Leipzig band Hotel Rimini releases first album

With violin, cello and bass, the Leipzig band Hotel Rimini does not have the usual lineup of an indie pop band. Nevertheless, their music sounds thoroughly modern. Now the six musicians have released their first album "Allein unter Möbeln" - a mix of indie and chanson.

In the band's lyrics, it should not be immediately apparent what exactly it is about, said singer Julius Forster in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "I always try to avoid unambiguity."

If he had to name what he sings about, he would say the album addresses isolation, longing and failure, Forster said after much deliberation. "The first song, for example, is about someone who always wants to please everyone and loses himself in the process. Another tells of an unhappy love or how people talk past each other and disguise their self-promotion as lived idealism."

Both a curse and a blessing on their first album, Forster said, was that there was a large archive from which the band could draw. "Some lyrics from the new album I wrote a few years ago, others are new," Forster said. He said it's often the case that he writes the lyrics and framework for a song and then brings that back to the band. "Together, this then creates much more than what I could do alone."

Hotel Rimini has been making music together for about two and a half years. The band already recorded their first album last winter, Forster said. "We recorded in Leipzig and tried to record as much as possible live together. It's important to us that you also hear a little dirt - that is, organic - on the recordings," he said. The band will be on tour with their new record in November and December - including stops in Berlin, Regensburg, Karlsruhe and Magdeburg.