Wounds is Cold in Berlin’s long-awaited and recently announced fifth album – their first in six years, out now on New Heavy Sounds. As heavy as it is haunting, the record masterfully blends doom, post-punk, and driving krautrock in a dynamic, hypnotic maelstrom – pushing London’s most exciting cult band into intoxicating new territory.
The band have also shared the video for’12 Crosses’ saying, “’12 Crosses’ is emblematic of the themes of the album Wounds. What you carry on your back can make you stronger. To share the weight and purge in a cleansing fire is liberation. Filmed at House of the Holy festival on the Summer Solstice. A transcendental experience of ancient rites and sonic celebration. Burn brightly, so gently, send your soul towards the night. Burn quietly, burn lightly, send the warning to the sky.’
Wounds was recorded by Mike Bew, on location at Foel Studio. The band could be found working deep into the witching hours, experimenting with new sounds and filling the valleys with cantankerous wails of sound, bursting from amps borrowed from My Bloody Valentine.
Synths on the album are arranged by Berlin-based Bow Church, an influential figure in the dark electronic scene and a long time collaborator of the band. His work weaves icy and atmospheric textures into the songs, layering complexity that demands repeat listens. The horns on ‘12 Crosses’ were recorded by a high profile jazz musician who appears anonymously due to label ties.
We had a chat with frontwoman Maya all about Cold In Berlin’s journey so far, the making of Wounds, their live shows and more. Read the Q&A below.
Hi Maya! How are you? Cold In Berlin was formed back in 2010, how has your journey as a band been so far over the last 15 years? Any highlights?
“Hi! I’m great thanks! CiB has been such an important part of my life, I am so grateful to have a creative outlet and a group of people who actually want to do that with me. By some twist of fate, we all found each other, we all get on and trust each other enough to make music together. Like all creative endeavors, it is beautiful, weird, exciting, intense, stressful and a miracle when it all comes together. The challenge is to keep making albums that you find interesting, which do something different each time, but also retain the essential thing that makes CiB what it is. The highlights for me are always live shows, performing for the fans and hearing the songs in a room full of like-minded people is excellent.”
You’ve just released your fifth LP Wounds which is also your first new album in six years. What can you tell us about the record (themes, influences)? What do you hope fans/listeners take away from it?
“Wounds is an expression of grief, love, loss- the trauma we carry that makes us stronger and stranger. I wanted to provide different ‘wounds’ as songs with strong female characters or from a female perspective. The idea was to examine the joy of survival as well as the pain, the way ‘wounds’ can connect people which is what music does for me. I think this will resonate with anyone listening, fans will find their own stories in the songs and hopefully listeners will enjoy the album as a whole piece. I draw inspiration from everywhere really, theatre, books, TV, a story someone tells me and of course, things I have experienced and been through myself , but I find it more interesting to have lyrical themes with hooks that people can hang their own ideas on too.”
Please take us through your songwriting/creative process for Wounds. How did it compare to your previous albums? What was your favourite part?
“For me, although we wanted the finished album to be quite different from Rituals the process was the same. We all bring different things to practice and then the song grows in the room, I like to write songs and poetry at home and usually, this can work with an initial idea for a bass or guitar part. It is exciting because each song can start very far away from where they finish up and sometimes, I think the song leads me somewhere instead of the other way round. There is a strange chemistry in the rehearsal room.”
We see you have a few gigs coming up in November plus more in the new year. What can someone who has never seen the band live expect from a Cold In Berlin show? How do you want fans to feel after leaving one of your gigs?
“If you come to see us live, I think you will have a great time. Our live performances are loud, heavy and lots of fun. I love to stalk the stage and go into the audience if I can. Both elements are important to me- getting an album right and having a live show that does something different to what you get on the album- an experience. Women on stage can have lots of prejudgments made about them, but the alternative music scene has less issues with this I think- there is no real blueprint so I don’t feel the need to ‘be anything’ in particular on stage, I am just Maya Berlin.”
Finally, what else is next for Cold In Berlin? Any goals for the future or anything else you want to share?
“We have a project for the new year, a few songs that are really interesting which I am really looking forward to sharing with everyone. After that, I hope we are busy with shows.”
