Dortmund-based music project Present Paradox is about to release a brand new album titled A Trace To Keep Control on May 17th this year. If you like your music a little different to the mainstream norms, Present Paradox could be for you – check out their track The Crack at the end of this interview!
By Jane Howkins
You recently released a new single titled The Crack. What can you tell us about the song?
The song is part of the upcoming album A Trace To Keep Control. It’s one of the older sketches I did in 2018. The phrase “You never really asked me” was already in that old sketch and in 2022 it was haunting me due to some personal life circumstances, so I decided to rearrange and re-record the sketch. As the title suggests, it’s about one of those uneasy cracks that can happen to you in life.
How has the reception to The Crack been so far, and where can it be purchased?
The reception has been very positive and encouraging, like on this site. For the song as well as for the video. You can purchase everywhere you like, iTunes, Bandcamp or streaming.
Do you have any more singles planned for release soon?
Yes, the track Ready To Hide was released recently it’s also part of the upcoming album.
You have a new album out in May titled A Trace To Keep Control. What can you tell us about the record?
The new album A Trace To Keep Control somehow picks up where the last one (Caesura, released in 2022) left off. So if you listen closely, the first song of the new album begins with a reversed sound of the end of Caesura. But then it takes a completely different direction. There’s more krautrock and post-punk on this record and I decided to incorporate more brass instruments played by fantastic musicians like Michael A. Grant from the UK. The recording span was quite long, from April 2022 to September 2023, and I’m sure that long period of writing and recording influenced the many themes that I deal with on this record, post-pandemic themes, personal things and so on. I mean, a lot of things have changed after the pandemic, and not for the better. The new ‘normal’ gives me and us even more to do, with a spot on the ‘do’.
What is the writing and recording process like for you?
For me, there is definitely a difference between writing a song and working in the studio. The latter really requires concentration and hours of work, sometimes I end a day with serious neck pain from staring at my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). But that doesn’t mean there are no joyful moments. It’s hard to describe how it feels when a former sketch takes shape and becomes a real song. Apart from that, I love these moments of tinkering around, jamming without a goal and such.
Your music has quite a unique sound. What/who are you most influenced by? What have you been listening to recently?
During the recording of A Trace To Keep Control, in the first couple of months, I was really into some of the later Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds stuff. I also listened to a lot of choice tracks by Black Country New Road and some songs by Fontaines DC that were on heavy rotation. And of course, my all time heroes like Radiohead and their side project The Smile influenced the recordings between 2022 and 2023. You can hear those influences to a certain extent, so yeah. I always absorb what I hear and make it my own.
You’re from Dortmund. What is the local music scene like in your area at the moment?
Sometimes I worry that it disappears a bit. A local venue called Rekorder had to close its doors. The places where you can play live are disappearing, but the music scene in the sense of musicians writing great music is still here and vibrant. We have many, many great acts in the Ruhr area, so not just from Dortmund, but also from Bochum, Witten and so on.
Do you have anything else exciting coming up over the next few months?
Well, we shot a video that I like a lot. Some parts were filmed a few metres below the surface, so keep an eye out for the release date of the album.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
Oh, I’d love to do that, but it’s incredibly complicated to organise.
Any last words for the fans?
Yes, if you can find the time, keep discovering new music and listen to some of the lesser known artists, there is a lot to discover.