Track By Track: Christian Löffler on new album Mare

Recorded in a log cabin on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Mare is an immserive and fascinating record, but with enough beats to keep the clubber in you interested.

Löffler guides us through the album track by track - and you can also stream Mare below.

Myiami

The main idea for “Myiami” was born in March 2015 while I was touring in North America. I spent some days in Miami and were able to use the studio of my friend DJ Tennis. It was a very untypical day for Miami. Grey, rainy and a strong wind was blowing. I remember jamming in the studio while watching the palm trees moving outside.

Haul

Haul was the first track with Mohna I finished for the new album. It is very direct and focused and feels like a follow up for “Eleven" from 2012, but in a maybe more mysterious way.

Mosaics

It’s based on long jam session. I re-pitched, re-arranged and layered a recording of my voice and combined it with a melody I played on the piano. The piano line is also cut and re-arranged, as a result it's more sounding like a pad and it works perfectly with the massive, strong bassline. Basically this song could also work very well as piano piece just like “Youth” or “Pigment”.

Neo

This came out of an experiment late at night. I remember sitting in my studio playing around with different recordings from other sessions and I found this violin recording from a friend of mine. Just for fun and all very low volume as I actually wanted to go to bed, I added a very basic beat and sub bass and recognized that it worked very well together. So I wrote some extra parts for the violin and it all came together very fast and very nicely. I love the combination of the classical elements and the rough drum machine sounds. “Neo" is one of my favourites from the album.

Youth

Years ago I used to have a project for instrumental, piano music. I wrote many pieces like this. It feels very natural to have it on the record, because I actually have a longer history making music like this than the dance music.

Lid

“Lid” was instrumental at first but I decided to add vocals. I recorded several sessions but in the end I only used a part of the refrain. It was very spontaneous. You can even hear a mouse click in the recording at some point.

Mare

The instrumental of “Mare" was originally made for a side project of mine which I'm working on from time to time. At first it also had vocals from me in it. I'm not sure anymore, but somehow I decided to send the instrumental to Mohna and overnight she came up with these breath-taking lyrics. It took the song into a totally different direction but in a way I couldn't even imagine.

Athlete

“Athlete" is based on loops I created for my live shows. Also there was never a real arrangement, I just played it in my live sets and decided to record it once, since it worked very well every time I played it. It is pretty simple and minimalistic but also very open and improvised. I love playing this track live. You can go in many directions. Let it be more chilled or very focused and powerful.

Vind

Mohna decided to jam about it and came up with this kind of spoken word vocals that fit the darker feel of this track very well. I love the pitched down vocals in the break and when the lead plays the higher notes and everything opens up.

Silk

“Silk” is based on a melody I played randomly on my kalimba. I wanted to have this track really focused and stripped down. Combined with heavy sub bass and the rough drums I recorded a melody on the hang drum over it. The whole track is reduced in its elements but sounds complex since everything goes through a lot of delay and reverb processing.

Nil

“Nil” is very important to me and personally it is definitely a special song on the album. I recorded the main theme and vocals while touring in North America in the end of 2014. It was just a quick sketch using the internal mic of my laptop. Sadly I lost my computer on this tour and all what was left was a 4 minute sketch. I forgot about it. But just before I had to finish I remembered it and tried to complete it. It was not easy but I wanted to have it on the record by all means.

Swim

"Swim" is a personal ode to an old project of mine where I was combining epic synth melodies with broken beats. I used to have a Myspace page for that project and also “Eisberg (Hemal)" from my first album was born from that original idea.

Krone

One of the more focused, danceable tracks, based on a piano jam. The actual piano recording is very strong and could definitely also work as an acoustic version.

Pacific

"Pacific" was also originally meant for a side project of mine and I was struggling with finishing it. It always felt like there is something missing but after leaving it for some months, I realized that everything is said.

Pigment

Another piano piece that belongs to “Youth” as the instrumentation is very similar. Currently I'm working on a rework for my live shows which will be featured on my upcoming remix album.

Wilderness

“Wilderness” is the only track that was finished before I had the intention to work on a new album. It's also one of the first songs I wrote after moving into a new studio.

The Great White Open

Another favourite of mine from the album. There are just 3 elements. The zither, a pad sound and the recording of breaking waves. I love playing this as an intro of my live show.

Mare is out now via Ki Records.