Sono

The triumvirate that is SONO has been making music together since 2001 and individually a good while longer than that.
Back in the days when major record labels had their fidgety fingers on the pulse of the dance scene, or so they thought, they concocted sub-labels with exciting names like FUEL (Warner) and ZEITGEIST (Polydor) to feed their habit. Now and then, they actually struck gold, with SONO’s “Keep Control” a prime example. The first in a series of veritable SONO anthems, “Keep Control” rose to the #1 spot in Billboard’s 2001 Year end chart toppers "Top Hot Dance Club Play Singles". A year later, the band’s debut album “Solid State” was released to critical acclaim, featuring further timeless club classics as “Blame” and “2000 Guns”. SONO had since switched from FUEL to ZEITGEIST and carved themselves a niche between the full-on dance sector and a more organically oriented live scene, winning them fans in both camps whilst confusing the hell out of the marketing wizards whose job it is to pigeonhole projects, in order to drop records directly on the heads of that mysterious entity, the target audience.

How times change. Vinyl is gone, but not forgotten, CDs are forgotten but not gone. We’ve all gone digital. Dance was in, then out, then back in again. Guitar bands rose and fell and never really went away. Majors cast off their “dance cells”. More recently, the cross-pollination of club culture and rock music has produced fascinating results, the Daft Punks and Chemical Brothers of this world, the Justices and Digitalisms are right up there with any band stuck between the pages of the NME or Rolling Stone.

Where does that leave SONO? Well, a couple of albums later, they are actually ideally placed to reap the benefits of the regenerative spirit of popular music, having successfully negotiated a path for themselves with their own blend of electronica and pop sensibilities.

Equally at home as a sound system behind the decks of a Friday night club gig and up on stage as a fully-fledged live act, SONO have never lost touch with the dance scene, nor have they lost touch with a sizeable following who perceive them as a touring live act that rocks.

Undoubtedly, this successfully managed balancing act has much to do with the background of SONO’s three members. Lennart, the vocalist (and guitarist), is a singer and award-winning songwriter who moonlights in the more bluesy-rocky JEROBEAM combo. Florian is the studio mastermind (and what a studio it is!), having recorded with such budding starlets as PINK, KATY PERRY and KELLY CLARKSON (he picked up two Grammy prizes for his work with Miss Clarkson). Martin combines a day job as graphic designer for a leading dance record label with DJ gigs in the most select of venues. Put all that in the mix, and you have a goldmine of musical creativity, manifested in the unique sound of SONO.

Is this diversity of input perhaps an embarrassment of riches? Are they comfortable with their oh so catholic taste?
Lennart: “I suppose we are caught between two stools in a way, and it has felt strange at times in the past. But these days we enjoy the freedom of being able to play in a rock club and at a rave – with completely different set-ups, yet always fitting the bill. And there are definitely more bands around now who are closer to our sound. JUSTICE or THE KILLERS have followed a similar curve, the boundaries between dance and indie rock have become more and more blurred. We’re happy about that.”

In 2006, a year after their sophomore studio album “Off” (by now having moved on to the independent label PIAS), SONO released a double album of remixes – “RMXD” which is a clear indication of how highly they are regarded by their dance compatriates. Internationally renowned producers like CHICKEN LIPS, BODZIN & HUNTEMANN and DIGITALISM contributed reworkings – along with one or two surprise inclusions, such as APOPTYGMA BESERK, proving once again that SONO are capable of transcending musical borders and engaging with utterly different sound scenarios.

Back to the present, and what better way to relaunch SONO in 2009 than by revisiting their original benchmark release “KEEP CONTROL”. Reloaded as “KEEP CONTROL PLUS”, the track was immediately snapped up for North America by ULTRA Records, a key player in electronic music on the other side of the Atlantic, the legendary SCORPIO Music label in France (quite possibly the inventors of the dance compilation concept), famous UK dance unit INCENTIVE and ultimately released all over the world.

In keeping with the spirit of positivity, the brand new album also carries the PLUS tag. SONO – PLUS showcases the trio at the peak of their powers, rendering the dance versus rock debate redundant...it’s simply SONO and the well-crafted songs have the artillery to conquer any format, be it the disco domain, concert crowd or headphones at home.

The forthcoming single, “BETTER” encapsulates the energy coursing through the new record.

Lennart recalls the making of the track:
My daughter had just been born and I was spending a fair amount of time at home. One day I was out for a walk with the baby and just popped into the studio where Florian and Martin were working on an instrumental. I loaded it onto my iPod and went back home with my little girl, the song in my ears all the way there. Ideas for lyrics ran through my brain and when we got back, all I had to do was write it down”.

So here it is, SONO – PLUS. This is their baby, don’t drop it!