„.“ – GALORE

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TRACKLIST

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Credits:

Producers: Tillmann Ostendarp

Composers, Writers: Madlaina Pollina, Nora Steiner

Da bist du

Du kannst nicht gut allein sein

Woran liegts?

Hend mir nur wele glücklich si?

Ich hab alles und die Liebe satt

Stell sie mir vor

FairPlay

Ich war mein Leben lang, immer so nah dran

Mama, ich bin ein reicher Mann

Leon

Eines davor

U la la träum von dir

Überall

Der Mensch ist einsam, alles andere nur ein Versuch

WATCH & LISTEN

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Story

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With bittersweet beauty, Nah Dran teaches us the most important lesson of our time: things and people are ambivalent—and we must learn to live with these contradictions!

Steiner&Madlaina’s fourth studio album and its release coincide exactly with the band’s 10th anniversary. As if to celebrate this and themselves, “Nah Dran” brings together everything that has always been inherent in the band and its three previous albums, but has never been so on point: the great lyrical confidence, with its wit, ambiguity, criticism, and message, which makes it so recognizable, and the sound, which is indie and pop, but this time enriched with trombone and brass, children’s choir, piano, and orchestral moments. Just as danceable and singable as the previous albums, yet more sophisticated and next level.

We are actually quite close to these two women and their thoughts. This is also reflected in the album’s sound design: the songs sound organic, we hear handclaps, and the instruments were actually played, handmade, everything delicate and precise, but never cold and clean. It succeeds in giving the listener the feeling that we are sitting next to them in their living room; there is something intimate about it.

Like the lyrics, this sound is the result of harmonizing contradictions—classical, warm, tender strings and rockier, snottier guitars. A children’s choir in the adult world. Nostalgic pop or schlager influences with a contemporary, feminist, rebellious edge. Musically, this album is more multifaceted than its predecessors, featuring jazz, pop, indie, rock, avant-garde, a cappella, lots of backing vocals… You can hear how much importance was placed on giving each instrument, the melodies, and the individual ingredients of this sound enough space and making sure that the diversity didn’t accidentally drown each other in a mushy soup of sound. This has been done with great care and the album is really excellently produced. In this way, the musical worlds and influences that are mixed together each open up their own spaces for association, which can counteract each other; a dialogue that precisely doses its ingredients and does not use them solely for their own sake.

As with their previous album, Nora Steiner and Madlaina Pollina collaborated across national borders in a similar dialogue-based manner. As always, they sent each other snippets of songs, drafts, and lyrics back and forth as voice messages. They then exchanged feedback, advice, and opinions. They work together separately. It is this independence and individuality of both artists, combined with their commitment to acting as equals and in honest, deep friendship, that sets Steiner&Madlaina so sustainably apart from the crowd (not only among musicians, but also among people).

Nora Steiner and Madlaina Pollina always go all in—smart, combative, defiant, funny, tender, often very cool, and worldly-wise. They criticize a lot, but don’t spare themselves and never kick those below them. On “Nah Dran,” they practice social criticism through self-criticism. And love for humanity through self-love. The result sounds catchy, poppy, danceable, warm, and beautiful, yet it is a statement against simplification.