Soap&Skin is the
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
musical project of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n artist Anja Plaschg (born 5 April 1990).
Life
Anja Plaschg grew up in a small village called
Poppendorf (near
Gnas) in south east
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
, where her parents have a farm. She has played piano since she was six. At the age of 14 she began violin studies and developed an interest in electronic music. She attended the
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
Polytechnic for Graphic Design, but dropped out at 16 and moved to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
shortly afterwards. There she studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in the master class of
Daniel Richter, but at 18 dropped out again.
After only playing a handful of concerts she was already being dubbed a "Wunderkind". In 2008 she played German singer
Nico
Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...
in the play "Nico - Sphinx aus Eis" by Werner Fritsch in Berlin and Vienna, performing several songs in it, including "Janitor of Lunacy", from her first EP.
Her first album, called ''
Lovetune for Vacuum
''Lovetune for Vacuum'' is the debut album by Austrian musical project Soap&Skin, released in 2009 on PIAS Recordings. It is listed as #38 on musicOMH's Top 50 Albums of 2009.
In 2012 it was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Mus ...
'', was released in March 2009. It received excellent reviews and placed in the Austrian Top 10. The album also achieved chart positions in Germany, Belgium, and France. Music journalists have already claimed to see in her a new star of Austrian pop.
Plaschg's father died in 2009
from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
. During this time, Plaschg stated that she suffered "serious depression"
for which she was hospitalized.
The death influenced much of her second album, ''
Narrow
Narrow may refer to:
* The Narrow, rock band from South Africa
* Narrow banking, proposed banking system that would eliminate bank runs and the need for a deposit insurance
* narrow gauge railway, a railway that has a track gauge narrower than th ...
''.
In 2010 she won a
European Border Breakers Award
The European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) was an annual prize awarded to recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. ...
for her international success.
Her tracks "Brother of Sleep" and "
Marche Funèbre" were used in the soundtrack for
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
thriller ''
War Games: At the End of the Day'' in 2010. Her track Wonder from the Narrow album was used in Belgium in the year 2019 as audio in the endgeneric of Dramafilm, All of Us produced by
Willem Wallyn
In 2011 she created the song "Goodbye" together with
Apparat. It was used in the final episode of the fourth season of
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
and later as the title song of the German
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
-series ''
Dark
Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...
''.
In 2012, she debuted as an actress, playing the role of the supporting character Carmen in the Austrian movie ''Stillleben'' (English title: ''Still Life'').
Two tracks, "Italy" and "Safe with Me" are used in the Italian film ''
Sicilian Ghost Story
''Sicilian Ghost Story'' is a 2017 Italian drama film directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. It is based on the real-life "The White Knight" short story in the ''We Won't Be Confused Forever'' volume by Marco Mancassola. and was screen ...
'' (2017), written and directed by
Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.
Plaschg's third full album, ''From Gas to Solid / you are my friend'', was released on 28 October 2018. A music video for "Heal", one of the tracks from the album, was released on 7 August 2018.
On September 14, 2021, Plaschg announced that she would be playing several concerts in 2022.
The announcement contained a list of three shows, as well as a note from the artist stating that in the meantime she will be "diving down 300 years along
erEuropean ancestors exploring the arid surface of trees and roots of trauma, evil, pain."
Discography
Albums
* 2009: ''
Lovetune for Vacuum
''Lovetune for Vacuum'' is the debut album by Austrian musical project Soap&Skin, released in 2009 on PIAS Recordings. It is listed as #38 on musicOMH's Top 50 Albums of 2009.
In 2012 it was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Mus ...
'' (Couch Records/PIAS Records) - Austria #5, Germany #47
* 2012: ''
Narrow
Narrow may refer to:
* The Narrow, rock band from South Africa
* Narrow banking, proposed banking system that would eliminate bank runs and the need for a deposit insurance
* narrow gauge railway, a railway that has a track gauge narrower than th ...
'' (PIAS Records) - Austria #1, Germany #53
* 2018: ''From Gas to Solid / You Are My Friend'' (PIAS Records) - Austria #3, Germany #68, Switzerland #82
EPs
* 2008: ''Untitled'' (4-Track-EP) (Couch Records/PIAS Records)
* 2009: ''
Marche Funèbre'' (3-Track-EP) (Couch Records/PIAS Records)
* 2013: ''
Sugarbread'' (3-Track-EP) (PIAS Records)
Singles
* 2009: ''Spiracle'' (7" Vinyl) (Couch Records/PIAS Records) - Austria #45
* 2009: ''Mr. Gaunt PT 1000'' (Couch Records/PIAS Records) - Austria #60
* 2009: ''Cynthia'' (Couch Records)
* 2012: ''Voyage Voyage'' (SOLFO Music)
* 2015: ''Mawal Jamar'' (SOLFO Music)
* 2018: ''Heal'' (PIAS Records)
* 2018: ''Italy'' (PIAS Records)
* 2018: ''Surrounded'' (PIAS Records)
* 2019: ''Safe With Me - Instrumental'' (PIAS Records)
* 2019: ''Surrounded (Planningtorock Remix)'' (PIAS Records)
* 2019: ''Drag Shift'' (Denovali Records)
* 2020: ''What's Up?'' (PIAS Recordings Germany)
Filmography
* 2012: ''Stillleben (Still Life)'', as Carmen
* 2016: ''Die Geträumten (The Dreamed Ones)'', as
Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author.
Biography
Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...
References
External links
*
Solfo MusicReview of 'Narrow' on BBC Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:SoapandSkin
1990 births
Living people
21st-century Austrian women singers
English-language singers from Austria
PIAS Recordings artists