“Vom Werden” is the second EP by singer-songwriter LOUISA SPECHT, which was released on February 24th, 2023 with the label “Sturm & Klang”. In it, the Viennese illuminates personal developments in finding her way in the world – poetically, pointedly and condensed. With her debut EP “Karussell” she has already won the award of the best song list 2022. Fascinated by the German language and its lyrical possibilities, LOUISA SPECHT creates her own modern version of songwriting. In an interview with Katharina Reiffenstuhl, the 26-year-old tells how she came to this stylistic classification, what role the German musician Konstantin Wecker plays in it and why her second EP followed so quickly.
You come from a family of musicians. Was it always just this one career path for you, or did you also have a few other considerations?
Louisa Specht: Actually, it was clear very early on that I wanted to be a musician. I definitely wanted to be a singer. For me, being a singer meant inventing your own music. I thought that what you say has to come from yourself. I have always associated being a singer with writing music.
Does that mean you were already writing your own music as a small child?
Louisa Specht: Yes, so tried a lot. First with melodies, then at some point with lyrics. It’s really cool what you can do with language. I really started writing songs when I was 12. It was already clear what the goal was, that I wanted to do this professionally. Then I gradually worked towards it.
Could you also imagine writing in English? Or would the poetry get lost there?
Louisa Specht: Sing, but don’t write. I do cover stuff in English, but writing in English is much more difficult and cumbersome for me. I tried it once when I was 16 and realized it wasn’t for me. At that time it was still uncool to make German-language music. I did it anyway because I realized that it suits me. It’s even cool now. Good for me. (laughs) In my music, I put a lot of focus on the lyrics or the way I write lyrics. I find it important to condense and emphasize things. Not necessarily to provoke – but I also think it’s cool when musicians do that.
You were discovered by Konstantin Wecker and have been part of his label ever since. How did that come about?
Louisa Specht: I sang “I sing because I have a song” as an opening for my bachelor’s exam, to give myself a bit of courage for the exam. Because I find his statement in it so beautiful: Why do I make music? Because I want to say something. Afterwards I found out that he has a label. I can still remember my parents saying to me before that “Get in touch with Konstantin Wecker”. I found it completely absurd, as if I write to him and he then answers me. At some point I looked for labels and then wrote to him anyway. And the feedback was actually positive.
You studied singing. Has that had an effect on your own music, do you learn a lot for practice?
Louisa Specht: I was able to take a lot with me stylistically because I was confronted with jazz a lot. I had and still have a great deal of respect for jazz and was thrown into it a bit during my studies. Of course, this also has an influence on their own music. I was able to take something with me in terms of stylistic variety, and vocally anyway, of course.
“THE 2nd EP IS MUCH EDGER IN CONTENT”
You were definitely not the only one in this course to release your own songs. How was the networking with each other, do you support each other or does everyone do their own thing?
Louisa Specht: It was very different because there are so many different types of vocals. There are musicians who cover an awful lot and are really good at it, and then there are others who mainly make their own music. I found it very interesting because you see so many different styles. I have the feeling that we support each other there. I think this competition is ending more and more. It’s getting better, especially among women, this mutual support is getting bigger, I get the impression.
“Of Becoming” is now your 2nd EP. What do you think are the biggest differences to the first EP?
Louisa Specht: The 2nd EP is much more edgy in terms of content and musically it shows other facets of me. I’ve already noticed that the EPs are a bit different musically. That was important to me. Also that there is more politics on it now, or topics that are not so smooth. But I also really like the first EP, I’m glad I divided my songs like that. Don’t know if you can say the first one is more personal, actually you can’t. But the first one also has a more melancholic touch. For me the EPs are a bit like siblings musically. They are related but different.
Your second EP came relatively quickly, you only released your first one in August last year. How long does it usually take to create a song for you?
Louisa Specht: Originally I wanted to make an album, but for a variety of reasons it didn’t work out. Then I or the label had the idea of making an EP. I had songs there, some of which have been around for a really long time, for example one is 8 years old, and then I sorted my collection and looked for what could go together. In the end I recorded the EPs in one go, but released them separately. That’s why it happened so quickly. I’m not one to write like an assembly line all the time.
“IN MUSIC YOU CAN CAPTURE GOOD MOMENTS”
Can we then expect a 3rd EP at the end of this year?
Louisa Specht: No, now an album is planned. Now it’s time to write a lot and decide again what goes well together for an album. I’m really looking forward to it, but of course I also have respect for it, because I don’t know exactly what the album will look like then. It’s nice that I can now process and record a lot again. You can take good snapshots with music. I’ll be writing a lot in the summer or I’ll start now, then it’ll be produced and recorded and whatever else is involved. The implementation often depends on subsidies. It’s a process.
Would you also like to play live?
Louisa Specht: Yes. I’m just waiting for feedback from festivals this summer, this is now the phase where I don’t even know what will work. But what I do know is that this summer I will be playing at the Theater am Spittelberg in Vienna. There I have a double concert with the artist Anna Maria Schnabl, she called herself AMS. It’s a pretty cool name I think.
Do you have any big musical goals in mind? Or do you just see where it’s going?
Louisa Specht: Currently the album. Otherwise, I try to let it go freely so that I don’t get too cerebral. The goal right now is actually to play live and to win more audiences. What would be cool would be to play with a big band at some point. With a really big cast. That would definitely be my goal. I would find it super interesting what would come out of it.
You actually have a band.
Louisa Specht: Yes, there are four of us, or there have been six of us before. That was the maximum so far.
You always define yourself by the term “songwriter”. What’s behind it?
Louisa Specht: I used to call myself a singer-songwriter and then realized that people had completely different ideas of what that meant. For example, that I make music in English. Then, two or three years ago, I realized that I no longer wanted that name for myself. At some point I realized that what I do is actually songwriting. That’s what I set down for myself, so to speak.
I also talked to Konstantin Wecker about the topic of “finding your own niche” and told him that I was really looking for it right now. Then he just looked at me and said “Yes, but Louisa, you’ve been your own niche for a long timee“. I found that very nice.
Do you really need a niche?
Louisa Specht: Is correct. Many don’t even define themselves. I have the feeling that I put myself in a music drawer very early on. I still found it so reassuring when he said that. That’s actually true. I am my own niche.
“I FIND BEING POLITICAL AND BEING CRITICAL IN MUSIC VERY IMPRESSIVE”
Has Konstantin Wecker always been a kind of musical idol for you?
Louisa Specht: Musical idol I don’t know. I think his music is great. What I find impressive is that he’s not afraid to speak his mind, at least it seems that way. I find it very impressive to be political and critical in music.
Would you say you even have a musical idol?
Louisa Specht: It’s weird when you say no, isn’t it? (laughs) So I think Sarah Lesch, for example, is really great. There’s a song of hers, “Testament”, that’s insanely good and she sings so directly to the audience. I also think elements of Anette Louisan are great because her voice is very unique. Something like that impresses me when someone is unique and has a strong recognition value. Konstantin Wecker has that, of course, Reinhard Mey too, and Celina Bostic.
Thank you for the conversation!
Katharina Reiffenstuhl
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Links:
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