Hello everybody, we're here today with Coltaine. How are you?

Coltaine — Hi, great, thank you.

So you're playing today at the Motocultor Festival. How do you feel about it? Excited, nervous?

Julia — Yeah, we're really excited because it's the first time we've played for 90 minutes, and also at a big festival in France like this. So, yeah, we're looking forward to it.

You've got such beautiful sounds that make the listener travel when listening to them. What do live shows bring to the table that is different from the studio versions?

Amin — I think we allow ourselves to expand a little bit on the transitions, meaning we don't play just one track after the other. We worked on the time in between songs, making it flow, having ups and downs. And I think that also describes the journey for the listeners at the end of the day.

You released two albums so far. With the first one, you're usually building yourself, and with the second one, you know better what the band's identity is. So what do you think this second album tells us about Coltaine?

Benedikt — I think both albums can be seen as a journey and the different feelings which come across. It's heavy, like the first one, but also having these interludes of more moody, atmospheric stuff. I think it's an extension of the first one.

Brandung is more ocean-themed, desert-themed, and Forgotten Ways was more forests and nature, which is more cloudy, inspired by the area where we are from, like the Black Forest and the Alps regions. Inspired by... something like this.

Amin — For both albums, we worked with pictures, strong pictures, nature…

What is your creative process? How do you create all together?

Amin — We develop ideas. They can show up randomly at any given moment, basically. And then we put them to the test by just jamming around with them and trying different things and different kinds of versions, until we're all feeling that one feeling. We're all looking for that. We know “okay, that's the riff, that's the song”. And I think that's how it goes with really every song we've written.

Benedikt — Sometimes, when we all have an idea of the direction in which the song has been shaped, we talk about it, talk about the feelings we have when we listen to or play the songs. And then we contribute and share our vision about it. And then, when we keep developing it, it gets more of an image in our mind. So it helps.

Amin — What also happened was we explained riffs, ideas we had to ourselves by explaining pictures. Imagine a movie where this and that happens, and basically the music is the soundtrack to it. That's also a language that we speak during the creative process. Because it helps a lot to have the music support pictures in our heads. Or dreams, maybe even, I don't know. And that's also a big part of the creative process for us.

Moe — It's a bit conceptual, but we leave it also open for listeners to have their own feelings and pictures that they have in mind when they listen to the music. But in general, we like to work with pictures. For these two records, we worked with nature and inspiration.

What do you want the listener to keep in mind about Coltaine after listening to the album?

Amin — Maybe it's not even about the listener keeping something in mind about us. More like finding something for themself. I mean, we write the music with ideas and visions. Ideas we have that give us the feeling we seek from the music. To make us feel good. Not with the intention of, “Here is what our idea is, so please understand it and take it.” Like, listen to it and take from it what you can find in it. It’s an invitation. It's not really… an invitation to join us. Join us, but with your own vision, with your own thing you can find in the music. It's up to them, not to us.

That means your music is more like, “Here is the music, join us, let's enjoy it all together, but everyone with our own meaning.”

Benedikt — I think that's also what we feel when we play live. When we feel the vibe on stage and also flowing to the audience. It's amazing.

Julia — Like Amin said, it's like a movie. We arrange the songs on the album at the end to have some kind of dramaturgy or something like that. So you can start slowly with ambience into the album and get the vibes of the album. And then you get another story in the next song, and then it will be slower or more ambient, instrumental. Then it bursts out into screaming or heavy music, heavy riffs. Then it goes on and on like this.

We really think about how the listener can experience the album as well on stage. Like, how is our setlist so you are not overwhelmed for three songs and then it's too quiet? It's a good mixture of everything. It's like a theater.

And if Forgotten Ways were the soundtrack to a movie, what kind of movie would it be?

Julia — Like, if you would be at the sea, at the coast, but it's not sunny. It's more like a really dangerous scene with big waves and a storm. But also when the sun is coming out again. So it's like ups and downs of heavy contrast. So you have the calming sun, and then you have the dangerous sea and the deep sea and the desert. A lot of pictures.

What kind of movie would it be? I don't know.

Amin — I think that's the beauty of it. That the movie you can write for yourself when you hear the music. We had the vision that was ours when writing the music. But I think it's not up to us to dictate what the movie has to be. Because I think that the album is very versatile in different styles and topics. So it's really up to your own interpretation.

Julia — Maybe like an adventure-style movie with one character. Or some characters just being alone in nature without a lot of civilization. Experiencing melancholy or loneliness. But also the warmth of different people you meet on the road.

Amin — In a metaphorical way, the sea can also be a metaphor for moods or feelings you have. I think it's also about grief and hope and relief. Like, different phases. We are doing melancholic stuff but with a glimpse of light in the distance.

Julia — Yeah, that's a good description.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?

Julia — I think a movie soundtrack for an adventure in forests or at the sea or in the desert. Music that you can feel big emotions with, but also get songs to calm down your emotions. So maybe, yeah. What would you say?

Amin — I would describe it as an atmospheric, immersive journey that can help you look within.

Do you have a message for the people listening to you?

Julia — We just hope that people can enjoy the music in their own way. To feel something that we also felt during writing, and also have their own interpretation. To enjoy the music as a whole, as the whole album, or on stage, in front of the stage when we play live.

Amin — Yeah, maybe to have a chance to slow down a bit, I think, with our music, in this world going, running ever faster day by day. And I think it's important to sometimes take a moment, step back, relax and maybe look within. And I think that's something we can appreciate if people can have it with our music.

Benedikt — Yeah. And I think also to emotionally outburst and have rough feelings getting out can also be a relief, probably also for listeners, if they can get into the music. So maybe something like this.

Thank you a lot for taking the time today for this interview and for answering my questions.

Coltaine — Thank you very much.