A pop sound that vibrates in an exciting way, that’s exactly what you get on the debut EP “Wuman on a Sofa” (Las Vegas Records) by the FRANZ POP COLLECTIVES.
With the FRANZ Pop Collective presents itself with the EP “Wuman on a Sofa” by the actress Julia Franz Richter, the director Felix Hafner and the musician Clemens Wenger, an interdisciplinary band project that tries to turn pop music into something – especially live to present in different narrative formats than usual. Seen in this way, the present debut of the trio can also be understood as part of a larger concept, which is being developed in cooperation with video artists, stage designers and choreographers will be performed in its entirety as a performance/music theater production at the end of March/beginning of April.
If you focus on the EP for the time being, you can see that the three people involved didn’t necessarily choose the pleasing pop path for themselves musically either. What is not too surprising, however, is that one knows the incredibly diverse work of Clemens Wenger, who always knows how to set a different exciting musical accent in each of his many projects. And so it is in this case. What he brings to life together with Julia Franz Richter and Felix Hafner is a timeless electro-dream-pop draft with depth, wrapped in an artistic robe of sound, which swings between a melancholic note, dreaminess and danceability and really develops a lot, a lot of atmosphere.
In accordance with the sound of the six songs, it is not necessarily the positive side of life that Julia Franz Richter sings regarding. It is more thought-provoking topics, such as voluntary isolation, distance from other people or withdrawing from a world in which performance and profit alone count, which are dealt with in a forceful voice.
All in all, one can say that FRANZ Pop Collective with the debut EP knows more than just convincing, at least musically. The songs just have that certain something that makes you listen more closely and triggers something emotionally. It will be exciting to see what effect the songs will have when embedded in a performance on stage.
Michael Ternai
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FRANZ Pop Collective live
03/29/2023 imagetanz, studio brut, Vienna
March 30, 2023 imagetanz, studio brut, Vienna
March 31, 2023 imagetanz, studio brut, Vienna
April 1st, 2023 imagetanz, studio brut, Vienna
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Links:
FRANZ Pop Collective
Las Vegas Records
