The title of Milky Chance’s debut full-length, “Sadnecessary,” doubles as an apt descriptor for the German duo’s melancholic brand of folktronica, which marries a downcast, reggae- and house music-infused thump to an array of introspective acoustic folk ditties.
“I think in a way [the title] describes my personal relationship to music, or my personal connection to music,” said 22-year-old singer/instrumentalist Clemens Rehbein, who joins producer/DJ Philipp Dausch for a pair of sold-out shows April 24-25 at the Vic, in a recent phone interview. “We both love having that feeling of melancholy where it’s not just being depressed, but more this nostalgic feeling. It describes the way I am connected to the music.”
I feel like people ask you about the name in every interview, and it’s definitely interesting … Is Clemens a family name?
No, actually not. It’s only me. I like that you’re asking me [about] my real name and not the band name. That’s good. [Laughs.]
Did you like Philipp right away when you first met him?
Actually, yeah. We met on the first day of school … And we started hanging around together from the first time. We were on the same frequency and were interested in the same things. He’s a good spirit, yeah. We just like to chill. We’re more the calm thinkers, and trying to enjoy life.
Are you as laid back as your music suggests?
I think so, yeah. I like to slow it down and take my time.
When’s the last time you threw a punch then?
Threw a punch? What does this mean?
Sorry, got in a fight.
I’ve never been, no. I’ve never caught a punch, and I never gave one. I couldn’t do it. Well, let me think about it. I had one guy who was very angry at me, but I was not angry at him, and he kind of kicked me, but it wasn’t that hard. I didn’t understand him. I was just confused, so I didn’t hit him back.
Things exploded for you guys after you posted the video for “Stolen Dance” to YouTube in 2013 [it now sits at more than 134 million views]. Has it been easier to handle the craziness around the band going through it with someone who’s a good friend?
I think so, yeah. I can’t imagine having to go through this without a friend by my side. It’s good to have someone who can give you feedback, and so you don’t feel alone or lost somewhere. And sometimes you just have to talk to someone. We talk about everything because now we have a lot of experiences we share together. The last two years have been a big rollercoaster for us. We have a lot of times that have been unreal and overwhelming. I think you just have to concentrate on enjoying everything and not to get yourself lost in this kind of crazy world.
You played your first U.S. show in New York in October. Did you have some image in your head of what life in the States would be like prior to making that first visit?
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I’d never been to the States before, so I had all those clichés in my mind. Like everything is kind of bigger: the streets are bigger, the pedestrians, the buildings. The cars are even bigger. And everybody has a car; that’s a cliché I would confirm.
Your music generally adopts a relaxed pace, which runs counter to the image Americans generally associate with the German people. Are Germans as stern as the stereotype suggests?
[Laughs.] I mean, that’s the cliché, that Germans are very straight and serious and always on point. I think you can find these people everywhere. It’s more an old cliché. If you watch the old people, like our grandfathers and their grandpas, I think they fit more into that cliché of the serious German human being.Which German cliché do you hate more: the idea that everyone is super serious or the idea that everyone there loves David Hasselhoff’s music?
[Laughs] I like the second one. This is very good.You have a homecoming show set for Kassel, Germany in August. Does that cause you to reflect on how far you’ve come over this last year?
I’ve thought about it a little bit — what it means to me, and what I think I’ll experience when we do the show. This year our touring is the biggest things we had. We never made a tour this long, with North America and Australia and everywhere. It’s a real homecoming, I guess, and it’ll be really intense.
Andy Downing is a RedEye special contributor. @andydowning33
Milky Chance, 7:30 p.m. April 24-25 at Vic Theatre. Sold out.