»Mother Nature« is the debut solo album by Berend Intelmann, a key figure in the German indie music scene since the late 1980s. The multi-instrumentalist and singer navigates between pop and the structures of classical music on these eight pieces that feature collaborations with Marla Hansen, Der Assistent, and Mieke Miami. Intelmann began in the 1990s in Hamburg with HALLELUJA DING DONG HAPPY HAPPY. He co-founded NAUTIC UNITED with Barbara Morgenstern. In Berlin, he released albums with OOF! and PAULA (with Elke Brauweiler). With his band GUTHER, he toured Europe and Japan. He worked with Jens Friebe, Der Assistent, Al Pagoda, and others.
His new album elegantly combines playfulness with compositional rigour and lyrics inspired by life and death.
FACTS
1. Fuck Chauvinism
2. More Empathy
3. In the long run we’re all gone
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Nature & people
2. How and when did you get into making music?
When I was 7 or so I carved drumsticks out of skirting boards and started drumming on my armchair.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Beachboys-Feel the flows, Beachboys-Petsounds, Michael Jackson-Thriller, Jouth Lagoon-The Year of Hibernation, Sufjan Stevens-Illinois
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Freedom
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Schönfließer Brücke
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I would be a scientist
7. What was the last record/music you bought or listen?
Kali Malone-All Life Long
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Adrianne Lenker
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
I’ll just take the last gig I played in December 24, together with Al Pagoda and Vinson Fraley in the small attic of Muting The Noise record store in Kreuzberg. It was absolutely packed and people were standing right around us. That’s how I like it.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
The sound of synths and other electronic devices inspire and influence the way I develop music in a special way. So at the moment technology is important to me.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your music/career?
I have an older brother who I like very much. Even though we have quite different professions, our attitudes towards life are similar. There’s much understanding. He likes some of my songs. But he’s not hyper-interested in my music.
Please tell us a bit more about the creation of your new album »Mother Nature«?
Since I’ve worked a lot with other musicians and done recordings like film scores, I really enjoyed making all the decisions on my solo album from my gut. Everything that came to me was allowed to be recorded and was right when I felt it. Paradisiacal boundless creative freedom. However, I also invited a few friends to join in, and they were allowed to take the same artistic freedom as I did.
When it came to instrumentation, I limited myself to the instruments that I enjoyed the most: Synths. Drums. Vocals.
The album was created in my Kreuzberg studio.
