Album Notes

“Quiet Is the New Loud” was the motto of Britain’s youth’s Folk- Movement not so long ago, named after an album of the Kings Of Convenience. The British press came up with a name for that new genre, New Acoustic Movement. The national alternative singer/ songwriters (throughout the borders of the Vienna Songwriting Association), and their international colleagues have since three or four years experienced an increased attention and popularity among the masses.
The demand for handmade, honest, calm and less superficial tunes and sounds is exponentially rising. Maybe also as a contrast to the stimulus satiation, product boom and superlative mania of the industry.

Wemakemusic*- founded by Cornelia Liebhart and Christian Benedikt in 2002, have had limited success; despite being aired on “FM4 Soundpark”, they have been quite in the dark.
With their 2007 “In A Living Room” (recorded by Ben Martin and Daniel Letschka), they managed to record a genre- perfect debut album. Through a recommendation by MICA (Markus Deisenberger), the cooperation with monkey. and Hoanzl was initiated, to achieve a professionalizing of the group.

“In A Living Room” was released in Spring 2007, as a private edition; however, through only mouth to mouth propaganda, its popularity increased rapidly. The periphery of wemakemusic* ´s success confirms the hopes of achieving a high- profile also beyond the boundaries of the insider’s circles. That such prosperous stories exist also in such tightly knit communities, is not a novelty. Without trying to create a direct artistic link, groups such as Jack’ Angels, Papermoon, Clara Luzia, Son Of The Velvet Rat or A Life A Song A Cigarette, have proved that extensively.

“I found an instruction booklet for playing the “Melodica”, one of the oldest old-school wind-instruments, with a keyboard and mouthpiece. The keyboard has colored markings which make it easy to use. That was long ago- but the message is still the same: anyone can make music. Us too. So we make music.” (Christian Benedikt)

Wemakemusic* in a nutshell: Cori (vocals, piano), Benny (vocals, guitar), Marion (violin), Lisi (chimes), Himan (tables, conga), Gü (drums) and Romeo (bass). According to Chris Benedikt, the group is a motley of influences from different bands and artists like Turin Brakes, Jeff Buckley, Travis, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Laura Veirs, David Gray, Dave Matthews Band, Nada Surf, The Frames, Yann Tiers, Tim Hutton, Madrugada, Chris Cornell or Rufus Wainright.

Backtracking to a local scene. Wienweb.at summed up wemakemusic* as: “A Viennese room on Schafberg meets a couple of friends”, “Inconspicuously beautiful, delicately in two voices, and for all ages.” The style can basically be labeled as Folk-Pop- classic songwriting with independent character meets Viennese coziness and English texts. Wemakemusic* seduce one into daydreams and dandelion- blowing…

“Somehow it’s the end of our living room- project (too many people- not enough space),but the beginning for something new…” wrote wemakemusic* on their website. We agree with them.Something nice and honed is dozing here, a glimpse of what is to come in the acoustic message in a bottle from that living room.