Movie and music are not just a good match – they simply belong together. No wonder that the rad German band Claire has put feelers out onto their first film debut that they realized together with director Teresa Hoerl. And of course they have written the soundtrack for it as well. The Munich band consisting of Matthias Hauck, Nepomuk Heller, Fridolin Achten und Florian Kiermaier and Josie-Claire Bürkle, have fascinated us since their very beginning and convinced us even more when we saw them on a concert in Berlin some time ago; with their captivating sound that is a mix of deep synthpop, electronic-pop, halftime beats and of course the remarkable voice of gorgeous frontwoman Claire.

A robbery, a mysterious telephone call and a nightclub stormed by a special police unit – and an atmosphere that reminds us of the movie Drive and maybe also a bit of Only God Forgives. However, what at first sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster actually all happened that way, and these real events inspired the electro-pop band in the making of their evocative 6-track mini-epic “Raseiniai”.

Raseiniai is the name of a provincial town somewhere in Lithuania. It is also the focal point of their EP of the same name, where they work through their rollercoaster ride of experiences the previous year: in September 2014, during the band’s tour of the UK, their tour bus containing all their equipment was stolen in London. The authorities in Britain had already given up hope of solving this case when Claire received an anonymous phone call the following December, followed soon after by an anonymous e-mail providing information on where the stolen objects were being kept. Shortly before Christmas, the gangsters’ hideaway in Raseiniai, Lithuania, was stormed by the police and most of the stolen items were recovered. “We decided soon after our bus and equipment were stolen to work through what had happened in our music”, says frontwoman Josie with regard to Claire’s new EP. “We are extremely grateful to the nameless informant. He is our unknown hero, and we have dedicated the EP to him.”

“Raseiniai” is vivid, atmospheric music that you can dance to or sit down and listen to, somewhere along the spectrum between a soundtrack score and club tunes. However, the gesamtkunstwerk “Raseiniai” has even more to offer: in addition to the tracks on the EP, the band and the director Teresa Hoerl also came up with a narrative for a film that tells the story of the anonymous informant who made that phone call in December 2014. Why did he decide to reveal the location where the instruments were being stored? What happened in Raseiniai?

The EP will be released on 30.10. and the 4 episodes of the movie will be released the following dates: 26.10 1st Episode / 30.10 2nd Episode  / 02.11 3rd Episode / 06.11 4th Episode

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header image by Christoph Schaller