Martin Kohlstedt – Feld

By starrymag | April 3, 2023

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) Intuitive, flowing, organic, sometimes electronically towering, sometimes just a classical piano note, for a brief moment quite consciously but much more subconsciously improvised, and, in between, all instrumental currents take place. It is and remains an experiment in constant negotiation.

 

 

Q) Please tell us more about the story behind your new song “OHM.”

 

A) “OHM” for me is constant searching, a dash of chance and unbridled flow. “OHM” moves through a plethora of different worlds while never straying too far from its underlying architecture, the core idea of the album Feld. Dystopian drone sounds and metallic clanks of a multifaceted chaos clear the air for a novelty to emerge a state of calm.

 

Q) How does the video for the song play into the message you imagined for it?

 

A) After the most intimate pausing of the last few years, something has built up that I couldn’t really hold back any more in the canon of departure of the new pieces. I’m just noticing how everything collides with the present time and I have to strengthen and straighten myself up quite a bit in order to tackle this new uncertainty, the videos help me to put a more consistent exterior on my childlike intuition, like photographs helping to construct a kind of “strengthened” mirror image, only still ambivalent, a quasi-highest possible contrast to all the uncertainties that are the actual fuel for my pieces. But this guy, who is marching through the different worlds has a plan, where does he want to go? I don’t know yet, but I have a feeling that I am better prepared for going with it.

 

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

A) They create their own movie from it in their head and follow the waves in their own way.

 

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you play around on the piano until the right sound finds you?

 

A) Many of my pieces appear for the first time on the piano. A motif makes itself felt again and again in intuitive sessions until it digs its way out of the shallows to the surface and becomes part of one’s own vocabulary. In Feld, I have applied this concept to a variety of instruments in my setup. The important thing is to have your equipment always at your fingertips, everything should be switched on, everything should be accessible – ready to capture an idea at any time! Everyone knows it, a melody, lyrics or a beat is buzzing through the head, sure words could be jotted down quickly, but sometimes seconds are crucial to get the essence of an idea out of you. Even a single thought of what input you need to rewire can bang you out of your holy right half of the brain.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

A) A hundred percent. Something else would not make sense to finish intuitive pieces authentically. Everything was created at home in my flat in Weimar, all the helping hands and instrumentalists who were involved refined the pieces together with me only at the very end to make them ready for their upcoming journey.

 

Q) Your Album Feld is releasing soon. What are some themes you will be exploring on it? 

 

A) The last few years have been particularly different from the years before in many respects. The music created during the pandemic followed the feeling of pausing. When the departure followed, the new circumstances, a kind of new sensibility, but also excessive demands and insecurities due to wars and nature, the music was not the same. It was precisely this tension that led to my new album Feld. So, I trashed all the sketches I had built conceptually. I only wanted to take seriously the improvised pieces where the idea exceeded the seventy percent mark after a short time without thinking too much, the way I have always done it on stage. It’s like the difference between two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, the potential of a piece from which you take a step back and “just let it run” is far higher than planned, compositional thinking for me.

 

Q) What are some tracks on the album that hold a special place in your heart or challenged the most creatively?

 

A) Since the album tells a story, there are core pieces that function like chapter dividers for me. “LUV,” “MOD,” “VIM,” “OHM” and “DIA” became the singles for that very reason. They always embody the new insights of the album journey and build the foundation for a new direction that was uncertain before. Each track emancipates itself from its predecessor and carries so many thoughts that can hardly be summed up in one statement.

 

Q) What do you hope lingers with listeners that explore Feld?

 

A) For me, the music of Feld has helped me to dive into other worlds, to leave behind the viscous time of the pandemic and, even if no goals can be formulated and we don’t know where the journey is going, to face the new challenges with the energy of hope. Maybe the people who will listen to it will feel in a similar way.

 

 

Q) Will you be heading out on tour in the near future to promote this new album?

 

A) Yes, I can’t wait to see all the wonderful people again during thirty tour stops in beautiful cities with incredible venues, a wonderful crew, some new synthesizers and a brand-new album. And the cherry on top of the cake: I can’t believe how many tickets have already been sold for the EU tour. It leaves me speechless.

 

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

A) It’s not so much “fans” in my eyes; there’s such a hierarchy in it. Rather, I have the feeling of like-mindedness that is attracted by one’s own energy. And social media, as the word suggests, it is a social network that every human being needs in order to contextualize. Every encounter, every discourse or even just a glance is like a mirror that is held up to you, that moves you forward and develops you. This constant negotiation is the key to my creativity.

 

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

A) Thank you.

 

 

 Watch Martin Kohlstedt at the Legendary Concertgebouw