Edwin Rosen – the profound New Wave’ler of the German music landscape. At the beginning of 2020, it was still considered an insider tip, but just one year later the music of the Stuttgarter was on all the nation’s playlists.
Edwin Rosen: Dark mood, drum machine and lots of reverb
Rosen himself never thought that uploading his track “lighter//colder” during his exam phase in his teacher training course would help the now full-time musician to break through. A mystery quickly arose about the voice behind “lighter//colder”, “The sun in your room” or “1119”, since everyone somehow, but at the same time didn’t know him at all. What stuck in your head was his grave voice, straight drum machine beats, lots of guitar and even more reverb. He describes his sound, inspired by bands like The Cure, New Order and Grauzone, as “New New German Wave”.
His five-track EP MITLEERENHÄNDEN was released last year, and Rosen released his current single “Vertigo” at the beginning of this year. After that, the musician toured Germany’s venues and played at countless festivals. Despite his success, Rosen has retained the mysterious because, as he himself repeatedly explains, he appreciates the reserved approach to his own art. Somehow sympathetic, we think.
Here is the EP WITH EMPTY HANDS:
We introduce you to three artists who use a sound similar to Rosen and should definitely be heard.
1. Zahlaza
The special thing about Zahlaza: the musician (deliberately) does genre hopping. In doing so, he also repeatedly roams through the New Wave realms of Rosen. At the same time, influences from trap and hip-hop can also be heard in the music of the Leipziger. The fact that “There is no constant here” is written in his Spotify bio shows how consciously the musician experiments and opens the genre drawers. That’s why the track “Zeitfühl” from his EP BLITZ&DONNER (2021) sounds like pop-punk à la blink-182, for example. In his music, Zahlaza still manages to establish a general recognition value, among other things through his catchy voice.
“I know” (2020), the song with the strongest New Wave reference in Zahlaza’s music history, is his most streamed work. This makes it clear once again how well 80s vibes and supposedly niche sounds are currently being received by listeners and have long since become a trend.
Listen to his INFINITY EP (2020), which also includes “I know”, here:
2. Flawless Issues
Launched in the same year as Rosen, Flawless Issues has primarily garnered attention with its second single, Good Vibrations (2020), a Beach Boys cover. So far no EP or even an album has been released, but eight singles that are worth listening to. With English lyrics, the musician addresses various “Flawless Issues” (in German: flawless problems), such as abysmal human emotions and being alone. Surrounded by instruments, the solo artist breaks his own sound barrier with his dark singing.
And surprise: Flawless Issues and Edwin Rosen are not only from Stuttgart, they are also friends. The musicians support each other live on stage, in songwriting or during recording sessions. Thanks to skating, the two met years ago through their shared hobby.
Edwin Rosen and Flawless Issues performed together at the Stuttgart Skate Contest 2022, the video is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYPS_HBgUVI
3. Steintor men’s choir
With their first single “Luisa” (2021), Steintor Herrenchor also belong to Rosen’s “Club of Newcomers of the 2020s and 2021s”. After their debut, four more songs by the Hanoverians followed in the guise of the New German Wave, including post-punk influences. By the way, their band name refers to the pedestrian zone “Am Steintor” in Hanover.
Since “much too wide 2” in July, the musicians have become a little quieter, but according to their Instagram account, new music should be released soon. In the music video for “Postkarten” (2022), the musicians also rely on retro romance with the zoom skills of an old camcorder and shaky video recordings. But see for yourself: