VIENNA REST IN PEACE have just released their second album. In an interview with Jürgen Plank, the band explains what the title “Album for the Young” is all regarding – following all, there is already a collection of piano pieces by Robert Schumann of the same name. In the conversation, we discussed the comforting effect of sad music as well as cross-references to bands like ELEMENT OF CRIME and NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, whose “The Weeping Song” VIENNA REST IN PEACE translated into German and covered.
The band name Vienna Rest in Peace points towards death, what is the idea behind it?
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: Digging a bit further, you can tell that most of the staff from Vienna Rest in Peace die Band But life is alive was. Even then, not the happiest songs were made, influenced by Leonard Cohen to Nick Cave and things like that. At some point we decided to do something different, with German lyrics, but we didn’t manage to get a different mood. We ended up back in this water and the first song together has Vienna Rest in Peace and so we decided that the band should be called that too.
How does the name suggest the music?
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: That’s a bit bold, but on the other hand everyone can imagine what it means and it’s not surprising that the songs are rather slow and melancholic. The name is a bit awkward and so is the music. It’s just not accessible, Austropop-like music, but there is a kind of basic bulkiness inside and that’s what the name actually has.
But life is alive is also a sentence regarding death.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: I agree. As our great friend Fritz Ostermayer always says, the name actually means ‘nevertheless’. Everything you do in life you do, so to speak, once morest the adversities that this existence brings with it.
Let’s come to your latest release “Album for the Young”. The title is borrowed from Robert Schumann’s work of the same name. What does his “Album for the Young” mean to you?
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: For me, Schumann’s “Album for the Young” is actually part of my autobiography. I come from a lower-middle-class family in which it was still considered sensible for children to learn to play the piano. And Schumann’s “Album for the Young” contains rather easier piano pieces that can be used for learning. That accompanied me during my puberty, on the one hand with compulsion, on the other hand grunge also accompanied me in the 1990s album and this No Future story. Schumann also fits in well, he had quite a few problems with his existence and the music is also jubilant and saddened to death. He also set many of Heinrich Heine’s poems to music, love poems. On the other hand, depressive texts once more. That accompanied me in my youth and it’s funny that today an album is an LP and it used to be a sheet music.
Did you also practice, hate and love Schumann’s “Album for the Young”, as you say in the text?
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: Yes, it was a love-hate relationship. At the age of 15 or 16, if you have the feeling that the whole world is treating you badly, you can take refuge in romantic piano pieces. I found this to be an outlet for the world-weariness of puberty.
“We always play with melancholy”
The press text states that your record also brings comfort in apocalyptic times. How is that meant?
Marilies Jagsch: We always play with melancholy a little. I don’t have to say much regarding the apocalyptic times. The question arises: How do you deal with the things that are happening in the world? Is there a correct way to deal with this? Is it okay to talk regarding personal things or do you have to face the big picture? We try to approach the issues with humor, which is not always easy. On a meta-level, which nevertheless always resonates with the fact that we are aware of everything that is going wrong. Finding and conveying a feeling of comfort in all this is a challenge that we are happy to take on.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: The paradox is yes: sad music doesn’t necessarily make you sad. It can also have the opposite effect and, at best, trigger a resonance so that one feels cared for. You don’t listen to sad music to make you sad, you want to be placed in a status that also comforts you. The crises that young people are experiencing today, and the climate crisis that stands above everything else, are quite severe compared to my youth.
The song “The Polished Ones” can be heard as a protest song: “Don’t fall for the polished ones”says the text.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: It’s a protest song, but how do I put it, I always have a problem with protest songs that point to someone in particular. That person is then the bad guy and the song is only heard by those who already have the same opinion. The polished are everyone who comes to terms with the late capitalist system and arranges it without questioning it. These aren’t just the bad politicians, they’re also ordinary people you know who are trying to make the best of it. The setup always steers you in a certain direction: you should always do everything for your career and you are more or less brought up to do something when it brings you something. The polished are all those who take part in it, quite in the hope that they will then lead a decent life. In my view, this is mostly a fallacy.
Articles regarding you keep making references to Element Of Crime produced. What do you say to that?
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: And, Element Of Crime has certain similarities, because they also have very melancholic songs. I’ve always liked them, but they also add a bit of humor and a double layer to the lyrics. They have more of that Berlin bias, which we don’t have, and they always have this calmness in their performances. I like that very much and I would like to make use of it for us. I don’t like it when someone sings regarding death in an expressive and exaggerated way, it’s better to do it calmly and chilled.
You cover “The Weeping Song” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. In your translation into German, the piece is called “Das Weinelied”, what is special regarding this piece for you?
Marilies Jagsch: Of course, the song fits perfectly with our concept as a band. The lyrics – and the song in general – is a good addition to our other songs. It’s always good to have such a hit in your repertoire live.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: We like to play one or two germanized melancholy hits live. Of course there are songs by Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen, these are the great titans of melancholic songwriting.
“To make a whole record with transferred songs would not be enough for me”
What’s the appeal of translating a song into another language? And to edit the work through it.
Marilies Jagsch: The exciting thing is that it always turns into a new song. When Wolfgang translates the lyrics, he makes each song his own to a certain extent, which in turn makes it fit better into our program. This is another level of covers. A translation is also an artistic act.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: At our last concert we broadcast “Where the wild roses grow” and with us the woman is the killer and the man is the victim. Basically, I prefer to write my own songs. Making a whole record with transferred songs would not be enough for me. But for a concert it’s quite nice to put a mark or two and say that those are the role models so to speak. You don’t just translate it into German, you also translate the arrangement and the song into your musical language. The people who know the original then hear the differences. When you cover a song, you can see the idiosyncrasies of a band that just plays the song differently.
What is special for you Vienna Rest in Peace compared to other band constellations you know?
Marilies Jagsch: For me, Wolfgang’s lyrics stand out, which carry every song and give it a very special poetry. We then build a small musical world together around these texts, but this world might not exist without the framework of words.
Please pick a song from the new record that has a special meaning for you.
Marilies Jagsch: My favorite song is “With sleeping dogs”. With this song it was clear pretty quickly that it would be the final number and it was exciting to see how the song developed in the rehearsal room. It was a challenge in the arrangement to elevate this long song in a special way and I think we managed that quite well.
Wolfgang Wiesbauer: I can only associate myself with. Some songs also change in perception. Especially when we play it live I think the song “oh ja” is cool with that fake tavern vibe. It’s all regarding the affirmation of life, with all its difficulties and problems. For me it’s a Corona lockdown song, although it was already finished when Corona started. It’s also funny at times how songs sometimes fit situations they weren’t originally written for. The folksong-like quality of this song also works very well live.
Many thanks for the interview.
Jurgen Plank
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Links:
Vienna Rest In Peace
Vienna Rest In Peace (Facebook)
mourning plates
Mourning records (bandcamp)
