out now: Rosa Anschütz - Goldener Strom [Bpitch]

Artist:
Rosa Anschütz

Title:
Goldener Strom

Label:
BPitch

Cat#:
BPX020

Release Date:
27th May 2022

Format:
CD, vinyl, download & streaming

Tracklist:
01.
Their Blood

02.
Peak

03.
Polished

04.
Sold Out

05.
Goldener Strom

06.
Bleeding

07.
Suspect

08.
Intuitive

09.
Buddy

Press Info:
“I follow the golden stream…” sings Rosa Anschütz in the title track of her new album, in a cold, clear, determined voice: “And now, I am following the golden stream. And I follow the golden stream.” Underneath, golden interference buzzes and splashes at first, while cold light lies over the “thick water.“ Followed by powerful beats setting in as the trumpet fanfares of the chorus herald victory over the elements. “Goldener Strom” is about the desire to drift; to surrender to the moment and about the movement of life. Simultaneously, the music portrays the will to resist the world and its currents – the currents that want to drive one somewhere they don’t want to go. How does one become an island in the current? How does one find the self-confidence that allows them to drift and enjoy the movement of life without being exposed to those currents? On the cover of the album, we see Rosa Anschütz in the vastness of a gray shimmering sea – in a blue dress, sitting on a blue Panton chair: symbolizing modernity that has now become historical – sovereignty over history and over art.

“Goldener Strom” is without doubt the most astonishing album of the season. It plays with hardness and tenderness, it narrates of the beauty of losing one’s self, as well as the happiness of a self-determined life and creation. It can be danced to, but one can also listen to it as a conceptual album; it is as full of beats as it is full of thoughts. Rosa Anschütz reinforces her enormously versatile vocals -ranging from a pleading breath to a cold New Wave speaking voice – with a relentlessly marching four-to-the-floor techno; but underneath it all, lay polyrhythmic deviations again and again. Clattering and trembling, deep basses digging into the ground, while shimmering veils of sound blow from above. Rosa Anschütz follows the traditions of Dark Wave and Postpunk, but carves deep notches of sound sculpture and romantic smoothness.

Rosa Anschütz was born in Berlin in 1997. She grew up in a secluded lake house with an enchanted garden. Her first instrument was the piano, later she learned the flute and trumpet and played in a Bigband. She listened to jazz and DJ Krush and started playing music in various rock bands while still at school, but she soon realized that the best way to pursue her artistic visions was on her own. She experimented with Garageband and uploaded her tracks to SoundCloud. That’s how she came to the attention of Max Kobosil, among others, the young DJ star from Berlin’s Berghain, who later also remixed her song “Rigid.“

Rosa Anschütz found her musical awakening in the world of electronic avant-garde and techno clubs. At 15, she went to Atonal Festival at Berlin’s Kraftwerk for the first time, she immersed herself in Berlin’s post-punk and industrial avant-garde scene, and later on, she danced at Berghain. Dancing in dark spaces, she says, had a mind-expanding effect on her: she loves letting herself drift and the moments when everything dissolves and boundaries shift. But she also quickly sensed the dangers inherent in this drifting: How does one come to create a good relationship with one’s own body when, in the crucial years of youth, one’s body consciousness is expanded and manipulated by all too many means? She left Berlin to study Transmedia art in Vienna. Most importantly, it was there that she began working with modular synthesizers – instruments which open up possibilities primarily by imposing limitations. Her first EP “Rigid” and her debut album “Votive” from 2020 were significantly influenced by her work with modular synthesizers.

On “Goldener Strom“, she has freed herself from this. She supremely uses all means of electronic music production and combines them with analog instruments, the flute, trumpet and guitar; in addition, she sings, speaks and breathes with her cold and confident voice. As on the previous albums, she recorded the songs with the Berlin producer Jan Wagner. It was important to both of them that everything they recorded was finished as quickly as possible.

They wanted to capture musical moments; if something worked, it was finished quickly; if they got stuck somewhere, the track was left and discarded. When producing, says Rosa Anschütz, this is the most important thing: that you don’t get slowed down. And that’s how it is in her art in general: it is about gathering and amplifying energy; it’s about condensing experiences, making a point, finding a conclusion for an image comprised of sounds and words, however fleeting they may seem. The stream of which Rosa Anschütz sings, and which she ignites in her music: that is also the stream of consciousness, the stream of experience; and what one experiences, is already over in the next moment. It is about catching the moment – and in the next moment, however, already not to look back.

“I follow the Golden Stream,” sings Rosa Anschütz, meaning: she follows the becoming and passing of things; but at the same time she offers – like an island – a resistance to the drift of time. “Goldener Strom” is a great pop album, full of melodies, aphorisms and beats that immediately catch your ear. At the same time, it is a manifesto of artistic sovereignty – precious and wise in our times of streamlined art.

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