Milky Chance: Collaborating Around the World
German folk group Milky Chance is set to release their third album, Mind the Moon, this Friday. In our previous article, Backyard Opera sat down with bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch to discuss the musical themes on the new album. As a bridge between the 2013’s Sadnecessary and 2017’s Blossom, the group took a hiatus from touring to collect all the ideas they had gathered from across the globe. They then recorded in different studios around the world, taking influence from Germany, Italy, Norway and even Australia. The result is an album that expands their formula while perfecting their style, but also introduces a new international sound, from these international recordings. However, one of the most important factors that led to this worldly theme is the international collaborations heard on tracks like “Daydreaming”, “Rush” and “Eden’s House”.
“On that album,” Philip explained, “we tried to work on detail and (the collaborations) made us work on our diversity. It fits into that concept of being more precise and presenting globalness.”
Two of the album’s biggest tracks were the result of collaboration with Australian artist Tash Sultana. The lead singles “The Game” and “Daydreaming” were products of this German group’s time down under. “Daydreaming” was created alongside Tash Sultana, featuring a verse from the young Australian. After becoming friends at Groovin the Moo 2017, Milky Chance sent Tash a series of demos, hoping she would join them on a collaboration. The demo for “Daydreaming”, with its dubby feel and ska/reggae sound, appealed to her. So the band flew to Australia and began working with her. However, jetlag meant they were on a complete different schedule to her.
“She recorded the guitar part and that beautiful second verse,” said Philip. “It was quite funny because it was one of these nights where we were so super awake and she was like ‘dudes, I’m tired. I have to go to sleep. Just come in tomorrow and I’ll have my voice in there.’ So we came in a little later and she had the full verse in there. It was super on point and awesome.”
Finishing up in the studio at around 10, Tash would go to sleep. Back at their flat, Milky Chance were wide awake. To battle this time zone insomnia, they would often crack open some wine, pick up a guitar and start jamming. From one of these sessions came “The Game”, one of Milky Chance’s most simple and sweet reggae tracks. Coming from these late-night jam sessions, Philip believes that, because of how organically the song came together, it is one of their most easy-to-listen-to tracks.
“One night we jammed and all of the sudden it came to us. It was so quick and natural. I remember we were talking about where were we gonna eat. One of us was playing those four reggae chords and then we just started singing ‘where are we gonna eat’ in the tune of ‘The Game’. We laughed and loved it immediately. Literally after 2/3 hours, we made a little beat loop and had the rough idea for the whole song.”
Photography Anthony Molina
The album contains some other hugely international influences. Two standout tracks are “Rush” and “Eden’s House”. Like their collaboration with Tash Sultana, the new international sound comes directly from the featured artist. Meeting Témé Tan while touring in 2013, the group have maintained a friendship with the Belgium artist for years. It was a casual invite to “come around to our studio in Kassel” that led to “Rush”, creating Milky Chance’s most unique verse to date. While the original rendition was already a fit for “Rush”, the band asked him to sing in his native French. After hearing it, the group decided to keep that verse for the final version, loving the unique sound that the French voice brought to their music.
“His first language is French, coming from Belgium obviously,” said Philip. “He has a great singing voice in English but the tone of another language gives another colour that we hadn’t had yet. We thought it just sounded cooler in French than in English.”
One of Mind the Moon’s best tracks, and one of Milky Chance’s most unique songs to date, is “Eden’s House”. Philip explained that on the minimalist track, they couldn’t find any beats to fit the acoustic guitar and stripped back vocals. Turns out the missing feature was a choir. The track features South African choral singing from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who Milky Chance were first exposed to by their high school choir instructor. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, famous for their work with Paul Simon, almost instantly clicked with Milky Chance’s sound, perfectly translating their vision into music.
“It was always a dream to work with them,” said Philip. “So, we sent them the stems and said ‘if you guys are interested, if you’re down, just give it a go’. We didn’t give them any instructions. We always have a distinct thing in mind when you hear the vision of something. It was actually surprising, but shows how strong this music is, that the first version they sent back was already what we imagined.”
Be sure to catch Mind the Moon when it comes out this Friday. Milky Chance will be playing at the Falls Festival across the country from Sat 28 Dec until Sun 5 Jan 2020. They are also playing two side shows at Festival Hall in Melbourne on January 7th and at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on January 8th. Tickets available here: https://www.secretsounds.com/tours/milky-chance-tickets-falls-2020/
