When GHEIST’s new album came into our inbox recently, we immediately had the sense that we were in for something special. And quite refreshingly, we were proved correct from the outset. A truly tantalizing listen, it spoke volumes of their shared musical understanding, and – much like their early records – would seem to suggest a long and varied musical career lying ahead.

The album, however, was unfortunately marred by tragedy, as the guys’ tour manager died by suicide recently, an event that naturally influenced their recent musical output. We caught up with the guys recently to chat about the influence of their friend, the new album, and their forthcoming plans…

WWD: How did the pandemic affect you and the music you make?

Actually as the pandemic slowed everything down, we ended up being in a very creative phase. We managed to adapt to this new situation quite fast and somehow could enjoy the less stressful time we‘ve been forced into and still kept ourselves busy.
The good thing is when you’re making music as a group it is easier to maintain a flow. Anytime one of us was less inspired the other ones jumped in. On top of that we were always able to calm each other down when everything around us got weird and unpredictable. It definitely wasn’t just easy but we made the most of it and always tried to keep our spirits up.

WWD: Tell us about the inspiration for your new album…

It’s actually impossible to point out just one thing as each one of us gets inspired in different ways, even though we have a very similar taste in music. What actually became kind of a guideline and inspiration throughout the album process is a certain feeling of melancholic optimism and the idea to create something that you also want to listen to at home and not “just“ on the dance floor. Of course we‘ve also been influenced by the current situation and it’s ups and downs and we‘ve all individually lived through moments that became songs, lyrics and state of mind.

WWD: How did the loss of your friend and former tour manager affect you?

The loss of our friend really hit us by surprise. It’s such a shame and it’s hard to let him go. If someone goes at such a young age the hole they leave behind feels terribly big. All of this just happened so recently, that we didn’t have any time to really process the situation or even grieve properly. But the day it happened we met in the studio, talked about the things we lived through together, had some drinks and also started to make some music.

WWD: How are you now, have you processed the loss?

To be honest we‘ve been so busy lately and as mentioned before all of it is still so fresh that it is really hard to make any proper statement. From time to time we just think about him and then we realize all over again what actually happened. We are probably still in a state of denial but one thing is for sure we are going to miss him very much and he will be missed by many more, especially his family.

WWD: Did you have any rules on the album like if things were too emotional or too dark they wouldn’t be allowed on?

Actually we didn’t have a rule like that, but obviously we didn’t put every song we wrote on the album. We usually collect all the ideas and vibes we come up with throughout a period of time and at some point we just have a feeling what we still like and how we want to finish it. We also have quite a few songs on the album that just went down in one night and we immediately knew they’re going to be on the album.

WWD: What gear did you use in the album making process and how much does that define your sound?

Generally speaking we love the vibe of LFO movements in synthesizers. We usually bounce all tracks in place before mixing, so it’s kind of hard to reconstruct everything we used ;). But we definitely used a Juno, a Polysix, a Moog Matriarch and also some soft synthesizers – synced with the E-RM Multiclock to get some nice poly-shuffled movements.

Our drums are mainly sample based combined with some 808 HiHats send through diverse delays to add a special feel. For mixing we use lot’s of analog gear, like Moog-, SSL- and Neve-EQ’s. We also worked with the SSL Fusion, which is great for distortion and a Lexicon 480L. This are some of the main tools we used for the album.

WWD: What else have you got coming up/are you working on?

Our LP ‘Zukunft’ will finally be released on the 19th of November via our own imprint Radau. We‘re also currently planning a Remix EP of ‘Zukunft’ which will be released next year. Furthermore we have the pleasure to host our own party series at Watergate in Berlin, which is called “Again“. Other than that we’ll be touring through Germany, Mexico, India, Brazil, Uruguay and Denmark in the upcoming weeks. We’re constantly working on new music and we can’t wait to meet you all out there on the dance floors around the world :).

WWD: What advice do you have for anyone suffering with mental health problems?

It‘s not about giving advice to someone who suffers from mental health problems, it is such an individual feeling and state that it‘s impossible to make a general statement. It is much more important to create a safe place to open up and destigmatize mental illness as such and build awareness especially for people with suicidal tendencies. We are about to head into winter and we are still in a post pandemic phase as a society. We should sensitize ourselves for those who need to be seen and make sure that no one feels alone or left behind. Please let us all take care of each other and make the time to listen cause WE ARE NOT ALONE.

GHEIST’s Zufunkt LP is out 19/11. Buy/listen to the release here and keep up with GHEIST on Facebook and Instagram.