Zimmer90: The German duo charming us with their synthy melancholia

0:28Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly.

0:55Josh and Finn from Zima90. What a pleasure talking to you guys. Of course, like many people, I discovered your music on social media back in 2023. I mean, that was crazy. That song, What Love Is, it was literally everywhere, right? Yeah. So when you guys actually met and formed Zimmer 20, I wonder, perhaps, Joshua Finn, if you want to tell us about the beginnings of this kind of collaboration. We actually met when we were about 18 or 19 years old in our hometown in Stuttgart at a party. And Finn was playing jazz piano. And at that time, I only had lessons in classical piano, but was also interested in writing songs and listen to a lot of different music like Pink Floyd and other stuff.

1:45And I was fascinated by this jazz stuff. And then we talked about music and we ended up at the same piano teacher who connected us because we were the two boys who never practiced. and wanted to write our own stuff. And that's how it all began. You know, in terms, you mentioned piano, there are piano, but there's always a little bit of electronic as well, right? So how did you guys perhaps, how did you collaborate musically? Did you bring different elements, both of you? Or do you think both of you are quite similar musically? I think we connected over similar influences a lot, over bands like L 'Emperatrice from France or Passes.

2:29or Tame Impala. And I think what we love a lot are synthesizer sounds and electronic sounds. We got super interested in it. And because we all have a background from keys and playing this stuff, also listening to German electronic music like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. I think we were always amazed by that. And it kind of became the core of the sound of the last few few songs and records we did. So yeah, that happened like that. Well, beautiful references there. Kraftwerk made me cry when I saw them live for the first time. So it's a good place to start, right? You guys mentioned you're from Stuttgart, but are you based in Freiburg?

3:12Where are you basing yourself these days? We're based in Freiburg, yes. We have our studio there and it's a pretty chill city right in the nature, surrounded by the black forest and rivers. And it's pretty cool to make music there because it's a bit calmer and you have the space for inspiration. And that picture, is it your studio that I see all over social media in the album covers? It looks so nice. It looks high ceilings, amazing windows. Is that where you guys are talking to me right now? We are currently in Stuttgart because we are on our way from Istanbul. We played a show in Istanbul two days ago and we're going to Berlin and it was smarter to stay a few days in Stuttgart.

3:57And so we're at Finn's childhood home. And guys, you are about to release your debut album. I think a lot of people are looking forward to it because they know some of your songs already, you know, via social media or they match you via festivals. So tell us, it's called Interior. I mean, is the name literally what it means? that it's quite, you know, it's an album that is looking inside, is looking about feelings. Tell us a bit more about the title, perhaps, Finn. So the title was really interesting to us because it has this double meaning. Our band is also about design, architecture and art because we are super interested in that stuff as well.

4:34And we feel like it's very inspiring to not only get your inspiration from music, but also from stuff that happens outside music, like art or painting. This word interior kind of comes out of this world and also means the inner world of a person or somebody. And it started for us like one or two years ago. You mentioned it when the one track of ours kind of blew up. The pace was increasing a lot since then. And we didn't got to spend so much time at home anymore and were like constantly touring. And that's like crazy to us because we are super happy to be playing all over Europe and also the world, like Mexico and the States.

5:17But it was also a challenge for us to adapt to the new kind of challenges that came with it and the higher pace. And the album kind of came out of the need to create the space for us where we can just be ourselves and maybe find some comfort or just have fun and experiment. And the songs are just kind of the product of that.

5:48And Josh, I have to say, it's an amazing selection of music. If I may tell you, my favorite for some reason is Wait For You. I think it's such a beautiful track in the beginning. Even reminded me a little bit of the 90s, those kind of the beats at the beginning. I wonder, so tell us, do you have a favorite or a song that is particularly special for you in interior? Could be Wait For You, who knows? You got one? I think my favorite song is Feel Like We Used To or Feel Myself. I like those two a lot because they're pretty chilled and soft and they came out really natural.

6:37yeah they're very warm they talk about films but there is something quite optimistic about the tracks as well it's hard to hard to explain right finn yeah i think we always have this kind of mixture of some melancholia that's always going on for some reason i don't know why or where it comes from but it in the end it's it's in there i don't know how it happens but one track that i really love is till the morning comes which will be out with the album and it's kind of breaking out of of this kind of corner because it's very euphoric and like very danceable and i think yeah i think it's really cool that we also did some stuff to challenge us and yeah maybe go like the next steps in our sound and also discover like some new some new sides to to us as musicians as well.

7:31You mentioned euphoria there, but even in Make Me Wanna Dance, you know, there is some sort of euphoric. You could dance to it, right, in a way. Yeah, definitely. And guys, tell us, I mean, I saw that you were actually releasing the album in different cities in the world. I mean, so you're having like a manic schedule these days and it's taking you to places like Mexico. Is it, I mean, are you surprised that you're having huge fan bases as well in countries like Mexico, which is great because I think Mexico is a great music market as well. Yeah, it's crazy to us. And that's also one of the good sides with the What Love Is Thing that happened in 2023.

8:09It just gave us the opportunity to reach people all over the world. And before that, we only played in Germany and it was kind of a little door opener for us because we got to play our first Europe tour. And then last year, our first little US tour, we played pretty big and cool festival in Mexico. And now we're coming back for the album release shows. Oh, that's fantastic. And by the way, I was looking, of course, you know, as artists, you have merchandising, you know, beautiful T-shirts and everything. But I love the fact that you're selling incense sticks because I think that matched the album very well.

8:47Just put some incense sticks, put the new album on. I think that's a great kind of combo, don't you think? Yeah, I think so too. Oh, that's amazing. Listen, Josh and Finn, what a pleasure and congratulations. I think the new album is beautiful and I think a lot of people should be listening to it. Thank you so much.

9:24Thank you both Finn and Josh and Zimmer90's debut album Interior is out now. I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco and the show was edited by Elliot Greenfield. Thank you for listening.