“Poetry and electro-pop mixed with trip-hop accent” Variety
“Sensual & hybrid Pop” ELLE
“James Bond like velvet melodies” Numero
“Bruises rides an unexplored, but incredibly haunting melody” L’officiel
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Dear Shaded Viewers,
The first time I saw Bruises perform was last year at the Forbes Villa during the Cannes film festival. Bruises consists of the duo Adah Dylan, an American-Austrian songwriter on vocals and Max Sokolinski, a multi-instrumentalist producer and composer. They make up a sexymental duo and are releasing their EP Friday when it will be out on Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify, etc… .SEXYMENTAL.
DP: I feel rather fortunate since we met when you were just beginning your singing career, that was two years ago?
ADAH: Hi Diane! Yes that’s true it was about then and I had just started with my first musical project!
DP: With the release of your first single 1992, I became addicted to the music of you and Max. It’s very melodic and sultry reminds me of new generation Julie London. You probably never heard of Julie London- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z23I8WYB__c
ADAH: I did actually! Her’s music’s beautiful… I’d say especially our song Sexymental has that seductive vibe.
DP: That was the 60’s and pop and I don’t call what you and Max do pop it is more a mix of genres and the melodies mixed with the poetry is what makes it so poignant. How do you work together, you write the text and Max composes the music? Or how does it work?
ADAH: It really goes both ways, but yes Max is more composition and I’m more the lyrics part. The good thing about our collaboration is that we really get each other’s ideas, it’s a very intuitive process. I sometimes come with some melody idea and lyrics and Max creates something from that, or he has something and I start playing around with lyrics and melodies.. sometimes we start from scratch and see where it takes us.
DP: I know 1992 was about nostalgia for the 90’s, what is it about the 90’s that you feel you missed out on?
ADAH: I think it’s that feeling that ‘everything’s gonna be all right’; a sense of hope for the future that we used to have. Today, we’re more aware of the fragility of our planet and our bodies, which is not necessarily a bad thing; but those times were a turning point. The song 1992 was inspired by the year when my grandpa founded the green party in Austria, if only people would have listened then to the warnings, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
DP: “We are living in the wrong time.” What time would you have preferred to live in? the 90’s? And if it was that decade, why?
MAX: Definitely we would have loved to live in the sixties, and to be a musician at that time as well!
ADAH: But I guess our music would be more… flower power?
DP: With the world in a state of rampant decay, how do you maintain a positive outlook? What are your thoughts about the generations before you that left you with this crying planet?
MAX: The greed and overconfidence that came from the generation before now needs to be brought down.
The fact of always wanting always more, more, more: it’s that mentality we have to change now by stripping down to the raw, pure essentials, which for us are meaningful human relationships, nature, art and music of course.
ADAH: A positive outlook can come precisely with creativity and simplicity: making the best out of what we are given at any moment. When we dig into that well inside ourselves, something will be found that is perhaps frightening for some people but also so extremely rich. This entire confinement phase had that effect for us: there is so much already here. If we try a little, the same goes for relationships: people are suddenly connecting in a more honest and heartfelt way, because suddenly they are being forced to look at themselves and each other. For me that’s a positive outlook right there.
DP: You both grew up in creative families, how did your two worlds collide? How did you meet? Where did you meet?
MAX: We met through a mutual friend, with no intention of collaborating at first as I was at the time focusing on scoring, and Adah had an ongoing project. We did a track more or less by accident and decided right away to start this project, it was obvious we had to work together!
DP: What came first? Your songwriting? You studied vocals?
ADAH: I never studied vocals. It was always a visceral thing, and writing and singing the truest and most direct expression I could find. I took a few singing lessons to learn a bit more about the mechanics only recently, and I would like to keep it that way because what I like about the voice is that it’s a window to the soul, it’s so direct, and so fragile… I’m still torn whether I need to « work » on my voice, because essentially what I like best in any voice is its rawness and emotion.
DP: How do you envision your future and that of our planet?
ADAH: I would like to think that slowly but surely we’ll make the steps towards a more ecological and humane society.
In what concerns my future, I really don’t know, but I hope I’ll get to touch people at the core with my music and ideas… because I do believe music can have that power on you to change your outlook.
DP: What are the words of wisdom you have to leave us with?
MAX: We blame society but we are society. I think we can do great changes simply starting by being good to ourselves and to the people that are close to us. Having a community of people that we care about and support, being aware that all our actions have consequences is already a great start. It might not change « the » world but it will « ours » and it’s already a lot. The rest will follow.
Thank you and all the best for SEXYMENTAL to me that defines the two of you.
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Already praised by Gucci, Paco Rabanne and Variety for whom they played live, Bruises break the codes of pop music by mixing New wave and psychedelic rock to trip-hop.
The EP is inspired by an ever-changing world, the decline of human relationships and the necessity of transcending anxiety trough art .
Bruises is comprised of Adah Dylan, an American-Austrian singer, and Max Sokolinski, a French multi-instrumentalist and producer who collaborated with artists such as Daniel Johnston, Christophe, and his sister Soko.
Their first single, “1992”, was released last May while the group was performing at the Cannes Festival, followed by “Sexymental” , their music video inspired by the chiaroscuro aesthetic of David Lynch.
Bruises creates a world that is upbeat, dreamlike, and gives a little escape from normative thinking.
Later,
Diane
