Premonition: Each -too rare- album by Das Ich is an event, a small tidal wave in the routine "dark" productions. During an inaugural concert in Paris, aimed at giving us a preview of their new songs, we met Bruno Kramm, composer and keyboard player for the band.

Premonition: What's the deal with your new album ?

Das Ich: I think it's more electronic than the previous ones. After producing two rather slow albums and a atmospheric movie soundtrack with no drums, we wanted to go to something more rhythmic, more dance oriented. Most pieces in the new album have some dance-floor elements. There is even a woman's voice on a remix because we wanted to experiment with different singing moods.

Premonition: Your lyrics mix religious, literary, and psychoanalytic references. Is this toward a precise goal ?

Das Ich: The first album was centered on religion, a very gothic theme. The second was about Apocalypse, which is, I think, very gothic as well. The new element on the third album is that we address personal problems. there is even a love song, even though it's not immediately obvious, because it deals with the existential aspect of a love story. We are getting farther from mystical or fantastic topics to get closer to social problems. I think it's useless to keep speaking about religious perspectives, all that is so vague. Today there are fundamental things happening in Europe, from political, social, economical standpoints. Moreover, we are at the end of a millennium, there is going to be a new "end of the century" atmosphere. I think it's most important to never go back to the beginning, to one's root, and to focus on one's deep convictions.

Premonition: Your roots, from a musical standpoint, seem closer to classical than to industrial or electronic music.

Das Ich: This probably comes from the fact that I was in a classical music environment since I was very young: when I was six, I listened only to classical. Then, I learned the piano and classical composition, so it's natural that it's my main influence. But I think it's interesting to combine sounds, industrial moods. There are so few people who do it. Nobody uses classical elements. I think that we are at a point in the history of music when amazing things happened and it would be very sad to let them go to waste. That's why I seek to combine them with more electronic material. In fact, our last album is more electronic than classical, besides two or three pieces. It's also more rhythmic and I think it's our best record to this day, the most mature. I know that all bands say that when they put a new album out, but in our case, it's true (laughs).