ÄTNA

In the organizer's words:

Their style is indefinable, their stage presence overwhelming, their creativity boundless: ÄTNA have secured themselves a permanent place among the most sought-after live acts and are also one of the most innovative electronic music projects of our time. ÄTNA - that's Inéz Schaefer and Demian Kappenstein. The Dresden duo met at a 90s throwback party at their music academy and subsequently launched their joint project ÄTNA in 2016. Together they compose groundbreaking electro indie. Sometimes it sounds like carefree and euphoric club nights and noughties techno and sometimes like light and fluffy pop. They create their very own multiverse of sound, movement and language - peppered with a good pinch of otherness. ÄTNA's performances are not just concerts, but artistic productions that explore the space between genres and take the audience on an emotional journey.

It was already clear from their 2020 debut "Made By Desire" that there was no standard German pop here. ÄTNA presented themselves as an avant-garde, interdisciplinary duo with a precise feel for catchy hooks, driving rhythms and impressive imagery. After features with Solomun, MEUTE and Marteria as well as collaborations with the NDR Bigband in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, there was no longer any doubt about the versatility of the two. Although the look and the concise synth pads seem futuristic and are almost extraterrestrially unique in the local music landscape, the basis of all transcendence in ÄTNA is handcrafted perfection. Inéz and Demian were and are first and foremost first-class musicians, and the same applies to everyone they work with on their productions.

After the successful and self-confident "Push Life" from 2022, ÄTNA 2024 present their third album "Lucky Dancer". Recorded between Spain, southern France and Bali, Inéz and Demian have sensed and captured the pulse of the times like a firefly, transforming it into a throbbing, pulsating work full of presence. On all their albums, ÄTNA further refine their visionary utopia in terms of sound and weave their music tightly into the themes, sounds and spheres of their time. Sometimes in minimalistically reduced, sometimes in theatrically exaggerated metaphors, they reflect what it means to experience the now on earth.

In nine tracks, "Lucky Dancer" oscillates around seething crises, depths, lightness, escapism, empathy, transience - and the overwhelming simultaneity of it all. It's about the power of music and the creation of inner worlds as places of resistance to everything out there. Because yes, it could be over at any time. As concrete and political as the lyrics on "Lucky Dancer" are, the musical environment is interwoven with references from Eurodance, R'n'B, breakbeats, drum'n'bass, minimal music and modern classical music. Mixed with organic orchestral sounds, digital pads and deliberate glitches, they form the map of the ÄTNA sound, whose secret ingredient remains a mystery.