ANDREAS DORAU

In the organizer's words:

"Vienna - the city with probably the most beautiful name. The sound alone is music." (Andreas Dorau) Reason enough to dedicate an entire album to the Austrian capital. The idea for this came about when Dorau and two friends were working on a map of Lübeck and exploring its untold stories away from the usual attractions. Dorau became fascinated with portraying a city from the perspective of the unbiased tourist, visitor and outsider.

Why not finally make an album about the German-speaking city furthest away from Hamburg? Even as a child, Dorau was fascinated by the Lipizzaner horses. Over the next few months, he became increasingly preoccupied with topics and local peculiarities that fascinated him about Vienna. It was never about chronological or biographical narratives, but about dissecting a city from a distance. In addition to a stay in Vienna, inspiration also came from TV documentaries, newspaper articles, traditional stories and his own texts, which were written during a severe bout of influenza while delirious with fever.

The result was a collection of songs that Dorau wrote together with Hamburg producer Zwanie Jonson and numerous other contributors. The lanterns in the streets and alleyways of Vienna ("45 Lux"), the traveler tossing and turning sleeplessly in his hotel bed at night ("Ich kann nicht schlafen") or the tragically desperate person seeking solace from the telephone helpline ("431 42") are sung about. Dorau lets his tourists dream of Vienna by the sea ("Vienna sur Mer") or the man suffering from vertigo circling in the Ferris wheel at the Prater ("Runde um Runde"). Andreas Dorau never indulges in Viennese clichés, but searches for stories and sounds beyond the obvious and turns his gaze to the cultural differences that are probably only noticeable from the outside.

Musically, the album spans a wide range and offers beautiful pop moments ("Der Regen in Wien"), creaky kawaii minimalism together with Stefanie Schrank from Cologne ("Lass uns spazieren gehen"), but also pieces that defy any classification in their character ("Alles ist gleich").

"Wien" is therefore not the expected album that the title initially suggests. Rather, the record offers insights into Andreas Doraus' personal approach to the city, which at times also reveal a difficult and greasy relationship.

And while pop music from and about Austria basically began with Mozart and Schönberg, pop from Germany about Austria is probably more of an innovation. And when it is a North German musician who makes a monothematic album about the Austrian capital, the question almost inevitably arises: Is this already Austro-pop?