ischia

The music of the Viennese quartet ischia achieves something that few can: it can accompany both walks in the drizzle on grey afternoons and carefree evenings at the end of a hot summer's day. Sometimes the audience is led to mysterious places by dark harmonies, sometimes a warming, longing blanket of sound clouds stretches over the verses and choruses and opens up a world between shoegaze, dreampop and indie rock, in which raw guitars meet catchy hooks, complex song structures meet lyrics that - not only, but if so, then also clearly - work through the impositions of patriarchy and the so-called meritocracy. And you can still dance to them.

But let's start from the beginning: the origins of ischia lie in the long-standing friendship between Adele Ischia and Hjörtur Hjörleifsson, both known as half of the band Endless Wellness. Hjörtur was also a member of the band Oehl, where he was involved in three albums. The two met years ago as teenagers in Salzburg. Hjörtur simply had to approach Adele because he thought she looked like a young Bob Dylan.
It took another coincidence, however, when Adele and Lena Kauntz, who plays live with Yukno, Sharktank and Cousins Like Shit, finally met a few years later in the summer of 2020 - and Adele's close companion, photographer Franziska Barcsay (who is also responsible for the artwork and band photos), convincingly argued that the two should definitely make music together.
With all these coincidences and musical outfits, it is all the more important to emphasise that ischia are not a project, but a real band. It is completed by Philipp Hackl, who in another life was one half of the indie band Jolphin.

Now the time has come. On 13 September ischia's debut album ‘Leave Me To The Future’ will be released by Siluh Records. The first harbinger is the single ‘Sleep’ - a song about the longing for retreat and peace. Who hasn't felt the need to simply turn their back on everyday obligations and sleep through the winter? Exactly, but ‘Leave Me To The Future’ has much more up its sleeve.