La Música del Mundo: Boy ~ Mutual Friend (2011)

BOY: Sonja Glass und Valeska Steiner

http://www.listentoboy.com/

http://www.myspace.com/listentoboy

http://www.myspace.com/valeskasteiner

“While daylight is fading / While traders are trading / While the jukebox is playing / While lovers are dating / The waitress is waiting“ BOY

Deutsch!

Hören ist eine feine Sache. Aber die wirklich guten Songs, die kann man fühlen und sehen. Die Augen schließen und warten bis die Bilder kommen. Diese hier sind flirrend bunt wie die Lampions eines turbulenten Sommerfests. Durch die Musik von BOY weht eine frische Brise. Und wenn man den Texten zuhört, beginnen im Kopf sofort Filme zu laufen die von Aufbruch handeln und von Veränderung: “This is the beginning of anything you want” heißt es am Anfang dieses Debüt-Albums.

BOY – das sind Valeska Steiner aus Zürich und Sonja Glass aus Hamburg. Ein junges Duo, das sich seinen eigenen musikalischen Weg bahnt. Beide waren – Valeska als Sängerin in der Schweiz und Sonja als Bassistin in Deutschland – musikalisch eigenständig unterwegs, bis sie sich in Hamburg getroffen, kennengelernt und beschlossen haben, zusammen Musik zu machen. Eine Art Songwriter-Pop, der berührend und verspielt klingt, und sich seine Geschichten aus dem eigenen Leben angelt. Deshalb entschloss sich Valeska von Zürich nach Hamburg zu ziehen, wo fast alle Songs entstanden sind. – Das Abenteuer BOY konnte beginnen.

Die Aufnahmen für das Album fanden zum größten Teil in Berlin statt, gemeinsam mit dem Multiinstrumentalisten und Produzenten Philipp Steinke, der sich in seinem Elternhaus, im alten Kinderzimmer, ein Studio eingerichtet hatte. Auf einer Fläche von 12 Quadratmetern wurde dort wochenlang konzentriert gearbeitet, meistens bis spät in die Nacht. BOY haben auf diese Weise fast alle Instrumente selber eingespielt. Nur für die Drums wurden mehrere befreundete Schlagzeuger gefragt, unter anderen Thomas Hedlund. Valeska erinnerte sich an einen netten Abend in Zürich, den sie zusammen mit der französischen Band Phoenix verbracht hatte. Deren Schlagzeuger wäre natürlich eine Idealbesetzung. Ein paar E-Mails und Telefonate später fand sich Thomas Hedlund tatsächlich in einem Hamburger Studio wieder, wo er die Schlagzeug-Parts für “Oh Boy”, “Skin”, Waitress” und “Silverstreets” einspielte.

Die Musik von BOY könnte man leicht mit den Worten beschreiben: Klingt wie eine Mischung aus der rockenden Eleganz von Phoenix, der quirligen Musikalität von Feist und der emotionalen Tiefe eines Bon Iver. Das bringt aber leider nichts, denn so würde man das Beste verpassen: Die Eigenständigkeit von BOY und das Charisma der beiden Protagonistinnen.

“This Is The Beginning” ist die Sprungschanze ins Album – verträumt tasten sich Stimme und Musik in eine neue Welt. Koffer werden ausgepackt, Bilder aufgehängt.

Die Texte von BOY sind autobiografisch. “Drive Darling” erinnert an Valeskas Abschied von Familie und Freunden in Zürich: “And no rearview could picture what we leave behind. Drive Darling, drive.” Doch der Optimismus siegt, die Musik gewinnt an Tempo, die Gitarre stürmt voran und die Zukunft fängt an zu lächeln. Das melancholische, aber wunderschöne “Waitress” erzählt von einer Kellnerin, die darauf wartet, dass ihr Leben beginnt. “While daylight is fading / While traders are trading / While the jukebox is playing / While lovers are dating / The waitress is waiting“.

Die Single “Little Numbers” entstand als letztes Stück, ein Nachzügler. Aber genau deshalb – weil alles erledigt war und die Arbeit nur noch Spiel – besitzt “Little Numbers diesen ausgelassen Drive, etwas ungestüm Wildes und eine frisch verliebte Heiterkeit.

Pop kann banal und billig klingen, wie ein zu süßer Schokoriegel für Zahnspangen-Kids. Hier aber trifft ein poetischer Realismus auf mitreißende Melodien, eine Mischung, die einem problemlos den Tag retten kann. Weil Valeska Steiner und Sonja Glass so erfrischend lebendig sind, so humorvoll, voller Selbstironie und Tatendrang.

So tourt das Duo seit letztem Jahr quer durch Deutschland und die Schweiz – per Bahn und Auto. Mit einer rein akustischen EP im Gepäck, die bei ihren über 60 Konzerten reißenden Absatz findet. International konnten sie bereits Interesse wecken und spielten unter anderem auf dem Eurosonic Festival in Groningen/NL 2011. Eine Band konnten sich Sonja und Valeska zu Beginn nicht leisten, da blieb ihnen nur die Reduktion ihrer Lieder auf Duo-Besetzung.

Auf dem Debütalbum sind die Stücke jetzt so zu hören, wie sie ursprünglich gedacht waren, in ihrer ganzen funkelnd arrangierten Pracht. Und wenn BOY im Herbst auf Tour gehen, werden mit Sicherheit ein paar Musiker mehr auf der Bühne stehen.

Beide Varianten sind gleichwertig, weil sie die zwei Seiten dieser eigenwilligen Band zeigen. Es geht BOY um den Aufbruch, die Lust am Neuen. Und zugleich wollen sie mit ihren Songs ankommen. Davon handelt “July”, das letzte Stück mit dem sich der Kreis dieses außergewöhnlichen Albums schließt: “And this roof is a blanket / It’s keeping you warm / Inside the silence / After the storm“.

Man hört die Empathie in Valeskas Stimme, spürt die sanfte Wärme der Musik und fühlt sich als wäre man nach einer langen Reise endlich Zuhause angekommen.

“Nie sangen Boys schöner” – Welt am Sonntag

Das langerwartete Debutalbum von BOY “Mutual Friends” ist ab heute in drei Versionen (CD, Vinyl und Limited Edition) im Handel!

English!

“And the roof is a blanket, it’s keeping you warm, inside the silence, after the storm…” BOY

Listening can be a magical experience. The best music can lead you into a tangible world of seeing and feeling; a place where just closing your eyes opens up a whole visual world and allows you to see vivid scenes play out thanks to the intensity of the music – or soundtrack – you happen to be listening to. And the fresh breeze blowing through the debut album from BOY certainly inspires such vivid daydreams. It’s therefore no accident that the LP opens with the promise that “this is the beginning of anything you want.”

BOY are an exciting young duo made up of Zurich-born Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass from Hamburg. An engaging pair of musicians, it’s perhaps all too easy to categorise them as songwriter-pop when in fact a closer listen reveals that the girls are very much channelling their own unique style. Their music is by turns touching and playful, inspired by everyday stories of real life.

Recording for the album took place mostly in Berlin together with multi-instrumentalist and producer Philipp Steinke, who, perhaps bizarrely, has constructed a professional studio in the former nursery of his parents’ home. But there’s no room left there for train sets and dolls’ houses; on the contrary, the tiny 12 square meter space is jammed with equipment and was the location for several weeks of intense recording and re-recording. Valeska and Sonja played virtually all instruments on the record themselves with the exception of drumming duties. In this case, a rotating roster of friends jumped in to play, among them Phoenix’s live drummer Thomas Hedlund. Valeska recalled an evening partying together with the French alt-indie band and thought Hedlund would be an ideal candidate to join in the live sessions. Numerous emails and phone calls later and he found himself in the tiny studio in Hamburg where he laid down drum tracks for the songs “Oh Boy”, “Skin”, “Waitress” and “Silverstreets”.

BOY’s music is, on the surface, relatively easy to describe and, as with all bands, it’s easiest to play the comparison game; imagine a mix of the art school elegance of Phoenix, the lively melodics of Feist and the emotional depth of Bon Iver. But to draw such comparisons is superficial and not especially helpful because what you miss is the originality of the BOY concept and the charisma of its two performers.

“This is the Beginning” provides the springboard into the album, an autobiographical work. “Drive Darling” is inspired by Valeska leaving behind friends and family in Zurich. “And no rear view could picture what we leave behind. Drive, darling, drive.” As the tempo rises and the

driving sound of guitars push to the fore, the future seems to begin with a smile as a feeling of optimism prevails. In complete contrast however, “Waitress” explores the melancholy story of a barmaid stuck in time and wondering when her life is going to start: “While daylight is fading, while traders are trading, while the jukebox is playing, while lovers are dating, the waitress is waiting.”

The single “Little Numbers” is something of a straggler, being the last recorded from the sessions. But this is arguably precisely why the track is imbued with such a rambunctious drive and dizzying joyousness; it is the product of studio playtime, the long-awaited period where musicians can relax and have fun knowing – wrongly as the case may be – that all the work is done.

At times, pop music can sound banal and cheap and leave a sickly sweet after-taste like the cheap chocolate you buy at a backwater gas station while you’re in a rush to eat something. BOY’s “Mutual Friends” however sees a poetic realism come face to face with rousing melodies, an intoxicating mixture to lift even the dullest day out of the doldrums and the direct result of the refreshingly lively and humorous personalities of Valeska and Sonja.

Since last year BOY have been on tour more or less constantly throughout Germany and Switzerland. With their first acoustic-oriented EP in their backpacks, BOY have taken their live show on the road countless times; whether it’s appearing at the Eurosonic Festival in the Netherlands or playing support shows for befriended artists, they’ve travelled the length and breadth of their respective homelands either by train or by car and notched up an impressive 60+ headline shows in the process.

In the early days of touring, Sonja and Valeska were unable to afford to take a complete live band with them on the road and therefore their tracks had to be scaled back for a duo performance. However, their forthcoming tour, which begins in autumn, will no doubt see a number of guest musicians join them on stage to fill out their sound and add to the sparkling energy the girls themselves are more than capable of creating.

“And the roof is a blanket, it’s keeping you warm, inside the silence, after the storm…”

You can hear the empathy in Valeska’s voice on the album’s last track, “July”, a fitting end to the album, it closes the circle of venturing out into the world by bringing you, at last, back home.

After the release of their debut single a few weeks ago and the widespread praise of “Little Numbers”, BOY have today released their long awaited debut album “Mutual Friends”! The album is available in three version (CD, Vinyl and Limited Edition) and for those who want to see BOY perform live, the duo will be touring both Germany and Switzerland in October.

Audio CD
CD, Album HD 1/1
Country: Europe
Released: 2011
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, CD, Album
Catalog #: LPGRON118
Genre: Indie-Pop/Indie-Rock
Label: Grönland Records (Groenland)
© 2011 NEU Grönland Records

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♬Track Song♬
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1. This is The Beginning |3:31
Vibraphone – Eric Darken
Guitar – Christian Kreutzer, Jörg Sander
Percussion – Marco Möller
Bass, Guitar, Programmed by Sonja Glass
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Carl-Michael Grabinger
Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Programmed by Philipp Steinke

2. Waitress |3:14
Guitar, Keyboards, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Bass, Guitar, Banjo – Sonja Glass
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Thomas Hedlund
Banjo – Christian Kreutzer

3. Army |3:10
Bass – Sonja Glass
Drums – Bela Brauckmann
Choir – Jule Escherhaus
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Philipp Steinke

4. Little Numbers |3:41
Drums, Percussion – Marcel Römer
Bass (Juno), Vocals – Sonja Glass
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Piano, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke

5. Drive Darling |4:24
Keyboards, Guitar, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Vibraphone – Eric Darken
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Carl-Michael Grabinger
Guitar, Bass – Sonja Glass

6. Railway |3:54
Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Percussion – Sonja Glass
Drums – Carl-Michael Grabinger
Percussion – Marco Möller
Viola – John Catchings, Kris Wilkinson
Violin – David Angell, David Davidson
Keyboards, Guitar, Percussion – Philipp Steinke
Vocals, Percussion – Valeska Steiner

7. Waltz For Pony |3:42
Vocals, Guitar – Valeska Steiner
Vibraphone – Eric Darken
Cello, Vocals, Guitar (Additional) – Sonja Glass

8. Boris |3:20
Guitar, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Bass, Guitar, Cello – Sonja Glass
Vocals, Guitar – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Bela Brauckmann
Percussion – Marco Möller

9. Oh Boy |3:37
Guitar, Keyboards, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Bass – Sonja Glass
Guitar – Deniz Erarslan
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals, Guitar – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Thomas Hedlund

10. Skin |4:06
Guitar, Keyboards, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Bass – Sonja Glass
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Thomas Hedlund
Clarinet – Taco van Hettinga

11. Silver Streets |5:31
Guitar, Keyboards, Other (All Other Instruments) – Philipp Steinke
Guitar – Thomas Hahn
Percussion – Marco Möller
Vocals, Melodica – Valeska Steiner
Drums – Thomas Hedlund
Bass, Vocals – Sonja Glass

12. July |5:52
Trombone – Helgi Hrafn Jónsson, Jessica Buzbee
Tuba – Timothy Buzbee
Vocals, Organ – Sonja Glass
Piano, Loops – Philipp Steinke
Vocals – Valeska Steiner
French Horn – Stefán Jón Bernharðsson
Trumpet – Ari Bragi Kárason

13. Little Numbers (Acoustic) |3:45
Little Numbers (Acoustic)
Guitar – Deniz Erarslan
Guitar, Vocals, Percussion – Sonja Glass
Vocals, Percussion – Valeska Steiner

Playtime: 45:57
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| DDD | Audio CD | CBR 320 Kbps/48.1 kHz/Stereo |
| File Size: 123 mb. | Pass: sonja&valeska

Boy ~ Mutual Friend (2011)

Drums engineered by Hendrik Ostrau (tracks: 2, 9 to 11), Bernard »Böni« Hahn (tracks: 1, 5 to 6), Guy Sternberg (tracks: 8).
Brass engineered by Valgeir Sigurdsson, arranged and conducted by Helgi Hrafn Jónsson at Greenhouse, Reykjavik.
Strings engineered by Bobby Shin, conducted by Tim Lauer at Little Big Sound Studio, Nashville.

Artwork by BUREAU Mario Lombardo
Mastered by Jens Dreesen, Kai Blankenberg
Mixed by (Brand New Studio) Philipp Steinke
Mixed by (Salon Annemarie) Marcel Römer (tracks: 2, 4, 9 to 11, 13)
Mixed by (The White Studio) Clemens Matznick (tracks: 1)
Photography by (Booklet) Benedikt Schnermann, Hadley Hudson
Photography by (Cover) Inga Seevers
Recorded & Produced by Philipp Steinke
Written by Adrian Stern (tracks: 8), Sonja Glass (tracks: 1 to 7, 9 to 13), Valeska Steiner

Recorded and produced at Catherine's House, Hahn&Hahn, LowSwing, Home and Zwischengeschoss.