Straddling the worlds of electronic music, punk, and free jazz, plus Krautrock sensibilities from their home city of Berlin, Painting are the latest band to enter a professional relationship with Lost Map Records. As they prepare to rerelease their debut album, Painting Is Dead, and play their first Scottish live shows this December (around full-time jobs back in Berlin), Theresa Stroetges, Christian Hohenbild, and Sophia Trollmann share their thoughts on the band’s raison d’être and recording processes.
Painting’s meandering tracks are expansive in both their length and in their instrumental depth; Painting Is Dead only has five songs on it, for instance, but each spans five to ten minutes. Synths and altered vocals wrap themselves around handplayed guitar, drums, and occasional sax solos, and lyrics take us on wild conceptual journeys through anatomical desserts and mathematical shapes. Lyrics are sung in English, as opposed to German, a creative choice guitarist and vocalist Theresa Stroetges defends humorously: ‘I think it’s really difficult to make German sound good in song because a lot of words end in “ön” sounds. I think writing in English is much more abstract somehow. It’s going into a world that is not like your everyday world, but a kind of “let’s create something” world,’ she says.
It’s this combination of abstract lyricism with processed and live sounds that humanise Painting’s synthetic sonic palette, not to mention how they choose to lay everything on their canvas.
‘We first learn how to play the songs live. So we rehearse in the practice room with all the synths and all the electronics already there and part of the composition and then reproduce the live thing in the studio, just in a better quality and hopefully with more perfection. We actually don’t add anything in the studio later,’ explains Stroetges. ‘I think it’s really special that this is part of the composition process. That everything – sequences and backing tracks – are all ready,’ adds Hohenbild. ‘Of course we would love to be able to take, let’s say, a few weeks in the studio to record everything, and then see if you get inspired to do anything more and try out a few things, but it’s a question of money.’
Similar to Scotland’s arts and culture scene, getting funding as grassroot musicians in Berlin is a near-impossible task. But working to these strict parameters has made Painting’s live project as impressive as its recorded version, following in the footsteps of bands like Faust or Kraftwerk in their respective instrumentation and theatricality. ‘There’s no division between the organic and the electronic sounds in our music,’ continues Stroetges. ‘It’s all equal. The machine is also a member.’ Further building this bridge between man and machine is an accompanying interactive video game that was released alongside Painting Is Dead. Made in collaboration with digital artist Paula Reissig, the game allows players to wander around vast landscapes that reflect each song’s distinct world.
‘The idea was to have these three dimensions: the live version as the concert, the digital browser game version, and then the vinyl as an object that you can listen to at home,’ explains the band’s saxophonist, Sophia Trollmann.
‘Since the first album was released during COVID we were thinking about how to present music in a different way than going to live concerts, because that hadn’t been possible for quite a while. We knew that [Paula] was diving more into digital art, combining computer and graphic media with theatre pieces on stage.’ Recent live performances have seen the band use game footage as background visuals, layering the various dimensions of their music. ‘We’re thinking about at least once having someone play the game live,’ says Hohenbild. Stroetges continues: ‘It’s as if somebody from the audience plays the song with us; we play the music and they play the game. It’s pretty cool. They create the images on stage, in a way.’
I assure them that there is no audience more game (pun fully intended) than a Scottish one. But what drew them to a Scottish label in the first place? ‘We were looking for a new label with Painting at the time and I asked my Danish friend if he knew of any. He recommended Lost Map and I was immediately super drawn to it. The beautiful DIY vibe that is behind it and also the variety of music really impressed me,’ Stroetges recalls. New remixes made with local artists Susan Bear and Kinbote will further solidify Painting’s links with Scotland’s music scene, and a collaborative concert – Lost Map’s Christmas Humbug! – will see them perform alongside Alabaster DePlume, Blind Yeo, Susan Bear, Afterlands, and more. ‘We’re super happy about this nice new connection,’ Stroetges says as our conversation draws to a close. ‘I think it’s really exciting, what’s going on in Scotland. We can’t wait to visit!’
The re-release of Painting Is Dead via Lost Map Records is out now. Available here.
Painting play McChuills, Glasgow, on Friday 13th December. Tickets here.
The band also play Lost Map’s Christmas Humbug! at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on December 14th. Tickets here.
Photo credit: Silke Briel
