2023-10-16 07:00:00
Many people know GIOVANNA FARTACEK as half of the successful electro-pop duo MYNTH. She has now released her first solo album as BERGLIND. It’s called “Feste Feiern Fallen” and stylistically moves skillfully between pop, electro and chanson. In an interview with Markus Deisenberger, she explains why this solo project became necessary, how she inspired Erika Pluhar to do it and why you have to want to get involved with her music.
“Being Loud” – your first single – was released on September 29th Debut album “Feste Feiern Fallen”. The album will follow on October 13th. How are you feeling? Excited, excited, nervous?
Giovanna Fartacek: I am happy. But I’m so focused on the album that I sometimes forget the release dates of the singles. But “Being Loud” is one of my favorite numbers on the album.
A so-called “focus single”, as the press release says. What do you actually mean by that?
Giovanna Fartacek: Good question. As part of the album promo, this is the single that is being pushed. But all effort goes into the album. But for me it’s still a very important song and I hope it resonates.
“Be Loud” is an important song, you say. Another one is called “Dream Louder.” What is the central issue of volume?
Giovanna Fartacek: By that I don’t necessarily mean being loud. It’s more about activism and my form of activism. I have dealt with it often and a lot, but have never put the topic into a song. The song is also a critical examination of myself. It deals with what it takes from me to be able to advocate for change on certain topics. Whether you have to be loud and what activism can mean.
What can activism look like in times when you can briefly be outraged about something with the click of a mouse, i.e. click on it briefly in agreement and then it’s over again?
Giovanna Fartacek: For me, the most important thing is to get information from the right places and not blindly share any social media stuff and assume that it will change something. I don’t think this changes anything.
Over the last few years I have tried to acquire background knowledge and looked at where I can join in to bring about change and also specifically looked at what I can do for the better on a small scale, in my household for example. Just because I don’t share or post something right away doesn’t mean I don’t care. Maybe things aren’t going well right now.
Does that mean it’s also about not succumbing to the pressure to participate somewhere because all the wolves are howling in the same direction?
Giovanna Fartacek: Exactly. And still deal with certain topics.
People know you from the successful duo MUNTHamong other things with the Austrian Music Award was awarded. MFor someone who sets out on their own within a band context, it’s usually about realizing ideas that have no room in the band’s corset because they’re too personal, because they’re too different. Which of these is it?
Giovanna Fartacek: Maybe both. The basic impulse was that I wanted to write in German and do a solo project.
“I wanted to do a project where I could design everything.”
Does that mean you still like your brother?
Giovanna Fartacek: [lacht] Yes, I like my brother more than ever, and he’s involved in the production and mixing too, but it was an important step for me to go my own way. I wanted to do a project where I could design everything. At MUNTH It is the case that after four albums we have achieved a certain standing. People perceive us in a certain way. Sure, you can always change something, but the freedom I want Berglind You only have it if you start a really new project.
“Berglind is like a fictional character that I feel more confident with” you once said. To what extent can you have more confidence solo than in the previous context?
Giovanna Fartacek: When texting. German is much more direct. It’s my native language. You can embellish it less and hide behind it less. I have difficult topics that come across differently in German. It was a big challenge for me to dare to do that. The language makes me more vulnerable.
Texting in German for the first time is one thing. Singing these lyrics to an audience on a stage is something else again. What was it like when you presented the texts to a larger audience for the first time at Waves Vienna?
Giovanna Fartacek: That was good. But I was very excited because my brother was in the audience for the first time and looked up. Seeing him in countless projects always made me very proud. And so many people who just got me out of that MUNTH-Knowing the context, I was there alone for the first time Berglind seen. That was very exciting, but also nice because I felt very comfortable on stage and the feedback was very good. I feel very free when I play as Berglind, but also more excited than with MUNTH, because what I address in the songs is very personal. There’s a lot of me in there. This is sensitive. And then there are people who chat during the concert. I don’t like it in the audience when I get the impression that people just come to chat or watch the concert through the cell phone of the person in front of them.
A few weeks ago I met Sven Regener from Element of Crime interviewed. They started as a band in the 1980s in English and then switched to German very successfully. The first album in German was a huge hit right away. But only a few people know that they had previously included a German song on an album that was essentially in English. I asked Regener about this one song and he said that was exactly the initial spark. Then they as a band understood that it was in German, that it was happening. That encouraged her. Was there ever a point where you realized: Oops, it’s really in German?
Giovanna Fartacek: That was a process. I knew I wanted to do this. But the line was thin. I didn’t want to make German pop like him Mathea for example does. Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s good and it’s justified, but that’s just not me. Both in terms of production and lyrics. At the same time, I’m not the snotty Viennese song either. It took me a while to figure out how to use my voice in German. At some point the first songs were on the table and I thought: Yes, it can work like that.
Does the German text come first, which you then implement musically?
Giovanna Fartacek: No. For me, text and music go hand in hand. When I approach the vocal line with a finished text, I feel too limited. I never plan on a theme; it emerges with the first few chords. Then I write down scraps of words. That’s how it is in the result. These are fragments of sentences that make sense together.
Let’s talk about the tone of your voice. It is significantly deeper than at MUNTH or does it just seem that way to me?
Giovanna Fartacek: No, you’re right. I sing much deeper.
Why?
Giovanna Fartacek: I’ve tried a lot. I wanted it to be more distinctive and I just like singing low. I have a good spectrum, but I just feel comfortable in the depths. We played around a lot there. Now the voice is far ahead. I wasn’t so convinced about it at the beginning because I found it too loud.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have noticed.
Giovanna Fartacek: It was very unusual for me. It’s even more direct when it’s in German and louder than usual. It’s very much about trusting yourself.
I really like the tone of the voice Rhye who sings extremely high for a man.
Giovanna Fartacek: Yes. I know. We also distorted the voice a bit.
So you didn’t want to make a record that sounded like German pop. How should it sound? Which direction should it go? I listen to chanson, electro-pop.
Giovanna Fartacek: I think it’s actually a mixture of what you mentioned. I was inspired by Erika Pluhar.
Actually?
Giovanna Fartacek: Yes, my mother gave me an old vinyl record of hers. André Heller wrote the lyrics and she sang these lyrics. That fascinated me. We hear that she is an actress. She can just speak. The way she delivered the lyrics did something to me. It’s just difficult to write in German. The record helped me. Then I just did it.
Why is it harder? It should actually be easier than writing in a foreign language.
Giovanna Fartacek: You are more vulnerable. In English you can hide better, paraphrase things and remain more abstract without really getting to the point.
How did you get this name “Berglind”? Is there intention behind it?
Giovanna Fartacek: In what way?
“At first I was afraid that people would associate it with Schlager, but I like the alpine character of the name.”
Insofar as the mountain linden tree is a fast-growing, heart-shaped tree.
Giovanna Fartacek: [lacht] No, not really, but thanks for that. This gives me an additional story. I picked up Berglinde as an Icelandic girl’s name. At first I was afraid that it would be associated with Schlager, but I like the alpine character of the name.
During the creation process, were you afraid of touching the hit genre?
Giovanna Fartacek: Not necessarily Schager, but even if it gets too poppy or too flat in the production, you think to yourself, especially at the beginning, when you’re still finding yourself: Phew, is this going to work?
Isn’t the German or German-speaking fear of textual banality often exaggerated? English texts by highly acclaimed lyricists are often banal when translated into German. Why does it have to be more meaningful in German than in English?
Giovanna Fartacek: Good question. I think it always has something to do with how you are, whether you manage to tell something and give a piece of yourself. But it is completely legitimate to come to the conclusion that music is entertainment and that there is no need for high standards, but people should just have fun instead of thinking about life and death. Fair enough.
The album is, it says in the press release, „inspired by your dreams, what you have already lived and the uncompromising hardship that life can bring”. That sounds a little shaken by life, as if someone is standing there Crossroads. Is “Feste Feiern Fallen” a crisis album?
Giovanna Fartacek: No. I see it as a slice of life album. I am now 32 years old and I notice how much is happening among friends and acquaintances. Families are created. Other couples break up after very long relationships. So much is happening, and at the same time you have the pressure of society, people are constantly asking you what you want to do with your life.
Does that stress you out?
Giovanna Fartacek: What stresses me out is that it doesn’t stress me out. I’m privileged that I can even think about this – about the big and small questions and everything that happens around it. Others have bigger worries and are currently having to fight a really tough fight for their existence.
Being a musician is inherently a struggle for existence, right?
Giovanna Fartacek: Yes. I also do a lot of things on the side. I work twenty hours in event management on the MDWI am at Like this working in booking, and I’ll be there from next year Waves im Booking.
And you also have two music projects going on?
Giovanna Fartacek: Three. At Bonjour I’m also part of the game now. I always do a lot. I need that I am a musician, but also not work as a musician. Just working as a musician would consume me.
Isn’t it the goal to one day be able to live solely from music?
Giovanna Fartacek: That was once the goal, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a living from one project alone. If you don’t have any hype and it goes through the roof, it’s difficult. My goal was to have everything I do under the umbrella of art and culture. I did that. I once studied business administration and worked in healthcare. The worlds were too far apart. So I don’t want to tear myself apart anymore. For two years I have managed to only work in the arts and culture sector. I feel arrived.
What will happen to me? Berglind happen?
Giovanna Fartacek: I don’t think it will go through the roof.
Why not?
Giovanna Fartacek: If you look at what music is working at the moment, since Covid, it’s tended to be stuff that’s easy. People don’t want to deal with difficult topics. But that’s my music. A little heavy. You have to want to get involved with them. It’s not the time for melancholic music. But that doesn’t mean that time can’t come again.
Thank you for the interview.
Markus Deisenberger
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Berglind live
October 12, 2023 Loft, Vienna
14.10.2023 Rockhouse, Salzburg
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Links:
Berglind (bandcamp)
Berglind (Facebook)
Berglind (Instagram)
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