Halo - In The Company Of No One (2024)

Halo? Some albums are legendary even before they are released. More than ten years ago, Berlin musicians Masha Qrella and Julia Kliemann decided to form a duo together. For various reasons, their first album together was never finished despite fabulous songs. In 2022, the two musicians took the time to sift through the material and decided to finally finish producing it. "In The Company of No One" now sounds as if it had simply needed all that time lying dormant on the hard drive. Halo? To the point.

Despite its bittersweetness - unfortunately we don't even have a suitable word for it in German - it sounds so wonderfully airy and light as a feather. The artists are now completely baffled as to why it took so long to complete this album.

Yes, Halo? That can mean pretty much anything from the spherical area of a galaxy to dark circles under the eyes. There's also a first-person shooter game of the same name. Well, a vinyl record is also Halo in a way. At least as far as the shape is concerned. In any case, the music on this album is 100 percent Halo.

And it oscillates between indie pop and electronic. Pop music from the laptop and the urban bedrooms and kitchens that developed in the late 90s from Berlin to London and Chicago. A strong moment of empowerment that last existed in the 80s with multitrack tape recorders. But now, thanks to the new digital technology, it was not only possible to record drums or guitars, but also to work with samples, sequencers and loops on the home computer. With far more tracks than just four or eight.

Both Masha Qrella with her solo records - but also her predecessor bands MINA and CONTRIVA - and Julia Kliemann with her project KOMËIT have contributed outstanding albums to this first new indie pop movement.
And since Masha Qrella can play pretty much any instrument, this duo always sounds like a full band on these recordings. Their songs, performed in two voices, may be reminiscent of New Order or Stereolab, but above all they sound like the wonderfully harmonizing voices of Julia Kliemann and Masha Qrella.

In terms of content, this album contains mostly tender observations of everyday life, in which the microcosm of a coffee-drinking situation or a sudden voice message on the phone suddenly mean a whole world. And even though the album is entitled "In Company Of No One", we are fortunately always in Company of Masha Qrella and Julia Kliemann. The magic of the duet, in which nobody feels alone anymore.

In the end, we can only hope that not so many years will pass before Halo return with a second album. But we don't want to complain. And let "Halo" carry us away here and now.