the streets of my city truly completely void and empty or have I just ended up in another world? 

What do we dream about when we are awake?

I have slept for so long. No little escapes from everyday life. I can feel the restlessness growing inside of me again.

I have to set out and find kindred spirits again. 

Wherever they may be.

I get out of bed and get dressed, get dressed ...

Is this the real life or is it virtual reality? 

Only one thing is certain: the sun has already set.

The paths are labyrinthine. The view is obscured. Not easy to find the others. But it is the night that’s calling me. 

Are the places that draw me in really real - or like a melody that I can't get out of my head?

But as long as the music plays, everything is alright by me.

In every place, music can find a home. But in order to really experience music, you have to actually go to rooms that were especially designed for it. In those sacred rooms, music can actually get to people.

And the desire for it has never been greater. The desire to feel it, experience it, hear it, to share it with people. HOME reminds us of these moments. Of the things we miss.

HOME is the first single of the new album by Hamburg DJ and producer Solomun, which will be released in early 2021.

Solomun: "HOME was the starting point for the idea of an album in the first place. I had plenty opportunities to play it and for me it has withstood the test of time. It was evident that this had to be the first single for the album."