The journey begins
#1 Feel Alive & Maria
Hi!
I am Palmanu and I want to welcome you to my very first soundletter! Thank you for deciding to be part of this journey through the landscapes of my music.
From now on, for the next six months, I’ll send a letter monthly on every third Sunday. Each letter will be filled with two songs from my upcoming album Sway alongside some stories, liner notes, sound recordings and pictures linked to every single song. Since you belong to my first listeners, I want to give one of these two songs exclusively to you.
I produced the whole album together with Mario Fartacek, who plays such an important role for me and the whole Palmanu-project. He made me jump over my shadow and start to record many parts of the album on my own. I never recorded music in such a serious way before. After finishing my parts, we startet to record and produce in his studio together with some great musicians and friends. In this process the songs grew to what they are now.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart to Mario and all the other musicians playing and singing on my album: Lukas Weidmann, Robin Prischink, Anna Gruchmann, Veronika Gruchmann, Amelie Tobien, Giovanna Fartacek, Sebastian Goditsch, Benjamin Prieger, Vanessa Dullnig & Klara Fuchs <3
The two songs I’m presenting to you today are Feel Alive (mp3 // Spotify // Bandcamp // video) and Maria (mp3). Feel free to download and share them as much as you want! And if you know someone, who might be interested in subscribing to my soundletters, tell them about it! :)
Next month you’ll get a counterpoint-song to the stressful pre Christmas time and another one, looking at us human beings through different frames.
I hope you all get along well in these cold November days!
Excited greetings and some love
MJ
Feel Alive
In September 2021 I have been to Iceland together with my brother Sebastian. While walking the Laugavegur-Trail through the colorful and volcanic landscape of this beautiful island, a deep feeling of happiness and connectedness came over me.
I don’t remember many moments in my life feeling that intensity of breathing, freedom and being alive. In this vivid landscape I started to write the lyrics for Feel Alive. A few days later, the two of us coincidently found a grey and windy coastline, where we met no one but some Icelandic horses. Sitting by the sea, listening to the sound of the northern waves, I wrote the song on my little guitalele. Here you can listen to these waves.
Back home, in the studio in Vienna, we decided to put some of the wave sounds in the beginning and middle part of Feel Alive. Instrumentally, as on almost all songs of the album, Lukas is playing the piano. Giovanna is singing the choir in the chori and Veronika plays flugelhorn in the ending of the song.
I wanted to shoot a music video for Feel Alive by the seaside, but going to Iceland for that reason would have been too much effort. So, together with Ulrich Gruchmann-Bernau, a musician and film maker, I decided to make a road trip to Premantura, the southernmost tip of Istria two months ago to shoot the video there. We slept in the car and shot hours for hours on every spot we liked. Alongside having a great time together in the late summer sun, I was challenged and attracted by the idea of dancing and moving to the nature sounds in the video. You can see the result here.
Lyrics
Every fibre, every cell Is dancing with the wind Open up your heavy shell Calm your bones and let it in Let it in, let it in Every color, every cloud Is moving in the air Raise your voice and shout out loud Hear the motion everywhere The breath of life Within these grounds Within these rivers, hills and stones This living space of sound The breath of life Oh, oh, feel alive, feel alive Oh, oh Every weather, every wave Is floating in its time Leave behind your cosy cave Into the wild the light will shine With every step and every breath I feel closer to myself In the silence I found space The breath of life Within these grounds Within these shivers, trees and bones This living space of sound The breath of life Oh, oh, feel alive, feel alive Oh, oh, feel alive Sorrow, pain and all their friends Are waiting for their turn to thrive Every wave comes to its end A precious time till they arrive Oh, oh, feel alive, feel alive Oh, oh, feel alive
Maria
This song is one of the most important ones I ever wrote. My beloved granny, Maria (“Maria Oma”), died all of a sudden in June 2021. When I visited her the day before she died, she was sitting in her old armchair talking about the luck being surrounded by so many loving and caring people without any pain or sorrows. While talking, she was pointing out of the window to her garden with the big old walnut tree, telling me that she feels like a queen in her queendom.
I wrote the song Maria just a few days after she died. It is a tribute to a wise woman, who knew about the secret of unconditional love and the value of simplicity.
A few days before her death, most of my family was on holidays, a neighbor recorded a voice message for our family group, where she says: “Die Sunn scheint sche und woam is ma. Und i gfrei mi scho wieda, wonn’s ihr kemmts. Baba”. Since I wanted to keep her voice close to my heart, I decided to put that tiny record piece into the song. Now, her voice is saved within the music.
At first, the song sounded totally different to its final version. In the production process we often called the song “greßte Baustö” (biggest construction work). It came with a forward moving tempo and feeling. We already had recorded drums, double bass and Veronika played a flugelhorn solo. It sounded like that: Maria old version
Since both Mario and me were not happy with the sound, we decided to start all over again. We used the same harmonies in a total different framework. In the final version, we sampled a beat, Mario played the guitar, I played the keys and Veronika is singing the backings.
Lyrics
Baby, can you see Fading memories And these lovely people Beneath our walnut tree Nothing hurts indeed Nothing more I need To be calm and happy Within my family Your open heart, your open door Your precious art to live I feel like a, like a queen in my queendom In my blood floats a crown full of love All those years ran by Had to laugh and cry That’s what life is built of If you trust and if you try When you looked at me I felt loved and safe Now I bring flowers To your cold and stony grave Your open heart, your open door Your precious art to live I feel like a, like a queen in my queendom In my blood floats a crown full of love “Die Sunn scheint sche und woam is ma. Und i gfrei mi scho wieda, wonn’s ihr kemmts. Baba.” I feel like a, like a queen in my queendom In my blood floats a crown full of love Full of love, full of love, full of love We keep you in our hearts Although memories are fading We won’t let you fall apart Although memories are fading We keep you in our hearts