Sven Pollkötter and Jakob Diehl are Taumel. Both are studied musicians (percussion, composition). Pollkötter plays drums in large orchestras for operas. Diehl composes radio plays and is a successful actor (for example in the Netflix series "Dark"). With Taumel they are now going down the same musical path and present their debut with "There Is No Time To Run Away From Here". An album that presents minimal jazz, eerie, dark, slow, atmospheric, in the tradition of artists like Bohren & Der Club Of Gore or The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. In the eclipsed interview, Sven Pollkötter and Jakob Diehl explain the background.
eclipsed: Between opera and film, there's not much time for reeling. How did you manage to finish the album "There Is No Time To Run Away From Here"?
Sven Pollkötter: It didn't happen on the side. We have been working together for about six years and develop different music. There is already a lot to fall back on.
Jakob Diehl: Digitalization also helps us, so even if we don't meet regularly, we can always keep working - each for himself and also in digital dialogue. We will continue to make time for Taumel, it is too important to both of us. On the other hand, we will also bring in work that we have done individually before, such as my work as a composer for radio plays, film and theatre. So we have already done some radio play music as Taumel and plan to develop music for film and dance as well and to start working cooperations. For example, the 12-hour radio play "Saal 101" will come out in 2021 on ARD/ZDF throughout Germany as a radio play and podcast and will also be published by Hörbuchverlag - Taumel did the music.
eclipsed: Please describe how Taumel came about as a project or band. How did you get to know each other? How did you get the idea to do something together musically?
Pollkötter: We met for the first time during a radio play production. Jakob wrote the
music and I was engaged as a drummer. I was so enthusiastic about his music that a short time later I asked him to write a piece for me. We met more and more and realized that we think very similar about music and about "making music". At some point it came to the point that we met in the rehearsal room to make something together.
eclipsed: It's a long way from studying music (classical, drums, composition) to dark jazz. What brought you to the style of music you now play on "There Is No Time To Run Away From Here"?
Pollkötter: Musically, it's not that far away for us, as many things have been running parallel for us from the beginning. It's rather a natural musical development. Not in the sense of "I learn something new and reject the old", but you put more and more musical forms of expression into the pot. And you always draw from everything that has gone before. That's also how Taumel is meant, everything is allowed to be taken out of this pot and thrown into the game. Somehow it just felt good to start with this record then
eclipsed: The album sounds possibly superficially gloomy and oppressive and eerie. But there is also an elegant beauty in it.
Pollkötter: Yes, absolutely! When I listen to the album at a distance now, I have the feeling at the end that "everything will be alright". [laughs] But let's wait and see what happens next.
The complete interview is part of our Online-Abos...