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Verbatim: Dena

Longterm Berlin musician Dena on her new love for demo recordings. Catch her at our 16th birthday party on Sat, Jun 9, 20:00 at Ballhaus Berlin.

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Photo by Hanna Sturm

Longterm Berlin musician Dena on her new love for demo recordings.

“A lot has happened in the city’s indie music scene as a community. It feels like an upgrade compared to 10 years ago. Also, Berlin now is my home. I feel like I’ve settled down here, and it’s really cool when living in Berlin leads to collaborations and joint projects with other locals over the years. Anton [Teichmann] from Mansion and Millions, who I will release my new album with, for instance, the people from Torstraßen Festival, or people like Kevin [Halpin], who’s been doing Shameless/Limitless. I’ve known some of them for so many years. It’s like family.

With my upcoming album, the biggest diff erence is that I’ve been more involved with the production side. The idea was to combine my electronic production with more organic vibes. I have found that my demos are solid. They contain everything I want to convey with my music. That made me realise that ‘I got the power’. [Laughs.] My new record is a very raw and personal album. The demo songs of my fi rst album were just as rough, and I felt it was time for me to stick with that immediate vibe instead of distorting or unnecessarily overproducing it. A song doesn’t need super fancy top 40 charts style production to be good. I see it as a new path I’m embarking on, and I’m excited about what’s going to happen.”

Dena Jun 9, 20:00 Exberliner Turns 16 at Ballhaus Berlin, Torstraßen Festival, Mitte