Debut album

Ischia offers feminist indie rock to dance to

Putting a mark on the Austrian music map: the indie rock collective Ischia from Vienna.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Siluh Records, Franziska Barcsay)

"A little bit dreamy, a little bit longing, a little bit digressive", is how singer and namesake Adele Ischia characterized the music of her band Ischia to the APA. And she sums up the eleven songs on her debut album "Leave Me To The Future" very well. A rocking dreampop with catchy choruses that moves between danceable melodies and melancholy influences.

Adele Ischia and Hjörtur Hjörleifsson, the band's bassist, have had a close friendship and the same taste in music for a long time. But it was only about three years ago that they started making music together. The two, who also play in Endless Wellness, were joined in the band project Ischia by guitarist Lena Kauntz, who recently left the group. Drummer Philipp Hackl finally joined about a year and a half ago.

Alternative rock and shoegaze
The album starts with raw guitar riffs in the song "Sides", followed by the much poppier track "Is It Gonna Last". The melancholic side of the band comes to the fore in the songs "Sorry Mama" and "All The Weight". This colorful mix of alternative rock and shoegaze, interspersed with pop elements, makes it clear right from the start of the record that the group doesn't like to be pigeonholed into a specific genre. "In the rarest of cases, people then imagine what you really do," emphasized the singer. But if she had to choose, she would probably classify herself as indie rock, she said.

The songs are primarily written by Adele Ischia herself. "I bring the basic elements, have the ideas and write the lyrics, melodies and chords, the building blocks so to speak. And I take them to Hjörtur, who arranges them and varies them slightly. He then grinds and tinkers with them, so to speak," she explained. Hjörleifsson added approvingly: "Because we've known each other for so long, we have no fear of contact. Adele has no problem if I intervene somewhere and vice versa." The songs are then arranged together with the band in the rehearsal room.

Songwriting as magic
One of Adele Ischia's particular concerns is to question patriarchal structures and toxic masculinity. This can be seen in the songs "Manbaby" and "Fake", for example. "The topics vary depending on the phase, feeling or life situation. But in principle I have a political claim, which is sometimes more subtle and sometimes more direct," said Adele Ischia. "But it's often about men who annoy me with their behavior." Nevertheless, songwriting remains a fascination for her that she doesn't fully understand herself: "It's very much semi-conscious or unconscious. And actually, I don't always want to understand it that well. For me, it should retain something magical."

The album is named after the song of the same name, "Leave Me To The Future", one of the quieter songs that does without any drums. "I really liked the title, especially in combination with the cover, because it can mean a lot of different things. It has a sombre tone, but it can also be thought of in an equally positive and hopeful way." Hjörleifsson added: "The title has a melancholy note and that's an element that runs through the album."

Plenty of room for humor
But there is another component that characterizes the band's music: Humor. "As dark and unpleasant as things are, humor is often the best or only way to deal with them," explained the front woman. With this mixture, Ischia delivers an ambivalent first album that moves between sentimentality and optimism and combines introverted parts with rocking guitar sounds and catchy melodies - music for all situations in life.