Hi there!
Traveling for a month without laptop, social media and stuff like that showed me how slow and calm I get in a time lacking of constant tasks to be done and newsfeeds and stories to be filled and seen. This is also the reason, why you didn’t receive a Soundletter in February. Alongside my little Guitalele, I collected a colorful hand of moving experiences and met some lovely people.
Today, I am super happy to announce my first concerts in Austria and one more in Germany:
16th of May 2023 | Salzburg | Off Theater
18th of May 2023 | Vienna | Kramladen
25th of May 2023 | Innsbruck | Wohnzimmer.Bar
29th of May 2023 | Hamburg | Pony Bar
I am looking forward to seeing many of you on one of these evenings! You’ll get more information about the concerts in the next soundletter.
Constant murmurings of water and raindrops pattering on roof windows - these sounds could be seen as soundtracks of my childhood and they represent the fundament of the two songs I am sending to you today.
The house I grew up is located close to the Königseeache, a river coming from a mountain just around the corner. Back then in my childhood days, its sound could be heard all day long - which I loved. I decided to use a recording of it to intro the song River, which I am sending to you today. Here you can find the whole sound snippet: Murmurings of the Königseeache
Valentin Blüml (www.valentin-blueml.at) and Felix Berlet (www.felixberlet.com) made a wonderful music video for the song. Last fall, Valentin took his drone and camera to collect footage of divers rivers and hidden natural treasures in Upper Austria and Salzburg. Together with Felix, responsible for most of the cutting, they created an immersive visual experience for the song. They filmed in reverse, starting from the river's mouth and tracing its path back to its source in the mountain range, to create a unique sensation of beginning. Thanks a lot to the two of you!
Another very important feature of my childhood home are its tiny roof windows. For me, the feeling of cozy security is tightly linked to the sound of raindrops falling on a window. I don’t know many people loving rain, my brother Sebastian, who was also listening to these vivid rain stories back then, is definitely the most import one. Therefore, the love song Brother, I wrote for this wonderful person, is introduced by the sound of the famous “Salzburger Schnürlregen” falling on our roof window.
Here you can listen to and download the two songs:
River | mp3 | Spotify | Bandcamp | Video
Brother | mp3
One more thing: I feel very honored to be part of the soundtrack of the short movie “The Oil Beetle Oasis” by Valentin Blüml with some of my songs. If you want to learn about the oil beetle living close to Vienna or see some ants haunting a bee, watch the movie! It’s full of impressive close ups of these tiny animals, information and has a quite nice soundtrack ;)
Next month you’ll get a song dealing with this wonderful phenomenon of feeling free as a consequence of feeling connected to oneself and others. The second song is dealing with the necessity of letting things go and the fear of not knowing, to where that might lead.
I’m sending you springlike sunrays!
MJ
River
The river is flowing, flowing and growing The river is flowing, back to the sea Mother earth is carrying me, a child I will always be Mother earth is carrying me, back to the sea
This Native American spiritual was one of my favorite lullabies my parents used to sing to my brother and me. Since then, these lines and melodies still accompany me on my paths through life. Reading “Lebendigkeit. Eine erotische Ökologie” by Andreas Weber last year, which turned into one of my favorite books since then, made me think a lot about this song. In that time, I was watching the movie “The Biggest Little Farm”, which also carries similar thoughts like the book and the spiritual. Just after the movie was finished, I wrote River in an intense one-hour-process. This song wanted to fall out of me.
On the recording of the song, Lukas is playing the piano, Anna is playing double bass and Giovanna is singing the backing vocals.
Lyrics
I am your stone, to sleep with you
To lie beneath your trembling feet
To carry you, to bury you
To swim within your glowing heat
I am your wind, to breathe with you
To shake your limbs and comb your hair
To caress you, to undress you
To tell your stories everywhere
River will you take me home
To where I was, where I belong
I fall into your open arms
Dive into your breathing lungs
I am your tree, to dance with you
To ground your bones and drink your blood
To deepen you, to weep with you
To sway within your steady flood
I am your sea, to grow with you
To float upon your deepest graves
To swallow you, to cover you
To play with all your stormy waves
River will you take me home
To where I was, where I belong
I fall into your open arms
Dive into your breathing lungs
Uh, uh, uh
I am your bird, to sing with you
To fly upon your highest grounds
To live with you, forgive with you
To die within your quiet sounds
Brother
When thinking of my brother Sebastian, the first words that come into my mind are courage, transformation and of course rain.
Courage: Two years ago, he decided to follow his dream, which made him leave behind safe spaces and jump into a totally new world of adventures of various kinds. Also, with his courage to be vulnerable and open, he often teaches me to let go and experience closeness and connection beyond talking.
Transformation: When we were younger, the roles of our relationship were a little mixed up. I often felt responsible for him and wanted him to do this or that. Within this dynamic, it was hard to let each other be the way we were. After a lot of inner work, talking and facing some old roles and structures, in the last years our relationship transformed into something free, light, inspiring and loving. Today, words can’t describe how thankful I am for this process and to have Sebastian in my life. Just the way he is.
Rain: The sound of rain is the soundtrack of our relationship. Listen to its stories and you might understand what I mean.
On the recording of Brother the two of us are singing the final part together. It feels so good to have his voice on this recording. In addition, Lukas is playing the piano, Robin is playing drums and Mario is playing bass.
Lyrics
I see you following your dreams in grace
I see the glowing passion, glowing in your face
I see you growing with your head held high
I see your colored wings opening to fly
Oh, oh, oh it took me so long
Oh, oh
Still I hear the raindrops on our window
They were falling, but our tears did not
Still I feel your feet under our blanket
They were warming my cold tiny toes
For all those years
I didn’t see the way you are
For all those years, oh
So all those years
I needed time to finally tell you
Brother I love, I love the way you are
I see leaving long learned roles behind
I see you laugh and cry
And now you went to find
Your dreams, your love
Now you walk your own path
Your dreams, your love
Still I hear their fighting through our thin walls
We were trying hard to fall asleep
Still I feel you buried in my shoulders
We were opening a long-closed door
For all those years
I didn’t see the way you are
For all those years, oh
So all those years
I needed time to finally tell you
Brother I love, I love the way you are
We let rain be rain and let tears be tears
We let pain be pain
We let claims and let fears be fears
We let shame be shame
I let you be you
You let me be me