Words by Art Jefferson
Photography by Micki Rosi Richter, Anton Gottlob and courtesy of Lea Porcelain

When I first heard tracks like ‘Similar Familiar’ and ’Out Is In’ by Berlin-based Lea Porcelain, I was completely blown away. Taking the modern sounds of electronic music and fusing it with a culmination of styles including post-punk, indie and more, I was completely addicted to their recordings. Imagery of dark music venues, performance art and late night studio sessions would pop up in my head as the music completely took over me. So when I read that Lea Porcelain was performing at O’Meara in South East London, I jumped on the train and headed over. Like the pictures in my head, their performance filled with flashing lights flying among the dark silhouettes of the band whilst their practically perfect to the recordings sound pulsed through the venue, was everything that I needed and more. After the show, I headed back to Forest Hill in the freezing night completely uplifted by the experience. At the time Lea Porcelain had only performed a handful of songs but that was the precursor to their debut album Hymns To The Night, released in 2017, which would go on to be one of the best releases of that year. While they are often dubbed a post-punk group, their music influences are way wider and their debut LP is a flawless showcasing of simply timeless music.

Comprised of vocalist and musician Markus Nikolaus and producer Julien Bracht, the band originally formed in Frankfurt. Bracht was an established name in the techno scene releasing tracks on Cocoon, Playhouse and more with Nikolaus recording music under his own name as well as Cunt Cunt Chanel. Having met one another at a party, the friends didn’t start recording music until almost two years later. Spending weeks experimenting with sound, ‘Out Is In’ was the result. The explosive track would help to lay a blueprint in terms of direction, further paving the way for songs such as ‘Similar Familiar’ and ‘Warsaw Street’. Upon the release of their debut LP ‘Hymns To The Night’, Lea Porcelain had attracted a varied and diverse fan base spanning across Europe and North America. The video for their cover version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ was filmed in Arizona as well as the visuals for ’Remember’, which was also shot in California and Nevada. Their Lea Porcelain Remixed EP flaunting reworks by Scuba, Thom Alt-J, Ruede Hagelstein & Amin Fallaha, as well as Julien Bracht himself. The global appeal of their music is what has helped the pair to grow that organic fan base, delivered with DIY ethics giving them complete freedom.

Lea Porcelain released their self-titled EP this year, a collection of tracks that stood separately from the album. Already displaying an expansion of sound since the releasing of Hymns To The Night, the duo continue to break any caging of boundaries, growing and expanding at their own rate and on their own terms, which is ultimately why they are one of the most important bands to emerge within the last few years.

I read that you guys met in a club but it took a couple years before you formed a band. Both of you were already creating music individually. When did you decide to officially come together as a group and what inspired it?

Markus Nikolaus – We were friends and both admirers of what the other one was doing. It was like we were both spectators of something that attracted us in the other and lacking in ourselves. Julien had the aesthetic and the skill of perfect sound, I had the lyrics and the passion to perform. It was something we had to combine, we felt. We ended up forming this because there was no other music we made that was as good and strong and important to us as the tracks we made together or as what it meant to us and how the music was speaking to us. I recently spoke to the singer of Ulrika Spacek in 8mm Bar in Berlin and he mentioned similar reasons, even living in Stockholm, his band living in London. We had a similar situation at the beginning, I was living in Berlin a lot and Julien in Frankfurt. It’s funny to see how music can overcome these borders of minds, cities, countries, or continents. The first song we made was inspired by Moon Duo. All the rest pretty much by Radiohead.

I would imagine that you guys had a very similar taste in music. If so, what were those similarities and which albums in your past really left a mark on you?

Markus Nikolaus – Actually, No! Our taste couldn’t have been more opposite. Julien knew everything and everyone in house and techno music – Roman Flügel, Väth, Villalobos, Heiko M/S/O, clubs and labels. I only knew Irish folk music, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, a lot of rock bands and the usual Indi Cindy. I do make the joke sometimes that I tell people that Julien only stepped out of the techno scene after I showed him the Rolling Stones, haha! Of course he knew them but when we shared our taste of music, we felt like we wanted to break on through to the other side! 😉

The way you two have married post-punk, electronica and more together has been seamless. How long did it take you to fine tune your sound?

Markus Nikolaus – Basically all of Julien’s career is based on sound. He studied at the SAE Institute and is always very concerned about sound and has a very delicate ear. He left the SAE school after a year without finishing to pursue his electronic path. In his own words that was the best thing he could’ve done. That’s the electronic side of us. I personally believe I added the punk after going through different phases of punk rock. I loved the British era, Sex Pistols, Clash, Libertines and The Cure, Bauhaus etc., the American – Henry Rollins, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Nofx and starting off in a German punk band aged 15. It might feel seamlessly to you because I do think, we are a great team when it comes to a spirit during recording. If the atmosphere is good, we can write for days. If it’s bad, we don’t write for weeks. It is all a matter of mood for us.

I remember hearing ‘Out Is In’ for the first time and being completely blown away. It had so many elements that I loved musically. I know that the track was one that you guys created early on. How quickly did it take to nail your sound from the inception of the band to then and did that song help to lay the blueprint for your future recordings?

Markus Nikolaus – ‘Out Is In’ was the first track we ever made. We felt like the sound was God-given. It was a mixture of Julien’s electronic, synth-droney way mixed with acoustic drums and my way of an emotional voice, shouting poetic verses. It was true heaven. The song is definitely a blueprint and the pre-work justified that it looks like it came easy. It didn’t. Nothing precious ever comes easy. We felt that now, taking almost a full year only developing new sound, new pedals, new synths, new styles. On the second album we want to put on another layer with the same spirit.

Another song that I religiously play to this day is ‘Similar Familiar’. It’s dark yet energetic with core post-punk, power hitting electronica, etc. In the hook you sing “death isn’t the only thing that I fear”. Can you talk about the creation of this specific cut?

Markus Nikolaus – I always love the imagination of people’s perception. I actually sing “That isn’t the only thing that I fear” – but I love your verse too. We always fall for the most melodic lines that paint a picture. I have heard a few times that people mishear my lyrics, but what comes out of it is still the same meaning because of the melody, the mood, and the emotion in the voice. I did speak of “That” as in “the end of it all” an “apocalypse” something we cannot control or is out of our control. A meteorite, people living in bathtubs of virtual reality and whatnot. It’s just a feeling that comes through the voice that everyone understands. Even if I would sing it in another language. One understands what is meant. Everyone on their smartphones, everywhere Starbucks, everywhere ‘Similar Familiar’.

You did a lot of recording at Funkhaus studios. It’s one of those spaces that not only operates as a recording studio, but literally a venue. In your opinion, what makes Funkhaus so magical?

Markus Nikolaus – It is our Mecca, church and home at the same time. This place becomes more beautiful by the day. It’s absolute freedom intertwined with artistic and social life. You can record a song, go to the “Milchbar” or “Zola” for food and drink, jump into the river, see a producer friend or just live isolated in your own studio. It feels more and more like Berlin’s Chelsea Hotel. Nils Frahm in Saal 3 making coffee or an after party, gigs every third night, new people coming to record or just to check it out. It is a magical ground and ever since we moved there, we feel like we’re growing with it. The best thing this year was our sold out show in April. We couldn’t believe that all these people were coming for us, when last year we played basements. At the moment, we like to travel and record but to be honest, Berlin is the city and Funkhaus the home. I almost get emotional while writing this.

You’ve released a new self-titled EP. Were these tracks recorded around the time of your album Hymns To The Night or did they come later? I ask because while it still has your signature imprint, there is a slight shifting of sound.

Markus Nikolaus – They were recorded in the album process. Still, we wanted to bring those tracks out because we want to shift the perception of our sound a little bit and we do love those recordings very much. The general idea to put “Endlessly” at the end of Hymns To The Night, was as a contradiction to us being pigeonholed as a “post-punk” group: to show our audience the way into a different direction. The EP is a continuation of that. We are not ‘your new favourite post-punk band.’ We are us and this is how we sound. Taste is not a matter of genre, it’s a matter of aesthetics.

The country of Germany has been a staple source of electronic music spanning decades now. Do you musically draw inspiration from that heritage and legacy when creating your own work?

Markus Nikolaus – We do a lot from contemporary artists like Roman Flügel. His album Happiness is Happening drew us towards the All-Stars like Roedelius, Harmonia and kraut-rock in general. We weren’t fed on CAN and NEU! as kids but we do see a lot of similarities in the techno and house scene and how the Germans have led the way for great electronic music in the world. I am still surprised we are considered a rock band. That never really came to mind when I thought about the way we record music. We still are a prototype of a hybrid, much like Moderat. But we do like a little bit of that cocky rock’n’roll attitude. It’s timeless, I guess.

I remember seeing you live at O’Meara in London last year. It was a great show. Talk about your love of performing and how has it changed since the days of you two performing individually?

Markus Nikolaus – It looks like we became a real thing. We were both good in our own ways but before it always felt somehow alone. And after touring and playing together so much as a band the past two years, I feel like Julien and I became minus and plus poles, circling around each other on stage concentrating the energy between us.

In terms of shows, where has been some of the most memorable cities you have performed regarding crowds and venue sound?

Markus Nikolaus – This year it has to have been Hamburg. The crowd was so crazy and just wanted chaos and a party. The most beautiful thing, controlled chaos. The people were amazing, attentive, respectful and hedonistic. I lost my voice that evening. It was worth it all the same. In Germany, Hamburg is still the rock n roll capital. Berlin is and was always techno through and through. The place we played in was a massive industrial bunker, indestructible, basically the perfect location for us. The venue inside is called ‘Übel & Gefährlich’. We only sold 6 tickets last year, with 15 attending. This year, it was sold out and screaming. Nothing beats that spirit. People coming for you and only you with respect for your work and passion. It was graceful.

Finally, are you currently working on a sophomore LP?

Markus Nikolaus – We are working steadily on album #2 and it is already going to be insane! It’s an extra layer of electronics, a texture of grunge even though it’s less guitars and more electronic synths and Bass (more pedals though!). We took our time, almost a little too much but thankfully to the prophet, Big muff, Big Sky (everything big!), a lot of books and time, desperation and hope, and then just the fun to try something new – we created the sound of the second record we felt is just right. Some tracks provoke more than on our first record and others are more like a stylish understatement. In all cases, the spirit stays the same. I think everyone knows that!

Lea Porcelain will perform live at Seabright Arms in London on 4th June.

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