With songs about toxic masculinity, a world in turmoil, and some of the brightest melodies of their career, Il Civetto has completely reinvented themselves. With guests like Frank Dellé (Seeed), »Liebe auf Eis« was created, the wonderfully intoxicating new Il Civetto album that is simultaneously the most personal and compelling of the Berlin pop band's career.
When Il Civetto comes, the sun rises. No joke, it just happens. "We can't explain it," says Leon Keiditsch, "but this year it has happened repeatedly: the rain stops as soon as we go on stage at a festival. Before our performance it rains, after our performance it rains, but during our performance the sun shines. It's a bit eerie."
Keiditsch is the singer of the Berlin pop group Il Civetto, which indeed possesses a unique gift: when the night seems darkest, Il Civetto knows where the light switch is. This applies not only to their concerts but generally to the music of this band - and especially to their new album: »Liebe auf Eis« combines light with shadow, the vibe of a balmy summer night with the hangover afterwards.
»Liebe auf Eis« is the pop of a generation that feels betrayed by the older ones regarding their future but refuses to give it up without a fight. It is about love, hope, solidarity - and about radiant melodies that simply make you happy. "To me, it sounds a bit like climate porn," Il Civetto fan Luisa Neubauer said in a joint interview when Keiditsch explained his thoughts on »Liebe auf Eis« to her. And yes, theoretically, even that would be possible with Il Civetto.
From the beginning, the foundation of this group was their enormous openness and musical versatility. Lars Löffler-Oppermann (saxophone, clarinet), Leon Bollinger (drums & percussion), and Keiditsch met in school and pooled their diverse influences when founding Il Civetto: Bollinger's Manu Chao and Desert Blues influences, Löffler-Oppermann's Klezmer and Balkan Beats background as a trained clarinetist, and Keiditsch's classical vocal skills, who was considered an opera talent as a child.
Since 2010, Il Civetto, has been performing in the Berlin subway, techno clubs, and later at festivals around the world. The band had already released two albums when the current lineup with Dany Ahmad (bass) and guitarist Robert Kondorosi was established in 2019, reinventing themselves as a hybrid pop band with attitude and German lyrics with the album »Späti del Sol« (2022).
And now, »Liebe auf Eis«. Once again, Il Civetto has made a tremendous artistic leap. After Keiditsch collected ideas, sketches, and fragments in late summer and autumn 2022, the five friends worked on the new songs from January 2023 in their Berlin studio. They recorded »Liebe auf Eis« once again with producer Ralf Christian Mayer (Clueso, Cro, among others), who has always understood this band's vision best. While they were on tour throughout the spring and summer, they met with Mayer for sessions at Jazzanova and the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, where parts of »Späti del Sol« were already produced.
"Last time we arrived there with full reverence, this time we truly made the space our own and turned it into our safe space," Keiditsch says. The confidence was due to the fact that all Il Civetto members experienced the production of »Liebe auf Eis« as their most intense to date: "It was a very inspiring time during which we grew even closer as a band," says Bollinger. "Robert and Dany worked intensively with Ralf as co-producers, we now function together seamlessly."
You can hear it: against the backdrop of their deepened friendship, »Liebe auf Eis« has become the band's most personal album so far. Il Civetto has always been musically diverse, exciting, and captivating. Now they lay their hearts on the table, making this music even more intense. "Alles was ich hab" is, for instance, a flirty duet with Frank Dellé of Seeed, a friend of the band: a bouncing and euphoric road song about appreciating the moment.
“Songs are only really great if you truly let a piece of soul flow into the lyrics,” says Leon, who opens up more than ever on »Liebe aus Eis«. This applies to songs like »Boys Do Cry«, in which Leon, together with Berlin musician Trille as a featured guest, describes his discomfort growing up as a male-read child in a traditional macho role. It references cleverly The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" and the way Robert Kondorosi's guitar in the chorus quotes the distinctive melody of the original, showcasing the musical mastery of this band. Everything on this album is incredibly dense and catchy, played and produced to perfection. The rock guitars in the third single, »Nie wieder Winter« (featuring MoLa), the electrifying global-pop of »Blue Hour«, the rich brass sections and multilayered guitars blending rock, Latin, and indie - everything connects and is so compelling that you never want to leave the dance floor.
The music is consistently intoxicating, compelling, euphoric, but the lyrics are not always. Because Il Civetto say what needs to be said: another explicitly autobiographical song is the introspective »Fragen«, which deals with farewell and loss, and how the scars of childhood forever shape us. These facets of existence were not present in the emotional spectrum of this music before, but now they make »Liebe auf Eis« the most intense Il Civetto album to date. This also applies - in a different way - to »Hollywood-Ende« and the tremendous anthem »Regen in Rom und Paris«, a love song in the face of the climate catastrophe.
"We live in a time when the world seems to be increasingly heading in the wrong direction," says Leon Keiditsch. "But even if it may seem hopeless, songs like 'Zukunft im Wind' should motivate us to still take to the streets and fight for a better future." Il Civetto know, of course: we can only pull the cart out of the mud ourselves, in this darkly beautiful, staggering world.
»Liebe auf Eis« is the soundtrack to dancing on the volcano, on the edge of the crater - and the band will soon bring it back to the stages: the biggest tour in Il Civetto's history is coming up. The light will be stronger on these evenings than the shadow. The sun will shine, and there will be a lot of love in the room.
Doors open: 7:00 pm
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
