909originals catches up with GHEIST
German electronic live act GHEIST have just dropped a new three-track EP, Gravity, on the Embassy One label. The release of the new EP follows on from the success of the singles Losing Game and Only on the same label last year, which earned the Berlin-based group widespread acclaim, as well as their 2019 debut album, Zukunft.
Renowned for their take on melodic electronica, GHEIST have also previously released on labels including Diynamic, Last Night On Earth, Stil Vor Talent, and their own Radau imprint.
The release of Gravity comes in the midst of their biggest world tour to date, which kicked off last month in Cartagena, Colombia. You can download/stream the release here.
909originals caught up with them.
Thanks for talking to us. How would you describe your new Gravity EP?
Hello, and thank you for having us. Our Gravity EP outlines the different vibes and styles we are currently creating with GHEIST. While the track You Need To Understand touches the electronica side of what we are doing, Gravity itself is entirely built for the dancefloor.
In between those two tracks stands River, which connects very much to the values and sound of GHEIST as such, with deep and melancholic harmonies, thick synth layers, a breakbeat, and vocals that appear strong but somehow very fragile.
We love that we can show our audience a bigger picture of GHEIST with Gravity as an EP – making it a special one.
Our favourite track on the EP is probably You Need to Understand. Is there a story behind that track? Is it autobiographical?
In a way, all of our lyrics are autobiographical, even when they appear more cryptic. One of our goals with lyrics is not to be too specific, so we give the listener a chance to relate to them with their own stories and feelings. This song is generally about coping and forgiving, so you can move on with your life without a huge shadow hanging over you all the time.
You made your debut on the Emabssy One label last year with the Losing Game and Only singles. How did that relationship come together?
Our relationship with Embassy One happened organically, as our studio is in the same building. Of course, we’ve been familiar with the great work Embassy does for other artists, so when they came to us and proposed to work together, we were very happy to follow through with it… and the rest is history.
Speaking of labels, how is your own Radau imprint coming along? Are you taking the same approach with the label now as when you launched it? Is it still going to be mainly a vehicle for your own releases?
When we started the label, Radau became home to our musical output and allowed us to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and this is still the case. After some time and working on our releases quite successfully, we decided that this year is a good time to open up the label to other artists as well, slowly. So everyone should, and can, send us their music.
A few years ago, when we started with GHEIST, our sound was a little different than what was ‘famous’ at that time, so many labels were too scared to release our music. But we believe if the song is unique and special, we want to be the platform, with Radau to support that.
Your remix of Disclosure and Flume’s You & Me was released last September after getting played out extensively last summer. How did that remix come about?
When we started the rework, we were actually just thinking about making something special for our live shows. The idea was to create this moment between our audience and us, but when we started jamming in the studio, we realised very quickly that this could be much more.
We are very excited about the outcome of this track and extremely grateful for the responses we’ve been given up to today.
It’s been four years since your debut album, Zukunft, landed. Do you think you could produce a record like that now, with your career having moved on since?
An album to us is always a witness to a certain timeframe, like a diary. Listening to it puts you immediately back in time and gives you all those feelings and thoughts you’ve been having at that time. It’s like a soundtrack to your own movie.
But as this moment is over, you are happy to move on to the next, with all the curiosity that is in you.
We don’t think it’s possible to create the same thing twice, but we don’t see the need for it. The moment we decide to come up with another album will be very exciting, because it will be different. This being said, we are very happy that things are kind of back to normal right now, but we are also happy that we can say we made the most out of this very difficult time.
Art and photography have always been a very important aspect of your releases to date – would it be fair to say that you get inspiration from all sorts of art, not just music?
Yes, you are entirely right – we gain a lot of inspiration from all the different art forms that are out there. A good movie, a good book, a painting, or even good food can be very inspiring to us. And it’s not just art – it’s also a good conversation or a nice time with your friends and loved ones that help to increase your output, as it increases the joy in your life.
What does the coming year have in store for GHEIST?
We are touring quite a lot in 2023, we are back in the United States in February, and we are putting together some nice shows and festivals all over Europe. We are also working on new music, which will be released throughout the upcoming year.
But most of all, we are creating a setup for a live show that will bring something new and unique, which we can’t wait to share with you. We hope to see a lot of new and familiar faces on the dancefloor, so that we can have a special moment together and a few tequilas… 😉
GHEIST’s Gravity EP is out now, and can be downloaded/streamed here.
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