“I always say my songs are about myself. Some of them are meant to be almost like a pep talk. It takes a lot to put yourself out there like this. You need all the reinforcement you can get.”
New Single: “Come On” OUT NOW
from Debut Album “DIGITAL GUILT” – Release 17.02.2012 on MOTOR Germany
(German text follows after English).
“When it can’t be done, do it. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t exist.“ Orson Welles
In this vein an album comes into being, an album that turns old lady zeitgeist on her head because it doesn’t sound like a product of the industry. Instead, it has the effect of music that could be made anywhere in the world, with the right people and without classical structures and major compromise. Thanks to digitalism.
ZOE.LEELA’s first full length album DIGITAL GUILT celebrates the digital age, yet simultaneously raises questions about it, as is clear from the title. Do we have the present day information overload that we all face under control, or does it control us? Is the rift between reality and the digital society placing us in a position of moral responsibility, challenging us with a fight against an unremitting world that forgives and forgets nothing? “Actions are visible,” a line from ZOE.LEELA’s song Come On, addresses this dilemma. The new reality: is it a doctrine of salvation or a utopia from yesteryear? While some proclaim the web to be an ahistorical hydra, which at best serves as a sort of domesticator, ZOE.LEELA is fascinated with the creative energy and cultural freedom within the digital sphere.
With the strong conviction that creativity is there for everyone, ZOE.LEELA decided to release her debut EP Queendom Come for free on the Cologne-based internet label Rec72.net. Foregoing the stress and limitations of dealing with major labels and distribution, her release made a splash. In the first month alone, the EP was downloaded 34,000 times. International radio airplay, interviews with the press and a tour of Germany followed. Advertising deals were also made. In retrospect, Queendom Come was a time of orientation within the digital world and finding oneself musically.
“At first I tried out various producers and musicians, looking for my own sense of expression,“ says ZOE.LEELA. “With DIGITAL GUILT, I pushed the boundaries and finally found it.“ As a whole, the album is more mature, elaborate, and presents itself in a new complexity.
Pounding Drum and Bass meets drifting grooves, elements of jazz, dub, intoxicating melodies. Embellished by ZOE.LEELA’s personal and poignant voice, the music rouses a physical reaction. Her experimentation with various musical styles becomes evident; from swing to hip hop and jazz, the artist remains poised and certainly delivers. “I like to play with identities and am not trying to offer the presentation of something calculable or predictable.“ This is how an idiosyncratic mix of songs like Pop-Up, a brilliantly simple pop piece, or Violet, with it’s enrapturing sexiness, slowly unfolds and gives the album depth and originality. She Rides, Homicide and Jewell offer a mix of brutality, abrasiveness, charm and imaginativeness. The first single Come On is garnished with contorted sounds and is an emotional climax, where the singer and her producer Noah Felk serve up a duo of harmonic perfection. The song smacks of desolate 80s dream-pop, but with a fresh and contemporary twist. While influences from the land of broken, fragmented beats aren’t to be denied, the album might be too soft to be categorized as Hardcore Electronic or Drum and Bass, meaning that it actually falls into the Pop genre.
Zoe finds her company within a circle of movers and shakers that are musicians, photographers, film makers, designers and authors, to name a few. Together they have turned the ZOE.LEELA project into something truly unique. The beginning of 2011 marks the onset of a live band including Pascal Gemmer on drums, Dominik Kenzler on guitar, and Patrick Kenzler on bass. Together, they have created a new musical force that allows ZOE.LEELA to flourish in her most natural environment: the stage. To be continued…
Text: Markus Gölzer
ZOE.LEELA’s music is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial Share Alike.
„WENN ES NICHT GEHT, TU ES TROTZDEM. TUST DU ES NICHT, EXISTIERT ES NICHT.“
In diesem Sinne entstand ein Album, das die alte Tante Zeitgeist kopfüber an die Wand tackert, weil es eben nicht klingt und wirkt wie ein Industrieprodukt, sondern wie Musik, die heute überall auf der Welt entstehen kann. Mit den richtigen Leuten. Ohne klassische Strukturen und Major-Handlangertum. Digital-Gott sei Dank.
ZOE.LEELAs erstes Full Length Album DIGITAL GUILT zelebriert das digitale Zeitalter und wirft – wie der Titel unschwer erahnen lässt – Fragen dazu auf. Haben wir die Informationsüberflutung überhaupt noch unter Kontrolle oder werden wir kontrolliert? Stellt uns die real-digitale Gesellschaft vor eine dauernde Bringschuld? Kämpfen wir nicht mittlerweile mit den Herausforderungen einer nachtragenden Welt, die nichts, aber auch gar nichts vergisst? „Actions are visible“ lautet eine Zeile in ZOE.LEELAs Song und erster Single aus dem kommenden Album „COME ON“.
„COME ON“ steht stellvertretend für ZOE.LEELAs kommendes Album „DIGITAL GUILT“. Tiefe Dubstep-Bässe, eine treibende, aber dennoch ambiente Atmosphäre, sich ins Ohr einbrennende Synthie-Melodien und ein klarer Gesang, der stellenweise an Stücke von Miss Kittin erinnert. Garantiert nicht nur etwas für die Elektronik Hörer unter euch.
Auch das kommende Album „DIGITAL GUILT“ wird im November, wie der Vorgänger „Queendom Come“, wieder unter Creative Commons veröffentlicht. (Das Prinzip kennt man schon durch Bands wie Radiohead, die ihr Album „In Rainbows“ ihren Fans kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt haben und sie für das Album zahlen konnten, was es ihnen Wert war.)
ZOE.LEELA ist somit das erste Deutsche Projekt, welches dieses Prinzip nun umsetzt, jedoch auch gleichzeitig weiterführt. So wird „DIGITAL GUILT“ auch über die regulären Vertriebswege digital und physisch veröffentlicht. Keine Frage, dass ZOE.LEELA damit einen völlig neuen Weg betritt, Musik in Deutschland zu vermarkten.