Proudly championing their gloomy indietronica formula, Bromsen find their origins in the early 2000s, navigating the Berlin club scene with a knack for vintage electronica and indie melodies. While breaking up a few years later, the creative fire that they both shared was never really put out.
Fast forward to today, and the German duo has found its way back, releasing a brand new record, ‘MerryMan’. A glorious exercise in retrowave, indietronica and new-wave, the track blends fast-paced steady drum machines with arpeggiated synths and electric guitars. Also exuding a grainy, fashionable lo-fi character, the song is sure to connect with keen listeners around the world.
Intrigued by Bromsen and their Berlin years, we caught up with them to find out more about their history, artistry and future goals… Interview below!
Hey guys, how is it going? some of our readers might not be familiar with your project, how would you describe yourself, in a few words?
We are an indietronica duo from Berlin. “Indie” because of the guitar-based indie-rock roots of our old 2000er band “the pampelmuse” and “tronic” because of the synth-wave which carries us through our lives.
We are in love with your music. Those retrowave vibes are exactly what we were craving! What inspired you and pushed you towards this aesthetic?
It started with our first song “Merryman” which we initially had created as a typical indie rock song. It was catchy & nice but Richard was convinced that sth. was “missing”. Then he came up with that great “wave” sound and we both immediately knew “this is it”.
How did you guys meet? Who’s the most alternative one and the poppiest one? 🙂
We met long ago, when Richard joined our old band “the pampelmuse” back in the 2000ers. He was adding a sound to the band which enabled us to play in the cool clubs. Maybe he is also a bit more alternative, whereas Karlo is a bit more poppy but on the other side also a bit more dadaist. A good mixture 🙂
You recently released a wonderful single, ‘Merryman’. Could describe the context around the record? What does it mean for you?
It means a lot to us, as the creation of that single also built the starting point of our project/sound. We also love the message to let your own “Merryman” out and don’t take everything too seriously in life.
You describe yourself as an ‘indietronica artist’. That reminded us of The Notwist, notable indietronica outfit from Weilheim. Do you think the genre finds fertile territory in the German music scene?
Interesting question – as we’ve just started we’ll need to find that out :). Our mixture is more aggressive/punchy than The Notwist and the sounds from other comparable bands, adding a ‘wall of sound’ element to it; our attitude is also much different (but we like The Notwist btw). We’ve got more resonance outside of Germany so the answer might be a “yes” for bands like The Notwist with that melancholic/melodic sound and a “definitely maybe” for the Bromsen sound.
How would you the Berlin scene has changed since your younger years? Was there a more organic vibe back then?
Berlin has always been a fountain of creativity but at least to our experience at the time, Hamburg was much more present in the rock music scene. Berlin had always more electro vibes though and that has not really changed 🙂
Artistically speaking, what challenges have the last two years presented you with?
We started our little project in late 2021 and since then we’ve been creating & recording our songs with the aim to complete our album in spring next year. Recording & producing everything yourself has some advantages to it but especially when the software & hardware causes problems it can become extremely tedious and there have been some critical moments, but it felt to us that releasing “Merryman” already as a single while still producing the other songs has given us so much positive energy back that it will hopefully carry us with the synth-wave over the last hills.
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
The album 😉 We are basically “old school album guys” and aim for setting a milestone with that album.
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