Berlin

My Successful Record Release Party

Last Friday my new EP The Muse was released. I celebrated the record release party at my favourite spot of the Berlin art scene: Galerie Studio St.St. This gallery is run by the charming painter, songwriter and living art work Juwelia Soraya St.St. In my opinion Juwelia is the sweetest transvestite this city has ever seen – a friendly funny host who opens her cozy gallery every weekend to present her colourful pictures and her hilariously trashy songs. Visitors are invited to chat and to contribute all kinds of art themselves. If you want to meet me by accident, come to the gallery on a Friday night. You might find me there while performing opera or my own songs.

As I have always appreciated the warm living-room atmosphere of Juwelia’s world, I decided to launch The Muse at Galerie Studio St.St. Due to the typical traffic delays I arrived a little bit late, wearing a stunning olive green velvet dress made by my favourite Berlin fashion designer Daniel Rabe. The gallery had already been crowded and a couple of my best friends gave me a very warm welcome. Everything was perfect to feel good during the show which was opened by Juwelia.

At first I sang all the title songs from my first four EPs, starting with “Silly Little Boys” from 2011. None of those boys had gathered among the spectators, not even my three muses from The Muse. Thus, I was merely surrounded by nice boys and girls who made me feel good. I truly enjoyed the interaction with the audience this time. In fact, it was the best record release party I have ever had! Unfortunately some friends were forced to be absent because of the flu or geographical distance. In my thoughts, however, we were all connected …

If you were not able to come to my show either, please feel free to have a glimpse at the concert photos on my Facebook page. The EP itself is available at my CD shop or at iTunes and other digital download platforms.

Swinging Berlin Meets The Muse

Recently I’ve revealed plenty of interesting facts about the last muse who helped me finish my forthcoming record The Muse. However, there is more to my new EP than blue eyes, unfulfilled longing and Croatia! 😉

In fact, the whole story started at my Swinging Berlin record release party in the most popular of all overrated capitals. Just as all the other records from my portfolio as a solo artist, Swinging Berlin had been inspired by somebody. Contrary to my expectations, that person appeared at the venue although I had not invited him.

In his presence I felt torn. Inside of me there was a mixture of raging anger and a certain delight to see him again. Yes, when I went on stage, I actually wanted to slap him in the face, but at the same time I enjoyed singing in front of him. He was even naughty enough to take pictures of my performance! We didn’t talk except for saying hello and goodbye.

After all, I was happy about having created Swinging Berlin. Furthermore its muse had the magical power to fill me up with even more inspiration. In August 2014 I wrote “The Muse” and its German version “Die Muse”. It took a while to arrange the track because my motivation had almost reached point zero …

Last winter around Christmas destiny gave me another worthwhile encounter which resulted in “Sasha”, but afterwards all my attempts to compose more music were meant to fail. I was no longer satisfied with the outcome of my endeavours!

One morning in January I woke up before 5 a.m. without being able to fall asleep again. Thus, I was wondering where to travel in summer … What a great coincidence! A couple of hours later my holiday was booked out and I would never have produced “Deine Blauen Augen” / ”Tvoje Plave Oči” if I had slept till dawn. Well, life is full of surprises sometimes. 🙂

“The Muse“ press photos in the making

During the production of a new record I always wonder how I should present myself on the cover. On Swinging Berlin I used to be a pink object of art who is hardly recognizable as the person behind the mask. In 2014 I had already been aware of the fact that my appearance would change on the following EP. But in which way? Honestly, I had no idea!

If you read my previous articles, you may remember that I suffered from a lack of inspiration until summer. In addition, parts of my equipment got broken without my fault and it took several weeks to get them back from the repair service. A couple of days later I went on a holiday in Croatia as you know from the article “The Story Behind ‘Tvoje Plave Oči’“.

When I took a series of sunset pictures at the beach of Starigrad-Paklenica, I wouldn’t visualize how they might look on the cover or on the press photos for my new EP The Muse. I was merely thinking of the muse who triggered off the fire to complete my record!

Back in Berlin, I wrote the songs “Deine Blauen Augen“ / “Tvoje Plave Oči“ and “I’m Gonna Fly Away“. Finally I realized that my artwork for The Muse should be connected with Croatia where my creativity had flourished more than I could ever have dreamed of.

So I contacted the photographer Christina Katz who had also taken my press photos for Alien Pop in 2013. In the beginning of July we met for a photo shooting at her studio in Berlin. In comparison with my former productions, I wore very light and natural make-up while posing in front of Christina’s green screen. Of course I had already chosen a couple of holiday pictures for the background. During the session I imagined how I would smile at the muse if he were standing next to the photographer. Never again will I see him in this life, but the simple thought of looking at each other evoked a sparkle in my eyes.

After the photo shooting I selected the best pictures for a photomontage. Eventually Christina took me back to my most romantic sunsets of this year. If you buy The Muse on CD, you will also be able to enjoy them in the booklet.

The Making Of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“

At the beginning of July I thought that my forthcoming record The Muse was finished after writing “Deine Blauen Augen“ / “Tvoje Plave Oči“. However, I had itchy feet to travel again even though my holidays in Croatia were over. After almost ten years of living in Berlin I’ve had a feeling not to be at home here any more. Suddenly I was humming the chorus melody …

I guess I might have been inspired while skating at Tempelhofer Feld, the former airport of Berlin. When the weather is fine, I often go there and pretend to be an airplane to take off. You can see it in the music video of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“. This summer I’ve also spent a lot of time at the lakes of the city. For a while I withdrew from the art scene, watching magnificent sunsets instead. In fact, nature is the only true artist! After my holidays I was simply craving for peace and quiet to reflect on certain things in my life. In such moments I wrote these lyrics:

I’m Gonna Fly Away

I fell off the swing in the city of dreams
I crashed into the dirt of the streets
How I tried to be an artist
searching for love!
For art they would not pay
and love was just for sale

I’m gonna fly away from here,
away from the capital of superficiality
I’ll stay away, away from you, dear
’cause you are not my friend
and I won’t come again

I was digging the scene in the city of dreams
I was digging for a cake in the cream
From station to station
I’ve been running for the train
My inner child is calling
to escape from the rain

I’m gonna fly away from here …

My song will fly from the southern sky
where the crystal sea is clear
And I’m gonna sing in foreign words
The sun will shine on me

I’m gonna fly away from here …

While making the video, two friends of mine assisted me at the camera. What would I have done without Albert Ewert and Ralph-Joachim Edler von Görbitz! I could not have filmed myself on the swing or during the skating episodes at Tempelhofer Feld! So I’m really grateful to them for their help. In my opinion they did a great job!

One Saturday morning in late July I went to the visitor platform at Tegel airport. Surrounded by families with little children, I recorded film material of planes during take-off. Holding my camcorder, I felt a slight pain in my heart. How I wished to be on board of one of those planes! Instead, I travelled just a few kilometres to shoot a beautiful sequence at the shore of lake Wannsee.

Now the video of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“ has been online for two weeks. Since its release on YouTube I’ve observed special popularity in Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. After the recording at Planet Earth Studios sound engineer Alex said, “This sounds like a song from the Balkans!“ Well, some coincidences just happen without a reason …

On the EP The Muse “I’m Gonna Fly Away“ was chosen to be track 5, the link between “Deine Blauen Augen“ and the Croatian version “Tvoje Plave Oči“. One thing is for sure: I have to fly away in order to produce my next video!

Anna Aliena

Singer and composer