VIENNA WAITS FOR YOU?

As the sun sets over the mountains, Gothenburg act baula emerges from its dark shadows. With their gritty surf/western-influenced indie rock, and a raving debut album in the bag, they now head for Austria to perform at the showcase festival Waves Vienna.

The nucleus of baula consists of Karolina Thunberg on vocals & guitar and Ísak Ásgeirsson on drums. Together with Jasmine Sahlén on bass and Robin Dahlgren on guitar they form a full unit. When we meet up in the band's basement rehearsal space they’re all in the middle of prepping for the upcoming show, and plotting their visit.

– It’ll be a treat to go to Vienna as a kind of finale to this album cycle. We've been out playing a lot during the spring with mostly material from the album but now we're going to test out a new song live, so that's something really exciting. I’m also way more relaxed to play where nobody knows me, it’s liberating in a sense, says Karolina.

– Waves Vienna feels like a really big showcase festival, but as it always is, you'll never have time to see all you want to see, you'll just have to see where you end up. I’ve only been to Vienna once and I remember eating some good hummus in a staircase somewhere and then going to a musical that was in German - and I don't even speak German. But half the reason you travel is to eat, so we'll definitely make time for that, Ísak adds.

Their debut album, 'heavy heart, no tears', dropped in April after a five-year process, a time they remember with mixed feelings.

– We made an early decision that we wanted to produce it ourselves, which was a very good choice - but also a very bad one. At times we were efficient, then came moments when there was simply no time in life, but it also allowed the songs to mature in a way. Eventually we knew that we had to leave it as it is, because you will always regret small things, says Ísak.

– None of us are people who will come to the feeling that “now I'm completely satisfied”, instead you must come to the sense of “I can live with this”. When you control the process yourself there is no real external deadline, and you can go crazy if you have to tinker with everything. So when you finally dare to let go, you’ll certainly be satisfied too, Karolina adds.

Richer in experience, they now look to the horizon with fresh eyes on whatever comes next.

– If the stars align, there will be more gigs this fall, but now we are mainly focusing on getting more songs ready so we can get a little more variety in the set. It's always easy to get a bit bored when you play the same songs over and over again, says Ísak.

– And this time we're going to make an EP that doesn't take five years, adds Karolina.

baula
Waves Vienna