Gwen Dolyn and Steffen Israel form the duo tears and release their album

Singer Gwen Dolyn and Kraftklub guitarist Steffen Israel had actually only wanted to help the punk song "Duell der Letzten" from the 80s to a new edition. But the two musicians became a duo, and one song became a whole album ("Haare eines Hundes"), which will be released this Friday. There has already been a taste with singles like "Kapitulation" and "Stures dummes Herz," which has garnered well over 900,000 views on Spotify since the summer.

"Tränen" once again shows that Chemnitz is moulting into a creative hub in the music scene. Not only Kraftklub and frontman Felix Kummer are established nationwide and bring big stages and festivals to shake, also the indie pop trio "Blond" is no longer an insider tip; in the spring, the band "Power Plush" also from Chemnitz released their debut album.

In the meantime, the Berlin-born Gwen Dolyn is also at home in the former "Manchester of Saxony", which will become European Capital of Culture in 2025. "There's still space and air here," she says. "You don't need a lot of money and a lot of prestige here to be able to make your art in peace." It's reminiscent of her earlier days in Berlin. "As a base, it's super here."

The band name "Tears" came about through an interrogator on the phone, tells Steffen Israel. But it fits the very personal lyrics - they encourage vulnerability as a means of self-assertion. "My weapon is vulnerability, I'll show you what I feel," for example, in the song "Mitten ins Gesicht," or "Let go of what hurts you" in "Stures dummes Herz." Musically, Tears move in the indie pop and NNDW, also make no secret of their sympathy for punk. In the process, they inevitably evoke memories of Wir sind Helden and the Hamburger Schule.

For Israel, the album is initially a first stage. "I make music to play it in front of people," he confesses as a full-blooded live musician. "When I write a song, I always imagine it live." That's why he's eager to go on tour with Tears in the spring. And how much Kraftklub is in Tears? Of course, he says, he brought the experiences he had with the band into the new project. "With Kraftklub, five people bring input, with Tränen, two," Israel calculates. "From there, there's more of myself in Tears than in Kraftklub."