Photography by Tim Cavadini

We sat down with the Vienna based newcomer band – and siblings – Wallners to talk about their new cinematic video, the best thing to work with family and when a song is ready for them.

We are just listening to your latest song „All again“. It’s beautiful and evokes a lot of melancholy and has quite a sad touch to it we would say. What is it about and is it based on true events / autobiographical?

Basically the song is about the dream of reliving a time with someone you lost. It’s essentially about the beauty of these memories and at the same time it’s about the pain of not being able to fully let go. On a deeper level the song’s also about the process of memory and how it can intertwine with or blur our own perception of reality. Though All Again is influenced by certain events and the time we wrote it, it’s also, like all of our songs, a work of fiction and inspired by a mixture of different sources (like a certain emotion, dreams, stories we heard or simply an an image that comes to mind, for example).

The video was directed by Rupert Höller. Did you approach him with a ready idea for the visuals or did you create this together?

We had a rough script in mind when we first discussed it with Rupert but were open for changes. We love his work and think he’s an amazing director, that’s why we asked him to write his own version of the story, based on our input and ideas and Rupert once again managed to create something very unique.

“On a deeper level the song’s also about the process of memory and how it can intertwine with or blur our own perception of reality.”

I read you work on a song up to one year in order to expose the core of the song. Can you tell us more about this process and how you know when a song is ready?

To be honest, this is not really something we are too proud of :-P. So far, it just kind of happened that way. But it really always depends on the song, some tracks just take longer so that we have to put them aside for some time and others are finished rather quickly. We know that the song is ready when we finally don’t feel like it’s missing something anymore, so it’s really just a feeling.

You are four siblings – how different are you in characters?

Well, we are all different in a way, obviously, but at the same time we’re really close, have a lot in common; share a similar attitude towards life and enjoy to have a good laugh once in while.

What’s the best thing to work with family and the most difficult part and how do you deal with it?

One of the best things is certainly that we know each other so well and can communicate or understand one another quite naturally. We’re on the same page when it comes to a lot of things and there’s a lot we don’t need to explain to each other. The tricky part sometimes is that we are four people with four different opinions and obviously we don’t agree on every single thing. But it’s also great because you’ve got 4 different perspectives and characters and that’s often very helpful and a lot of fun.

“We are 4 people with 4 different opinions and obviously we don’t agree on every single thing. But it’s also great because you’ve got 4 different perspectives and characters.”

Your musical background – professional training or self-taught?

Both. We’ve all had different teachers along the way (some of us still have) but we also learned a lot and still are simply by playing and working at home together and self-teaching us a lot.

The consequences of how politics are dealing with this pandemic will last very long – how do you think the music industry will change?

Due to the current situation many musicians will probably focus on recording more than ever. But we really hope that all live musicians will have the opportunity to be back on stage as soon as possible.

The greatest song of all times for you?

Impossible to answer, we’ll try anyway by naming a few of our favorite songs from different eras:

Let it be – The Beatles
Bohemian rhapsody – Queen
La petite file de la mer – Vangelis
Instand crush – Daft Punk
Lacrimosa – Mozart

Your dreams for the future?

Our dreams for the future are mostly to be able to keep doing what we love; for us and our loved ones to stay healthy and simply being surrounded by the people we love.