Hi Daniela, a pleasure to have you with us today! How are you doing and whereabouts are you speaking to us from at the moment?
Hi! I just arrived at home, in Berlin. It’s not even winter yet and it’s completely dark at 5 PM. I played last night in the beautiful Madrid in a new club called Lula Club and now I have some days to rest and work with music again before the next weekend.
We’re pleased to be chatting with you around the release of your remix of ‘Going Down’ by Yeah But No, out 10th December on Distant Echos. A super remix here! How did the remix initially come about?
It was very easy, in fact. The vocals are really beautiful, and it’s always easier to remix a track when you already admire the originals… I just got the main ideas and tried to construct something around it… I added some keyboards and some sound effects, the beats and voilà…
What were your initial thoughts when you heard the original track and what was it that inspired you to take the remix on?
I loved the vocals when I listened to it. The singer is really talented, there’s no doubt about it. I knew what I wanted to do, my only concern was that I thought I needed to inject some energy there without killing the sweetness and the tenderness of the original. It’s not always easy to make something that is at the same time danceable and a bit sad, but when it’s possible I think it’s my favourite type of music – danceable yet a bit introspective.
What was your creative process like when creating the remix? Did you know from the beginning where you wanted to take the track or did you find this along the process?
I had this idea, the general concept that I should make it danceable without killing the introspective vibe… I just put some beats onto the vocal and started to jam on a synth, trying to find a hook to complete the mix. Then I found this 80ish melody, a bit synthpop-like, sounding a bit like early Pet Shop Boys or something like that. I thought it was a good match for the vocals… With this decided, it was just a question of arranging, rises and falls, notes and silences.
What was the feedback like from Fabian Kuss and Alex Niggemann (Yeah But No) when they first heard your remix?
They really liked it, what made me really happy, because when I finished the remix I was in love with it!
2021 has been a brilliant year for you musically, notably recently returning to Phantasy Sound once again with ‘Wings Of Time’. It has also been a very difficult year for the scene, with the numerous closures of clubs across the world through the pandemic. How has the year been for you personally from your point of view?
Well, I am trying not to freak out too much this year, because in 2020 I have already freaked out too much. It’s been very hard to have all these cancellations and postponements. And it’s been really sad to see a lot of friends – DJs, promoters, club owners – having to leave the scene because they simply were not allowed to work. A lot of my releases have been postponed, and it’s been almost impossible to make plans, to respect a schedule. Anyway, I think that for the scene it’s just time to take a big breath and try to survive. It’s a bad time for the world, so the best we can do is work hard, care for each other and have lots of patience.
Thank you Daniela for chatting with us today! Congrats on the latest remix and we wish you all the best going forward. To finish off, is there anything else upcoming from yourself that you would like to share with us?
Next week I’ll finish my new release, which should come out on Clash Lion, my own label, in a few months. I am still deciding the last details of the release, like remixers, cover and all that stuff… And I will start mixing my first album soon. It has a lot of different styles and vibes, some dance stuff and some more melancholic and introspective music. The music is already done but it needs some studio time to sound as I have it in my head!
