English Statement

Strolz & Razelli: Back to Earth – Double Single-Release

Matthias Strolz, April 21, 2023

It’s on. Kurt Razelli and I rise, melt into a band, share us. We go out into the world. Today with our double single release “Ich muss siegen!” (I must be victorious!) and “Me Version 3.0”.

Listening: https://bfan.link/ich-muss-siegen. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxtTauiXS08. Tickets for our tour in late autumn: www.strolzrazelli.earth.

Where from? Where to? Why? We come from our Inner Place. We come with music, an expression and dance of our aliveness. I don’t know whether Kurt would say it like that. He doesn’t use many words, he is a magician with sounds, basses, melodies, beats, and effects. For me, words are essential means of expression, always have been. Fascinated by it, deeply woven into this universe. With German and English now into two universes.

Kurt came across in 2018. Without being asked, he chopped up my parliamentary speeches and resurrected them with an electronic beat. In a different guise. With an impressive effect. We presented the joint album “Lost in Space” after my political hand-over in October 2018 in Vienna’s Flex. Full house. Just one appearance. “Once only, like Woodstock”, we grinned. I had decided to slow down for the family.

But it was an experience that sticks with me. The magic of music. I knew “her” from my youth, as a member of the village band. I knew her from my storm and urge years, from the dance floor, as a place of refuge, as a companion, as pure joy. But co-creating her myself and delivering it personally, that touched me deep inside. That’s where Kurt Razelli and I found each other.

Popping into each other on Vienna’s Ringstrasse last summer, it was clear to both of us: time is ready to start co-creating together. I have struggled to find a language to respond to the turmoil of our times. We feel and see parts of our world growing towards destruction. What can I do when the world is on fire? What can and do I want to contribute to healing and peace? It is, for this stage: music. Tentatively it began to swell and developed into a powerful creative flow. The lyrics came through in Barcelona, Lisbon, on Mallorca, in the Vienna Woods and, in January 23, in India. They came – except for the first track – in English. I spoke them into my smartphone, sent them to Kurt, and he began to cast his magic. We are “Back to Earth”. We assess the state of the world, find pain and fears. We celebrate the adventure of being human, find relief, joie de vivre and love.

Our album will be released in autumn 23. Some will be stirring tracks; others are songs that carry peace. The lyrics of “Ich muss siegen!” are me struggling with the war. Understanding the incomprehensible. War is a human decision, not a human condition. As is peace. Kurt caught the words and framed them with heavy sound. Alex Tomann was and is with us in the beat4feet studio. The sonority.rocks team helped us creating an immersive video. Philipp Hochmair gives us his brilliant expressiveness as an actor. And töchtersöhne accompanies us into the world and concert halls, arriving there in November.

We don’t want to let brutality stand alone. Our album will be an escalation of love. It comes as musical vitamin shots in complex times. Therefore, already for the beginning, we double up with “Me Version 3.0”: There is light and shadow in each of us. We are children of – at least partially – free will. We choose what we feed. What we feed grows. This is going to become big in our lives, in the world.

Kurt and I invite you to deep dive with us. Going into the words, the tones, the melodies. Plunging into the pulse of the world and our lifes, crying, laughing, dancing. Whatever stands up for you when you get yourself immersed.”

www.strolzrazelli.earth