October 28, 2024 |
Courtesy is something of a polymath: part musician, part artist and part creative director. Based in Berlin, the Danish act is no stranger to crafting euphoric dance music for massive audiences – her sets at Boiler Room have over one million views on YouTube and she’s taken to the stage at Primavera, Berghain and Sonar. At the same time, she’s developed a serious reputation in the art world, creating runway scores for high-end fashion brands like Chanel and Vitelli and exhibiting works at Trieze and Arken. Now, on her sophomore album, Intimate Yell, she intertwines artistry with musicality to deliver a trance-inducing 35 minutes of deconstructed deep house, 2-step and ’90s IDM.
In true artistic form, the promotional ‘chapters’ for the lead singles – Gretel Girl (Breadcrumbs) and My Dazed Friend – see Courtesy partner with Laura Schaeffer on videos that pair her tracks with readings and conversations on topics ranging from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando to Frank O’Hara and Tim Dlugos’s poetry. The film for Gretel Girl, released in September, features conceptual artists Arthur Chruszcz, TRANSmisia, Olga Hohmann and Clara Sartor in a modern-day romantic drama that feels right at home amidst Berlin’s chaotic dating scene.
Separately, the album’s nine tracks are strong, together they represent what it means to be young, fun and in Berlin: Gretel Girl (Breadcrumbs) feat. Sophie Joe is a sleek disco-inspired ode to the complexity of modern love; My Dazed Friend feat. Klō’ is an ethereal and radio-ready eulogy for the friendships you make and break on a night out, complete with a chorus that will have “D-A-Z-E-D” stuck in your head for days; while the album’s final offering, Ways of Raving feat. Aaron Altaras and Geoffrey Mak, is an ambient, spoken word guide to the ecstasy of Berlin nightlife.
Following the album’s release at The Centre for Contemporary Arts Berlin and an afters at Berghain on Friday, we spoke with Courtesy about her collaborations, the inspiration behind Intimate Yell and her perfect way to spend a Sunday.
1. What was the inspiration behind the album name Intimate Yell?
I found it in the introduction of The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara (his poem Meditations in an Emergency is read by Arthur Chrusz in the video work which came out with the album) Intimate Yell was used to describe O’Hara’s language of everyday (by James Schuyler) in the book’s introduction. This was one of the initial books I read in research for the project (recommended by friend Samuel Haitz) and it kind of set the tone for the album.
2. If you could only listen to one record for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Impossible, but Prefab Sprout – I Trawl the Megahertz.
3. Where is your dream venue to perform at?
I like warehouses or a nice Kraftwerk.
4. What does your ideal Sunday look like?
Library, a movie with Gabrielle, family, dinner with Arianna, Pasolini at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein with Daniella, Polke at Schinkel Pavillon, van Eyck at Gemäldegalerie.
5. What was the inspiration behind your first single My Dazed Friend feat. Klō?
Friendship breakups, a few of them for me personally over the years, I co-wrote the lyrics with Klō who also sings on the track.
6. What was the inspiration behind your second single Gretel Girl (Breadcrumbs) feat. Sophie Joe?
I wanted to write a song which limns the feeling of someone breadcrumbing you, you know, when someone you date offers just enough attention for you to try to hold on to a little bit of hope, however the feeling is not palpable, a bad situationship. I gave the concept to artist Sofia Defino Leiby who wrote the lyrics which I edited with singer Sophie Joe while I was writing the music.
7. Your album offers various underground genres of dance music, from deconstructed deep house, 2-step, ’90s IDM and ambient. Which is your favourite?
I don’t have a favourite genre of music, I don’t think it makes sense to think about music that way, the quality of a song, or how well it functions on a dance floor isn’t determined by the genre it belongs to.
8. The album features collaborations with a row of different singers and musicians; French singer/producer Klō, Singaporean singer Sophie Joe, German singer Lyanne, German pianist Ben Leo, and many more. Who would be your dream collaboration?
I would really love to work on a sound piece with Stephen Prina.
9. The album is accompanied by a 10-minute plurivocal video collage made in collaboration with photographer Laura Schaeffer, also titled Intimate Yell, was screened at the release event at CCA Berlin (Center for Contemporary Arts in Berlin) – can you tell us more about why you decided to release this alongside the album?
The idea for the video project had been lingering for a while before writing the actual album, out of my interest in how young people live in a big city like Berlin and certain video art, such as Mark Leckey’s Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore.
10. What can fans look forward to from you in the next year?
I’m writing a new record, a very different mood than Intimate Yell and related to painting somehow. A new regular club night in Berlin, and maybe launching a new big project simultaneously…
Photography by Laura Schaeffer.
