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Soko

Karlsplatz, 2008

We pick up French singer and actress Soko at the Funkhaus where she has been interviewed for the national radio station fm4. Her booking agent recommends us that we shall better not ask Soko to play her early chart-success “I’ll kill her” for us as she ran out of the studio, when she has been asked to do so at the radio station. Her explanation: She was never really satisfied with that song and it simply has nothing to do with her anymore; not only that we’ve never been ones to request any special song from the artists, but it is also true that the song is just not one of her best. By now Soko has proven that there is much more diversity to her music than that of a languishingly broken lover with the added plus of a sweet French accent. The singer with Polish roots has a good sense of humour and a subtle irony, burps in measure into the microphone while singing at her nightly show or asks her audience to join in one of her tongue-in-cheek choruses about how mean and bad other people are. She’s got it all – forceful screaming and compressed anger to happy-go-lucky tunes, whispered intimacy and the distinctive crack in her voice. Soko’s other songs about disappointed love are still very poignant. Her low-fi and straightforward performance on her little guitar at the pre-Christmas Karlsplatz left us curious about her first full-length record.

Camera
Michael Luger
Sound Recording
Matthias Leihs
Post production
Simon Brugner
Photography
Simon Brugner
Artist
Soko

Karlsplatz

Karlsplatz is a centrally located square, situated between the inner city and the fourth district. In the late 19th century the square was erected on the former riverbed of Wienfluss, which was regulated and canopied. Karlsplatz lies at the foot of the massive and splendid Karlskirche, Vienna’s largest baroque church. Moreover Art-Nouveau-style Otto Wagner Pavillon with Club U, historic Wien Museum, project space, Künstlerhaus, brut and the Technical University are situated on or in the vicinity of the square. The square and its environment have experienced various transfigurations. It has changed from a notorious place for drug dealing to a popular hang out spot. In summer Popfest Wien brings live shows to Karlsplatz, while in winter the square is converted into a big Christmas market.