Photo by Larissa Iceglass
In search of real feeling – heartfelt and smart interview with Larissa Iceglass, one half of the modern age romantics Lebanon Hanover
Once there were two poetic souls wandering around Europe. Eventually they met each other and put their longing for love and true feeling in sounds. Thus, they formed Lebanon Hanover, an ice cold reply to the alienated world coming from two warm beating hearts. The duo of Larissa Iceglass and William Maybelline appear as true romantics of the modern age, admiring William Wordsworth, fascinated by the beauty of art nouveau aesthetics, exploring British seashores and forests at night as well as inspired by the urbanism of Berlin. They expressed those unique senses in albums “Why Not Just Be Solo?” and “The World Is Getting Colder“, released on Fabrika Records label. Their sound share many sensibilities with the fragility and elegance of French cold wave, the most subtle elements of goth rock, minimal wave aesthetics. A perfect combination to express the poetry of emotionalism, detachment, longing, love, melancholy…
In this exclusive interview Larissa, the feminine part of the duo, allowed us to take a glimpse to very personal, but geographically vast world of Lebanon Hanover, stretching from Switzerland to Berlin to North England and Scotland coasts to Ruhr Area Germany. It is a great addition to their glassy, refined and beautiful music.
You are from quite different places – Berlin and England. How does this fact influence you? How does those cities contribute culturally to your art? How this geographical dualism affects you?
We were both born in a place we didn’t particularly like. I am from Switzerland actually. The cultural difference is pretty big between the sterile swiss and the rundown rather primitive northern British lifestyle. It really shapes our music that we are constantly searching for a comfortable exciting and creative place. We actually still haven’t really found a home. Berlin was inspiring but after three years too humdrum and cold. Currently we are having a taste of the Ruhr Area in Germany and are pretty happy there.
Lebanon Hanover is duet. However, we can see the difference in mood and style between songs performed by different member. How each of you approach the project? What are your roles? How do you approach with the same idea, concept? Is it difficult to make a compromise? Was it difficult to start working with each other?
I think we are two very different musical elements. This was our great fascination with each other from the start on and it was never difficult to work with each other. More like an instant chemistry. I adore Williams baselines, rhythms and structures and he likes my chaotic strange sounding haunting voice, lyrics and guitars. There is no concept or something like this. All we wanted was to sound underproduced and nostalgic, because we were irritated by the digital and inorganic sounds we hear everyday. Since we are thinking very similar there is hardly any compromise, only criticism which is good and helps the final product. Sometimes we work up to two months on a song until we are both completely happy with it.
Photo by Elias Raschle
Your music is quite cold, introvert, sounding as response to the alienated world, that lacks love and true feelings. How do you see the modern world in this context? Do you think we face lack of emotions? What kind of message, feeling do you try to convey? And, just to put it simply, do you believe in true love and its power to change the world?
Times are hard for romantics in this century. The world wants us to survive alone, do everything yourself and treat people like you don’t need them. We find this terribly sad for we have a very big longing for bond and true friendships. I think people have become generally way too lazy to even reflect about the separation that is happening at the moment. The internet and smart phones have even made us more lazy and the real passions of life, art, nature, literature and love is just non existent. True love is something we really hope survives, but it can only survive when people become more individualistic and self-determined. It’s the individuals that make society and I believe that every single one can make a change…
What is the primary impulse that makes you create music? What role Lebanon Hanover and music in general plays in your life? Do you see it as self expression, necessity, pleasure, sublimation, entertainment etc.?
The moment of creating a song. I absolutely live for the moment you take the microphone connect with your subconscious and sacrifice yourself to your inner melodies and put all of your heart in a track. Music is the most honest form of art for me and therefore Lebanon Hanover is the very centre of our both lives. It’s not just a side project or something it’s our vocation and we could die for it. We do it merely for ourselves. To entertain was not the most favorable thing to do at the start, but I have to say that to be face to face with an audience and fill the silence of the room with the your own words and sounds is a very touching and always an exciting experience.
Photo by Isolde Woudstra
What do you find beautiful and most aesthetically inspiring? Is it some places, certain kind of music, other art forms? Where do you find most beauty in?
Aesthetically we are drawn to the romantic/art nouveau and 20′s and 80′s period of the last century. Old framed black and white photos, movies, clothes. We love the well-mannered androgynous look and to be dressed in gloominess.
I think it’s important that our image reflects the depression of the 21st century we all have to go through. Our favorite art form is literature. I am too sensitive for movies. Too many effects and sexual brutality scare me so we mainly spend our spare time reading and imagining the words becoming pictures. Some name dropping of things we read at the moment: Oscar Wilde,Thomas Bernhard, Alice Schwarzer, William Wordsworth. Of course, music is always inspiring too if a band has deepness and honesty like for example Malaria, Kraftwerk, Daf, The Smiths. I can be very fond of them, but I don’t listen to much music at the moment.
As far as we know you live in Sutherland in England? Why did you move here? It is a rural town. How does the nature and environment affect you?
It’s a tragic place actually. We mainly moved there to live for free at Williams parents’ to be able to write music and explore the forests and the sea during the night. It was disheartening when we were completely isolated and shut of from the beautiful people we would have liked to be with. Only for the sake of our art we moved there. Though it was a very productive time and we were able to write music and lyrics every day, which counts in the end if it’s all you live for. But I am very glad we finally escaped to Germany.
Your T-Shirt says “Lose Your Digital Life”? What do you mean by that? What do you think is the influence of digital media, technology, IT to the world? How it changed the world and our lives?
Lose your digital life is a line from a new Lebanon Hanover song. It is an encouraging command from a hopeless nostalgic to bring people together in real life, but I am too unfortunately too dependent on the internet and it is sadly very impossible to lose it. The internet is a very informative and great tool to learn, but most people use it for distraction or cruelty. I am afraid of the future and not sure if it really connects humans, because after all we are not ‘together’ if everyone is on their own smartphone on a party. The critical minds, I guess, there is not just enough of them.
7” on Berlin label [aufnahme+wiedergabe] have been released on the 28th of February. It will be released as a second edition on the 9th of May. The new LP is planned for September 2013.
More about Lebanon Hanover:
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