For MIRA LU KOVACS, her new album has the color dark red. Anyone who habitually associates sounds with colors knows this well. Even non-synaesthetes can easily reconcile the deep, sensual color with the songs on “Please, Save Yourself” (release date Nov. 8, 2024, Play Dead Records/ink music). Three years after her last album, Mira Lu Kovacs once again creates a highly sensitive world of sound that is as delicate as ever but with a hard edge – subtle folk/pop songs that speak of a relaxed serenity. In the mica – music austria interview, the Austrian artist talks about the pain management that was necessary for this, about sonic safe spaces and why she occasionally smells her guitar.
You are releasing a new album in November, the second under your own name. The album radiates a certain calm instead of rage; maturity instead of restlessness. What are the basic emotions that drove you to make this album?
Mira Lu Kovacs: I’m still angry; don’t worry. But I am angry in a way that I myself am not consumed by this anger. And so the anger is directed at the right places. It doesn’t corrode me from the inside, like acid – that’s what the last Schmieds-Puls album “Manic Acid Love” was about, where I had the feeling that I was going to burst and explode like a volcano, and now I can sit very calmly with my fingers interlocked, smile at someone and curse them inwardly and be totally “zen” in the meantime. The calm thing is, above all, a habit. When I think back to ten years ago, a lot of things were very difficult and terrible (laughs). Now I have the feeling that I can deal with pain, sadness and anger – with a lot of complex feelings – much more lovingly. Because I know it comes in waves – and these waves need to be organized. And to capture the strong feelings within them. It’s pain management, and that’s reflected in the new album.
“Now I can deal with pain, sadness and anger – with a lot of complex feelings – much more lovingly.”
The songs on the album are tense and relaxing at the same time; it feels you are somehow warmly embedded in an intimate, introspective sphere. Do you want to create a kind of “safe space” for listeners with your music? And if so, is there room for pain and irritation?
Mira Lu Kovacs: Absolutely. I definitely create this safe space for myself. In a political context, I would say it is not possible to claim that you create a safe space for others, only the people themselves can decide whether they feel safe enough. For me, personally, I can say that when I make music, I create this space where I say: everything is okay here, this is where I tell my story and express my feelings. Also, so that I can better understand the feeling myself.
And yes, it would be great if a sound, a tone, a sentence, a word, a whole song or a melody felt soothing and safe for other people and it was a place they wanted to come back to. That’s the greatest thing about this work, when you realize that it’s not just for you, but also for others. And also giving space to unpleasant feelings such as fear – that may be complex at times, but it goes together. You have to be able to endure simultaneity. They look at each other and they actually shake hands.
“You have to be able to endure simultaneity.”
A common thread in your previously released singles seems to me to be the theme of “boundaries”, be it in the sense of blurring boundaries in “Disappear” or drawing healthy boundaries in “Please, Save Yourself” or the fear of having crossed boundaries in “Shut The Fuck Up and Let Go”. Is that true and if so, why is this topic so important to you?
Mira Lu Kovacs: Setting boundaries has certainly been a big headline for a few years now, also since the topic of “mental health” became more and more present in the media. You’re right, it really does appear in all songs in different situations because it’s so present everywhere. There are no hard, evil boundaries: “This far and never again”. Sometimes you do need that, but in this case it’s really more about a gentle, “Oh, I don’t want to do that. I won’t do that anymore. I won’t say anything about that. But I do want to do that.” Those are such absolute basics for people. I feel like I’ve only really learned that in the last five years.
Is that also part of the “self-rescue” that you refer to in the album title and the single “Please, save yourself”?
Mira Lu Kovacs: This song is very special to me. The truth is that I’ve been thinking about whether to release it for years, so I can’t say certain things about it. That’s okay, I think. But just this much: it’s about domestic violence, it’s about violence against women. But I don’t want it to be misunderstood, because of course I don’t say to victims of domestic violence, just save yourself, just get yourself out of the situation. This is much more about a relationship between me and someone else that I can’t save. Not because I don’t want to or because I don’t have the skills, but because it’s not possible. You can’t save other people if they don’t want it themselves. If you reach out your hand and it’s not taken, then unfortunately you can’t do anything more. It’s about the moment when you recognize and have to accept this and fervently hope and also pray, unreligiously, that the person will somehow manage to save themselves.
The songs on the new album are highly sensitive pop songs with a strong folk dimension and yet, as is so often the case with you, more experimental elements (from jazz or electronic music, for example) are mixed in. I think your music has always been characterized by complex structures and catchiness at the same time – if you had to choose, what impresses you more in your music: complexity or simplicity?
Mira Lu Kovacs: Just as it is with the simultaneity of love, calm, anger and fear in a room, so it is with this, I feel. But no, wait a minute, maybe I have another answer: simplicity. Complexity is for thinking, for me, personally. Both complexity can have simple structures and simplicity can be highly complex. For me, the simplicity of things is so complex that it is not simple. Things usually only seem simple at first glance. I would say that the simplicity of things can get to me more quickly.
“Simplicity can be highly complex.”
I once heard that you like rituals. Do you also use rituals to make music or to get yourself into songwriting, recording or performance mode?
Mira Lu Kovacs: At concerts, it’s really important that I don’t eat later than three hours before the concert because it’s not pleasant to go on stage completely stuffed. I also have to have drunk 1.5 liters of water by 12 noon on the day of the gig so that I’m fully hydrated by lunchtime (laughs). My life revolves around my voice so that it’s okay. I do everything she wants. I go to sleep when she wants me to. I don’t go to parties or meetings that last long or are too stressful or loud if she doesn’t want me to. I listen to my voice. But it’s not difficult. I’m actually grateful to her. I may seem very extroverted, but I actually like being alone. From that point of view, it’s a good excuse (laughs).
Not only have you been a successful solo artist for a long time, but you also play with My Ugly Clementine, 5K HD and in other collaborations with well-known musicians and write film and theater music. If you could fulfill one more artistic project, what would it be, what would be your wildest vision?
Mira Lu Kovacs: Well, I’m just telling you this now so that it might get out into the world. I’m not saying I’m good at it, I’ve never really tried it – but I would like to do some acting. People say I’m a clown, I like that because I think traditional clowning is great. But I would need the right project, the right role and the right support to get the best out of me, because I’ve never really faced up to it before. I’m afraid it would have to be a very subtle, special role – preferably in a movie. You have to be so loud in the theater. And you have to talk like that (speaks theater German). I find that a bit funny (laughs). For example, I would love to be in a crime thriller – a perpetrator who has killed a murderer of women, a kind of Robin Hood figure. If anyone out there hears that, give me a chance and don’t be angry if I’m not good at it after all (laughs).
“Instruments have always tried to imitate the human voice. Now it’s the other way around.”
Your music is often carried by acoustic-analog instruments such as the acoustic guitar or the double bass. Do you want to set an example in an era of digital music production, where many sounds are created virtually/digitally?
Mira Lu Kovacs: That’s not a deliberate statement. I’m naturally a fan of acoustics. I love wooden instruments. I could just sniff guitars all day long, especially if they’re old. But I also find it totally admirable when someone can make great beats in minutes. Interestingly, the history of music is such that instruments, from the violin to the saxophone, have always tried to imitate the human voice. Nowadays it’s almost the other way around. In modern productions, when everything is very digital or full of synthesizers or all kinds of – I’ll say it now – more artificial sounds, I have the feeling that analog and digital are trying to imitate each other. They give each other so much. You always notice with electronic bands that a saxophonist joins in or they bring in string players. I think they need each other. I’m not really worried about that.
You’ve also played a lot internationally with your various musical formations. In your experience, how is the Austrian music scene doing internationally at the moment?
Mira Lu Kovacs: For a while, I often heard how envious people in Germany were of the Viennese and Austrian scene, because there was simply so much quality and innovation and so many bold experiments. I think it has leveled off a little, but not in a bad way, I think that more and more generations of very talented and imaginative people are coming along. If you want to discuss cultural policy issues, I think it’s relevant to note that the Austrian music scene has definitely become a bigger market and that it’s not just in a begging position.
That needs to be recognized. Apart from that, I have the feeling that people are no longer so “Australia? What? Austria? I only know Salzburg. Mozart?” They know Falco too, but now their knowledge of Austrian music clearly goes beyond that. And that’s a good thing.
Thank you for the interview!
Florentina Finder
Translated from the German original by Arianna Alfreds.