German artist Laura Carbone is known for her dark and intimate songs; it is one of her many talents, creating a fascinating and breath-taking atmosphere through her music. Today, the exceptional artist from Berlin unveils the first single of In Dreams her collab EP with The Underground Youth, “Love Hurts.” It’s a cover of the famous Roy Orbison classic. Not only does MXDWN have the absolute pleasure of presenting this magnificent song, but we also had the honor to do a quick little interview with Carbone herself.
With the release of the track, we also get treated to an artistic new video. The video shows Carbone and The Underground Youth singer Craig Dyer alone in a church in Berlin. “I’m very grateful we had the opportunity and trust to film at Zionskirche, Berlin – only the three of us – in an intimate and very private setting,” Carbone explains. “These halls are very dear to me; they fill me with energy, lightness and ease and have been giving me much so comfort – especially in times when love hurt.”
Both Carbone and Dyer have vibrant voices. While Dyer’s are more earthy and Carbone’s are almost angelical (especially with the church setting), the duo’s vocals enrich each other perfectly. Like a well-coordinated play of light and shadow. Together with the delicate music, the song has a goosebump guarantee, especially for the audiophiles out there.
There are songs that feel like the artist was just hoping for a paycheck, but this is definitely not the case here. “Love Hurts” has emotional depth and takes the listener on an almost spiritual journey. Like mentioned earlier, the church setting of the video is just incredibly well chosen. It elevates the song to a whole new level of art and shows just how much talent is behind the song and video.
Having the chance to go a little more in-depth about the EP and the song, we had a few questions for Carbone and got a little more insight on the process and thought behind the collaboration.
mxdwn: Was there anything that specifically inspired you to cover Roy Orbison?
Laura Carbone: Craig has beautiful memories of listening to Roy Orbison and the nostalgic feelings this brings about from his youth. This ties to his family and his grandmother. Orbison’s music created a very unique bond for Craig to these thoughts of the past. We created the EP when the world was still in the pandemic lockdown. The intention was “to give something back,” especially thinking of the elderly generation whose Covid lockdown experience was simply different than for us younger people. Comfort and sweet, honest, romantic memories – I guess this is what Roy Orbison was able to express and soundtrack for them. If our interpretations can honor his legacy and bring people’s memories of these soundtracks back, I’d be very happy.
mxdwn: So I recognize that Germany had a particularly strict lockdown due to Covid-19, how did this affect your ability to collaborate?
LC: First of all, I guess it’s important to mention the fact that Craig and I never really spent much time simultaneously in Berlin due to our very travel intense lives. So it was a blessing in the midst of this mess to find the time and connection to create.
We both are pretty well equipped for recording at both our homes, and we sent our recordings back and forth until we reached a point feeling – This is it.
To me it was beautiful to be able to make use of our digital world, also having the ability to create and record on my own. I think this served the EP very well since it was created in real isolation and speaks about the closeness, and much more about the distance, in fading romantic relationships in a very real way.
mxdwn: Was there anything in particular that influenced your decision to film the video for “Love Hurts” in a church?
LC: Olya, our art director, at some point suggested the Zionskirche church in Berlin. She knew that I have a very intense connection to this cathedral and the energies in there. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since the building itself is very ethereal, and the history of the church is not just distant, but also very much present. It was a center of the civil rights movement in communist East Germany, serving as an “Environmental Library” – furthermore, the pastor and activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer used this space and his sermons there to speak up politically against the Nazi ideology from 1933 until 1943, which led to his execution in 1945.
The church is a space for political awareness and social justice in our very Zeitgeist now. Needless to say, this church has been a source of great energy, lightness and ease over the past few years, especially in those times when love did indeed hurt.
mxdwn: What do you hope listeners will feel when listening to In Dreams?
LC: Warmth, beauty, ease and comfort. I hope they can dream away.
mxdwn: Your version of “Love Hurts” takes a song that generations of music lovers enjoyed to a dark and deep new level. What has drawn you to this particular song?
LC: This song stuck with me for a very, very long time. Ever since I heard the interpretation by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons I knew I wanted to sing this at some point in my life with a musical partner.
The honesty of the song is intangible – the pain and softness as well. Love has such a wide spectrum and pain seems to be an essential part of growth and finding your new perspective in what seems to be an endless ray of light.
mxdwn: Obviously Roy Orbinson has inspired you two, but are there any other influences on this EP?
LC: Personally, I’ve been listening to a lot of gospel during the pandemic. I found this live collection of Mahalia Jackson that has been sitting in my vinyl stack for a decade. Once I put on the first record there was no way out and I was touched and inspired by her ethereal way of expressing her emotions. She was no doubt intensely rooted in our earth and at the same time connected to the spiritual heavens. You can feel it in every tone she sings and every breath she takes before even starting. My skin tingles and inspiration moves through my body. She was especially on my mind while I was singing the choral arrangements on the EP. To me they represent angels that bring much softness to this sometimes heavy topic.
mxdwn: I think the German scene is sometimes a little bit overlooked by the world. How do you feel about the current state of the Berlin music scene and German music scene in general?
LC: This is hard to believe. To me Berlin holds such a vast and diverse spectrum of highly talented people that only keeps growing. Many of the bands and friends on and off the scene that inspire me are indeed living in Berlin – of course The Underground Youth, but also Lucy Kruger and the Lost Boys, No Berlin, Errorr, Kadavar, The Third Sound, Naari, Sometimes with Others, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sofia Portanet, Stella Sommer, etc.
mxdwn: Can we expect future projects between the two of you?
LC: We’ve been joking about a tour together, which seems to be a crazy master task, combining the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of The Underground Youth with my “dolce vita” tour approach being the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) I am. So, most likely no tour together. But…knowing that we both will share our moments on earth for at least a little longer I’m curious to see what the future will hold for us. Perhaps there will be a moment again when our voices and sounds want to spend more time together creating music.
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