After stellar performances at Charles Street in Brighton, the gay bars of Berlin and a recent stint at BBC South’s Live Lounge, Anglo-German electro-pop duo Mollyhaus have released Red Shoes, their first EP, full of hook-laden disco-ready nuggets all told with sardonic wit.
Graham Robson caught up with singer Little Neve and her companion, the knob-twiddling K, to discuss music, inspirations and how nightclubbing in the nude is cool in Berlin, as long as you keep your shoes on.

How did Mollyhaus come about?

NEVE: I’m from London, but I live in Worthing now, and K is from Berlin. He was a remixer on one of my previous musical projects, and we loved what he had done, so we started to do more and more together. He creates the music, we write the lyrics and melody, and so Mollyhaus was born!

Describe the dynamics of the duo…

N: I am quite ‘blah blah blah’ and he is more ‘sssh’. But our relationship is fascinating; we discovered we had such a lot in common even though we seem so different. He won’t arm wrestle me though. And he’s not keen on pretzels. That’s just silly.

You’ve played the gay scenes of both Brighton and Berlin; how do they compare?

K: Brighton and Berlin are both very exciting places and we loved to do both. N: But in Berlin you could wear nothing in a club if you so desire, as long as you wear your shoes (they have no insurance for no shoes, the inspiration for our track Red Shoes) – I know this because we got off stage, went into another room and found a man with his willy out doing the Macarena. K: Had his shoes on though, didn’t he!

How was performing at Charles Street for Halloween?

K: Charles Street was great; was a really good night because it was Halloween and people were all dressed up and completely in party mode. We would love to do more in Brighton.

Who, music or otherwise, do you draw inspiration from?

N: We draw influence from such a diverse range of people – K is classically trained so he has written scores for chamber music, but it wouldn’t be unusual to find him writing and remixing for big dance DJs either. I like old stuff; rock and roll, Bowie… Whatever makes my heart beat fast. Anything from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga. Love the Gaga! You probably wouldn’t find us at the same club because I would annoy him with my musical taste and he would annoy me with his musical taste and we’d get drunk and cry and then eat something greasy. K: She is quite annoying me now…. N: see, I told you – he loves me…!

Do you despair at being called electro- pop?

N: Ha ha, despair is a bit dramatic! We ponder this; I’m not sure if we really know what we are…
K: We are electronic and I guess we are quite poppy. So maybe electro-pop is fair!

Your new single China Face has a heavier, more club-ready sound than before…

N: It’s been getting some good reviews – it’s more for dancing on podiums than our previous releases. We had some great remixers (Andalo – of Guru Josh Project status and Maringo – Berlin up and coming DJ) come forward for the package so we were very happy about that!

What ideas and lyrical themes are you drawn to?

K: Anything with a twist to it; it’s not always a happy ending you know! We like kinky! ;)…

After playing the Live Lounge for BBC Introducing the South, what does the future hold?

Some of us may have been on holiday and some of us may have been curating exciting and successful pop festivals for EQ. Regardless of us being a little late on this, we are not going to desert on EQ faves Mollyhaus present synthesized smasher “China Face (What To Do)”.

Delicate shimmering synth work decorates beside the celestially exquisite vocals, leading us into divine electro pop intervention of the most seraphically serene kind.

Das Electropop-Duo Mollyhaus – Sängerin Little Neve White und Produzent K Bastian – ist mit einer neuen Single am Start. Im August bespielen sie gleich drei queere Berliner Partys in Folge. Jan Noll sprach mit Little Neve über Internet, Wodka und Schuhzwang bei Chantal

Little Neve, mit „Red Shoes“, dem Titelstück der ersten Mollyhaus-EP habt ihr Chantals Party „House of Shame“ ein Denkmal gesetzt. Erzähl mal die Story dahinter und wie es sich anfühlt, am 16.8. wieder dort aufzutreten.

„House of Shame“! Das war ein Erlebnis! Es war die erste Nacht unserer Berlin-Tour, wir hatten kaum geschlafen, und ich weigerte mich, meine Schuhe anzuziehen. Chantal machte mir in ihrer feinfühligen Art und Weise unmissverständlich und unklar zugleich deutlich: „Du musst deine Schuhe tragen, weil der Club nicht gegen Keine-Schuhe-Tragen versichert ist!“ Danach ergänzte sie: „Klamotten sind aber nicht nötig.“ Und so wurde der Text zu „Red Shoes“ geboren. Es ist natürlich total geil, dass wir jetzt wieder dort auftreten!

Einen Tag später spielt ihr bei „Search and Destroy“, eigentlich eher eine Rockparty. Könnte für euch als sehr poppiger Electro-Act ein schwieriges Publikum werden.

Wir werden früh da sein und vorsorglich schon mal ein paar Umarmungen verteilen. Vor ein paar Wochen haben wir im Camden Barfly in London gespielt und die Rocker electropopten sich ihre kleinen Beinchen ab! Oder sollten wir lieber einen Electroschocker mitnehmen?

Dein Bandkollege K Bastian lebt in Berlin, du in England. Wie arbeitet ihr an euren Songs?

Das Internet ist schon eine wundervolle Sache. Es macht das Arbeiten sehr einfach, auch wenn man an verschiedenen Orten ist. Es gibt Skype! Wir kippen ein paar Wodka und skypen dabei.

Am 10.8. veröffentlicht ihr eure neue Single „China Face (What To Do)“. Was kannst du mir über den Song und die zwei Remixe erzählen?

„China Face“ ist clubbiger als die bisherigen Mollyhaus-Tracks, es geht um einen Go-go-Tänzer. Die Arbeit an diesem Stück verlief mal anders herum als sonst. Wir hatten erst Text und Melodie und dann hat K Bastian den Track dazu gezaubert. Und die Remixe? Aufregend, DJ Maringo und Andalo! Muss ich noch mehr sagen?

Was habt ihr für Pläne in der nächsten Zeit?

Das Mollyhaus hat viele Zimmer. Unsere cleveren und verrückten Mitbewohner haben ihr ganzes Herz in dieses Projekt gepackt. Das scheint sich jetzt auszuzahlen, denn ein paar interessante Leute klettern durch die Fenster und klopfen an die Tür. Wer weiß, was die nächsten zwölf Monate bringen? Ich hoffe, zumindest ein Gläschen Wodka!

Mollyhaus:
China Face (What To Do), ab dem 10.8. als Download erhältlich

Emilia lives in a big big world, but it was her efforts to sing for small Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest that kick-started her music career all the way to ‘vintage pop’…

Emilia Mitiku laughed and joked early this morning (Friday 15th June 2012) on BBC Breakfast TV about having been kicked out of the selection process for the Eurovision three years ago, but states that she did it to kick-start her career again. She also enthuses that in Sweden the international song contest is considered quite an honour to be involved in, especially after the success of Abba. Emilia was first discovered by the son of Abba’s manager in 1996, and later went on to have a huge hit with ‘Big Big World’ in 1999.

So it is clear that the half Swedish singer is no stranger to the big big world of pop, and her voice has never been more distinct and beautiful than in her recent rendition of ‘Dream a little Dream of Me’. So we can expect more ‘vintage pop’ as she so-aptly calls it, but it would also seem that she is a fan of cool and kooky music too, as she was spotted enjoying a night out with electropop pair, Mollyhaus on Wednesday 13th June 2012 at Camden Rock.

Dynamic duo, Mollyhaus consists of Brighton-based Little Neve White and Berlin boy K Bastian and they played a set at the popular North London venue to round up their two-week tour; their unique sound and retro image was well-received by the audience.

Mollyhaus has just premiered the music video for their new song Love Machine, which is an incredible track to say the least! It grinds along with some heavy electro and some very distinct vocals that really demand your attention. I really, really love this new video, because it features so many images of the past, which are graphic, sexual and just straightup vintage and does so with a very vintage film look.

If you’re quick, you can grab the amazing Marc Lime & K Bastian remix of their track “Red Shoes” exclusively here on EQ. It’s been rockin my pod for awhile now and it’s the perfect sort of thumpa thumpa to kick start the season of sushine we seem to be experiencing here in Europe.

And how gorgeous are the band? I could eat them with a spoon.

I am loving this track by Mollyhaus called “Liar Liar”. It’s so quirky cool and infectious yet still manages to captivate the electronic synth-loving purist inside me.

I’ve been championing Mollyhaus for quite awhile now and I think they are definitely ones to watch out for on the electronic pop scene. They have some crackin new tunes up on their official website and it’s nice to see their imaging coming along very nicely in all it’s sexy, slick and achingly uber cool “yeah were kinda hot” vibe.

Let’s face it, when it comes to Christmas, usually the songs are a bit too cheesy for my liking. The music industry gets inundated with Christmas albums hoping to cash in on a bit of holiday consumerism to help make up for lost profits lost to “the new music industry”.

However, this track called “Santas Sack” by Mollyhaus is quite the opposite. It’s seriously gritty, electronic and even a bit overtly sexual and if you ask me, it’s everything I want in a track, especially if it’s one of the Christmas variety.

Mollyhaus are the product of two fabulous independent electronic acts coming together in way of uber hot electronic duo from Berlin – The Snoopy Lads (whom I worship and I’m a huge fan of) and the fabulous Little Neve White. They recently started experimenting with their sound and have done a few live shows already and I can tell you, the music is coming together really nicely.

Check out some Soundcloud samples of their tunes below and I think you’ll agree that they have hit onto something quite special in the world of electronic music. It’s still really early days for Mollyhaus but I’m going to be keeping a really close eye on them…being that The Snoopy Lads have produced one of my favorite albums of all time – “A Ruby In Blue” – keeping an eye on them and Mollyhaus won’t be asking a whole lot from me.