Seasurfer is a band driven by Hamburger (Germany) based musician Dirk Ritter. He worked together with different female singers and musicians. Two noticeable albums were released on Saint-Marie Records. This label has a nose for talented artists dealing with  Shoegaze and Dream-Pop, both genres being SEASURFER’s main sources of inspiration. By the end of 2020 Seasurfer stroke back with the third album entitled “Zombies” released on Reptile Music. It’s a great piece of music released as double album. The bonus disc features guest vocals by Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera, Spectra Paris). The new work got produced by Robin Guthrie (The Cocteau Twins). No doubt about it, “Zombies” is one of the best productions in the Shoegeaze/Dream-Pop genre so I got in touch with Dirk.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What kind of band did you want to set up with Seasurfer and how do you look back on the evolution of the band, the different albums and line-up changes?

Dirk: For many years I really worked as a band with my Dream-Pop band Dark Orange, each band member had something to say. With Seasurfer I wanted to build my own sound without compromises so it’s not easy for fellow musicians. After a while you notice whether it fits and is accepted or not. In arts, communities are often fragile. Most of the changes happened because for some reason it just didn’t fit anymore. It makes a difference whether you play in a democratic Punk band at the age of 18 or later when having your sound in your head and absolutely want to implement it.

Q: You worked with different singers, first Dorian E, then Julia Beyer and later on Apolonia. A singer often is the ‘image’ and ‘frontman (-woman)’ of the band. What has been the impact of each singer on the music and your work as musician? What makes the chemistry between musicians and singers?

Dirk:  A singer has to inspire me; there has to be a spirit and an atmosphere of its own. All three singers did that and I’m still grateful for it. After the intensive work on an album, you often fall into a hole and wonder what can come after that, how it will go on. If then you aren’t convinced, then you should better leave it.

With Apolonia everything is easier now, she lives around the corner and we meet up with our art community regularly to talk and to drink. She’s more than a singer to me, she’s also a very good friend.

Q: I noticed you consider Robin Guthrie as one of your mentors. What makes the magic of this artist and what exactly makes him a mentor?

Dirk: I grew up with bands like The Cocteau Twins and for me Robin Guthrie created one of the most beautiful guitar sounds ever. I also find his instrumental songs very inspiring. When he remixed and mastered something for me and I was allowed speaking to him, those were nice moments. A very friendly person… only his Scottish accent was sometimes hard for me 😉

Q: You last year released the album “Zombies”. How did the writing and production of the album happened and what do you try to reflect with the album title?

Dirk: I played all the instruments by myself and mixed everything alone. That was a challenge because you don’t get that much feedback and sometimes you don’t know whether something is good or crap. And I wanted to develop myself further, using more electronics. When the rather gloomy mood of the first Corona wave came during the final mixing, the sounds of the album developed by itself. “Zombies” represents how we all felt during this time.

Q: The bonus disc of “Zombies” is featuring Elena Alice Fossi as guest singer. How did this collaboration happened –especially in times of Covid-19?

Dirk: A very good friend, the photographer Christian Klepp, is a huge Kirlian Camera fan. He kept saying, ‘hey, do something with her, it will be cool’. The contact was made via Stefan Herwig from the record company Dependent and then it started. Elena Alice is a lovely woman and she was delightfully easy to work with. The songs were done before Corona and are therefore not as dark as the ones from the “Zombies”-album. The bonus-album is called “The Dreampop Day” by the way.

Q: You’re based in Hamburg, which always had a very important alternative scene although Seasurfer sounds more like a British Shoegaze and Dream-Pop band. What do you like in the ‘British’ sound and do you feel any kind of influence from the scene where you live? What brings the future?

Dirk: I was never at home in the German or Hamburg music scene. In Hamburg, many looked to England in the 80s. Guitar music from England was just cooler than German stuff. The Cure, The Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine…all right? If you grow up with it, then it shapes and you develop your own sound with these genes. Unfortunately all concerts have been canceled and it won’t start again until next year. I’m doing a real Dream-Punk EP with Apolonia this year, no song allowed to be slower than 180 bpm. And with the wonderful Gloria de Oliveira, she is also on our label, I work out Electronic songs at the moment that tend to go into the witch-house corner.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Out now is a brand new video from the German-Brazilian synth-infused goth pop artist Gloria de Oliveira. You can watch the video for “Ave Maris Stella” in a Tellavision remix below.

After several video releases in the past weeks (including the single “The Only Witness”) the clip for Tellavision’s Remix of “Ave Maris Stella” is out now. Tellavision is Fee Kürten, Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist who calls her original aesthetic ‘hardware post-pop’, deconstructing borders between (anti-)pop and avant-garde, hi- and lo-art.

The new video is based on the footage of the clip for the original track, which has been processed and glitched by visual artist & cinematographer Sebastian Ganschow with analogue video synthesizers.

Musician, filmmaker and actress

Gloria de Oliveira, who is also active as a filmmaker and actress (credits include “Babylon Berlin”, “Counterpart” and “Strawberry Bubblegums”), has been working on the realization of her musical vision for several years.

In the second half of 2019 she released the two EPs “La Rose De Fer” and “Lèvres De Sang” on her own label La Double Vie. Mixed at Hamburg’s iconic Cloud Hills Recordings studio, you can expect the sound to be somewhere between dreamwave, ethereal and synth-infused goth pop.

The compilation album “Fascination” was released in spring 2020 by the Cologne label Reptile Music on CD and vinyl and it includes the 10 remastered tracks of the two previous EPs, as well as 7 additional remixes on CD by artists such as Gudrun Gut, Box And The Twins, Fragrance, Tellavision and The Wide Eye.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com