HVOB - Rocco
Artwork Rocco
For those of you, who listen to Electronic Music, this Austrian DJ-Duo should be pretty familiar to you. Listeners, who are unfamiliar with or not that versed in electronic music will find HVOB gives them a well digestible first or second access to electronic music. The LP Rocco offers great versatility through its interesting dramaturgical content and its diverse range of genres. At the same time HVOB's album comes with a musical-political statement as they criticise the hyper-consumption of electronic music nowadays.
Anna Müller and Paul Wallner are the two faces of the electronic DJ duo HVOB (HerVoiceOverBoys) which they founded in 2012. At first, merely publishing a few tracks on Soundcloud, their attention seemed to become independent and soon were to be soomed and sealed under Oliver Koletzki's Label “Stil-vor-Talent”. At first glance they may be undermined by the commercial image of the “electropop” label, but in my opinion have overstepped this presumption by far.
Their latest LP “Rocco” shows HVOBs peerless creativity in its complex and coherent embedding of hypnotic deep-house and rumbling techno over the course of 121 minutes: starting off with HVOB's trademark whisper of Anna Müller and the use of minimalistic synthesiser composed by Paul Wallner in the first few “comforting” tracks. Then unexpectedly breaking off its peacefulness with the rumbling and dark track “Butter”. The track is supposed to imagine what its sound like once technology fully takes over. Afterwards feeling overwhelmed through “Butter's” enormous hectic pace you then feel additionally overrun by the sadness of the following track “Sync”. I reckon the lyrics say it all:
Pick me up
In an orange car
Take my heart
Take me far
Pick me up
In an orange car
You don't know
You've left a scar
Pick me up
In an orange car
Let's forget
Who we are
The dramaturgical sequence of the album refers to stories of letting go, saying good-bye and reorientation; or in Anna Müller's own words: “It leads into a second world where you are free”. Rocco present an alternative to nowadays music streaming period’s fast pace, treating music like disposable items. They so do speak from my soul and set the right mark against the overall trend the music industry has been following for a while! Anna and Paul are both aware that they do not withstand this speed, but are nonetheless proud of their music’s necessary “ingredient”: time.
On the whole Rocco contains songs over a wide range of extremely vivid tracks but also fairly wearing and profound parts, pushing its listener to face sadness, insecurity and fragility through its reflecting and melancholic narrative. Enclosing dark deep-house with soft piano melodies, stomping “industrial” techno beats, gritty synths and serene vocals make HVOB's music exceptional.
As HVOB gives spectacular live performances I recommend to watch this video of them playing at Copa del Sol in Careyes in Mexico broadcasted by Cercle.
For a quick view go to 1.17.30 min for their finale playing “Butter”. What a superb atmosphere they create!
Listen to Rocco on Spotify:
