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WL//WH Interview + Premiere: JENNIFER TOUCH Listens to Her Own Voice with “Walls of Patience”

WL//WH Interview + Premiere: JENNIFER TOUCH Listens to Her Own Voice with “Walls of Patience”

27 August 2025 Interviews, Premiere

WL//WH Interview + Premiere    JENNIFER TOUCH

German polymath artist Jennifer Touch‘s upcoming album, “Aging At Airports,” is the third full-length ever evolving exploration toward darker, more immaculate electronic sounds, verging toward synth-driven darkwave edges. An electrifying and gripping songwriting forged from an array of multifaceted influences from the past, but with an equally distinct modern personal imprint, immersing in a deeper, painful, yet invigorating, cathartic journey toward full maturity centred on authenticity, independence, and experimentation.

  • Please give us a brief overview of your musical education, your family influences, your first musical loves, early steps into learning instruments and songwriting and so on…
I always refused singing lessons. I wanted a pure, raw and unpolished voice. I wanted to maintain my character.
My musical education is 100% DIY. I never went to music school or took singing lessons. My upbringing is based on pop music and all the sonic influences of my childhood that my parents listened to, mainly East German pop-rock and ’80s pop music, but also John Lennon, Zappa, etc. I remember also loving Naughty by Nature, and some crazy songs that significantly influenced my taste: When I was about 11, I had a small Radio Cube and would secretly listen to a late-night radio show under my blanket in the early ’90s. They played “Goldene Zitronen” and “Ton Steine ​​Scherben, Neubauten.” I tried to grasp the lyrics and was so fascinated by this strange, powerful, and poetic attitude: Punk. At 15, I was a huge Lacrimosa fan—my early secret gothic pleasure 🙂 I think I spent my whole childhood absorbing music and listening to all kinds of songs. I used to wonder why a Paula Abdul song fascinated me as much as Goldene Zitronen or weird punk music. It was the songwriting and use of sounds that always fascinated me. Nirvana were incredible! Depeche Mode! I once had the chance to talk to Daniel Miller about his signings, and he said he saw early Depeche Mode playing with the cheapest, crappiest synths—but the songwriting was so good, he just had to sign them. As a kid, I would always make up stories and songs in my head and express them vocally, just for myself. And then PJ Harvey‘s album “Uh Huh Her” revealed my vision of becoming a musician, playing every note myself and creating a work of art. And once I started producing electronic music, I had a tool to capture it. I express myself through music, my voice and my sound. It’s my way of communicating with the world. It could have been paintings or whatever. But music was just my thing, my place of freedom. That’s why I always refused singing lessons. I wanted a pure, raw, and unpolished voice. I wanted to maintain my character.

  • At what age did you start singing? How did you sculpt and improve your shapeshifting vocal delivery over time? Has it always been an effortless, natural process? Is there anyone you’ve been inspired by?

I’ve been singing constantly for as long as I can remember. We had a staircase with a beautiful echo, and I would stand on it and sing, listening to my own voice. I loved the power the reverberation gave my voice. My first public performance, by the way, was in elementary school in the GDR. We had political meetings every week, and I was “chosen” to sing songs about communism and such. I simply loved the melodies. When I think back on it now, it feels strange because my first performance was actually a political show, without me realizing it. But what I experienced was the joy and sweet excitement of a public performance. Later in school, we also had a mini-playback show where I pretended to be Sinnead O’Connor. R.I.P.

My voice simply shaped and improved over time, and I always found it easy to use. It’s probably my natural instrument. There were times when I thought I should hide it, sing less powerfully, or something. But now I know it’s my gift, and I’ve trained myself from the ground up to use it. PJ Harvey and Kim Gordon are two female voices I’ve always loved and been inspired by, and I also love Martin Gore and his open-hearted, sensitive singing voice.

  • Do you recall when you had your first epiphany with a syntheziser?

I remember listening to David Bowie’s song “Ashes to Ashes” and hearing a synthesizer come in at the last moment, perhaps a Prophet, that was when I literally fell in love with synthetic sounds.
When I was little, I listened to a very famous children’s record called “Traumzauberbaum”. It was produced and composed by Reinhard Lakomy, a pioneer of electronic music in the GDR. I think he used a modular Moog synthesizer for this record, which he bought from Tangerine Dream. The bands Karat and Pudhys also used Roland and EMS synthesizers. Very cool East German Krautrock. Those were my first synthesizers, which made me dream. Later, I remember listening to David Bowie‘s song “Ashes to Ashes” and hearing a synthesizer come in at the last moment… perhaps a Prophet… that was the moment I literally fell in love with synthetic sounds.

  • I remember your early efforts around the Leipzig label Riotvan, more than a decade ago, when you were starting to connect the dots between Wave, Synth Pop and Electro. What about that period? Are you still tied to that environment?

Essentially, it’s all part of my journey, and I’m good friends with the label. They supported me early on, and even though we might have a different approach to electronic music today, we’re still part of the same family. I also love working in different genres, and our DIY background connects us anyway. We grew up together musically. Starting with a label that was open to my sound was super important, as I was still searching for my artistic language. My very first EP, however, was released on Lunatic Records and essentially reflected the sonic world I still work in.

photo by Nea Gumprecht

  • How did you decide Berlin would be the best place to relocate? Do you see yourself fitting cozily as part of the longstanding Berlin underground music scene, or are you working in seclusion or better in a broader international dimension beyond all that?
After COVID, a great dark wave and post-punk scene has developed in Berlin, these people are my friends. We are like family.
Moving to Berlin was definitely a decision to develop myself as an artist and connect with that music scene there. I knew I needed to be close to the clubs and venues I wanted to play, and Berlin was a very exciting and challenging place for me. I started playing my music live when I lived in Leipzig and became professional with it when I moved to Berlin. I was also leaving a relationship and needed a change, and to get out of my old environment anyway. Today, I consider myself an international artist simply because I work with so many people from different countries. But I feel connected to the Berlin music scene. After COVID, a great dark wave and post-punk scene has developed here, and these people are my friends. We are like family.

  • How have you formed and shaped your working process over the years to give your creativity full scope? Is it more straightforward now?

The process itself is never straightforward; it’s always a very delicate, laborious, and exhausting situation. But I have my rules, like going to the studio every weekday, getting up at 8:30 a.m., and going to work. I need this structure to feel safe, like it’s okay to create art. When I start working on an album, I usually spend two weeks finding the setup, instruments, and sound. Then I plunge into the creative process as if diving into my own ocean. When I return to shore, the almost mathematical part begins: finalizing the song structures, the dramaturgy, the mixing. This part helps me understand my creation.

  • Do you have any favourite songwriting tools?
Every new song is a unique process. A craft that develops with experience and dedication.
Just my brain, my soul, and my ears. I listen to what I’m creating with all three. I try to recognize the song and its patterns and paint a picture. Sometimes it feels like sculpting. It’s always about balance and counterpoint. And every new song is a unique process. It’s a craft that develops with experience and dedication. I’m having so much fun learning it!

  • With the increasing, most of the time sneaking, use of AI technology, do you struggle to stay authentic in a sprawling artificial world?

Absolutely not. I don’t use AI for my creations at all; that’s my human territory. And I don’t use AI to shape an image of myself or anything else that would distort the reason I started this journey as an artist. AI is really helpful when it comes to structuring confusing facts or thoughts. I would never use it to write songs based on… x, y, z. My entire identity as a songwriter and music artist would be just as inauthentic as all the things we face anyway. No thanks. I like AI because it has so much potential to help, but it can’t replace my sacred process of creating art. If someone were to feed AI my song and have it create something based on it, good luck being content with that and not calling it going to a copy shop. I think the way you use AI says a lot about how much you believe in your abilities in a particular field.

  • After two albums with the longtime eclectic UK label Fatcat, you joined the Athenian Fabrika Records, certainly more focused on darker sounds. How did it happen? Did it come as a natural consequence of your musical evolution?

I’m still working with FatCat, and Fabrika is a new partner I’m collaborating with, and I’m very happy about these wonderful connections. Both labels are important to me and my music. I’ve been following Fabrika for a while because I really like their roster. And since my music was increasingly focused on dark wave songs, I felt attracted to it. I think they saw me play at the Grauzone Festival—at some point, they got in touch, and it was only natural to connect with them. Eventually, I sent them those songs as demos, and the planned EP became an album. FatCat has always supported me and was happy about this new step with Fabrika. I hope to continue my collaboration with both labels; they’re the perfect places for me and my music. I love them; I feel at home there. I’m very grateful.

  • After the gloomy, cold yet emotional sophomore album, self-described as “Post-Wave-Cold-Pop-Acid-Romance”, that you used organic instrumentation on for the first time, the third one is instead an overall earnest and concise synth-driven one-woman affair. Can you tell us about the creative process behind it? How thematically and conceptually does it differ? What were the most important aspects you wanted to achieve and highlight?

I would say all my records are a one-Woman-affair. I always played and recorded all instruments, which is part of my artistic manifesto… I wanna be as independent as possible, self-empowered and totally in charge of my artworks. I only want to use instruments that I can play and record myself. I have also been honored to add some sounds by other musicians on 1 song of each album, a drum set and 2 guitars. This was based on the different guitar sound I want to add to mine. So my records are always coming from that place of independence, and I am figuring out what I am able to create myself at that stage. And I want to be more open to collaborations. So in the future, I plan to work more with other artists on my records. It would be interesting to see what happens.

I want to show up more for myself…When I was younger, I started to write music to hide away in it. But “Aging At Airports” now explores my singing voice and myself in a different way- it’s more and more me, and I’m enjoying it!
Compared to my 2nd album, which was a more organic sounding one, this new album’s concept was a clean synthetic sound with an open mixing, almost a Pop sound, but with an edge and only as clean and open as I can do it at the moment. I’m learning a lot about mixing and engineering. So writing and recording a new album is always a technical learning process. I love that! Also, the topic of my record is the pressure of perfection and this artificial behaviour we have regarding the aging process and the fact of fading, disappearing, failing. The songs talk with a dose of pain about my struggle with that. And I just wanted to write songs that I like, I just wanted to have fun singing and playing with a certain simplicity of sounds. Somehow, it declares another level of independence. I want to show up more for myself. My album before was angry and a bit more messy phase, before getting clear on my own power. When I was younger, I started to write music to hide away in it. But “Aging At Airports” now explores my singing voice and myself in a different way- it’s more and more me, and I’m enjoying it!

  • There are a lot of women now who create synth music. Which ones do you feel closest to?
I respect complex works that make me feel like the person is searching for something greater than themselves…I feel tenderness and compassion for all artists. You have to be brave to do that.
Some are very inspiring, especially the more experimental and perhaps more surprising ones. Like Laurel Halo and Penelope Trappes. I respect complex works that make me feel like the person is searching for something greater than themselves. I feel connected to any person out there who is trying to speak to the world through art. Cause it is frightening, it can come with a lot of anxiety. And people like to judge and give you ratings. I feel tenderness and compassion for all artists. You have to be brave to do that.

  • You’ve toured all over the world and collaborated with several different artists. What/Who have been the most pivotal moments and inspirational individuals that defined your artistic growth?

Every moment on stage with the audience is special to me, and the people I meet inspire me. But of course, I’ve also had some pivotal moments. Shortly after moving to Berlin, I became friends with Robert Görl from DAF and played a few shows with him for his solo project. He’s a very inspiring and lovely person and told me a lot about his creative journey and sonic explorations, such as the recording sessions with Conny Plank. Back then, he spent days creating just one sequence on his MS 20 to make it sound perfect, with no option to save it. That was pure quality and dedication. I loved that story. And last year, I was a guest vocalist at Paranoid London‘s album release at Fabric, performing alongside Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream. We talked backstage about in-ear monitoring and things like that. It was incredible to meet such a legend. And of course, my brief chat with Daniel Miller from Mute Records. Oh, and when I happened to be sitting at the dinner table with Peaches, the queen of my 20s, that was a very special moment for me. She was so kind and friendly.

  • What are some of your other favorite interests, besides music?

Art in all forms. I love visiting art exhibitions and museums, and I love ancient history, like ancient Egypt and its aesthetics. The universe fascinates me both scientifically and spiritually. I think this all relates to my fundamental interest in energy and people. And, of course, I enjoy reading books and absorbing other people’s thoughts and words. I also enjoy reading books in English; it’s the sound of the words that fascinates me, and I’m learning poetic expressions to improve my own English writing.

  • Who have you been listening to lately that inspires you?

I’ve been listening to a lot of John Lennon in the last few weeks. “Mind Games” is so brilliant. He keeps repeating the same theme, and it’s still something special. And I often listen to She Past Away. Alan Vega is always an inspiration to me. And I love old American folk music. Conny Plank is my sonic hero, and I watch every music documentary I can find, especially Mark Reeder‘s B-Movie, which is my absolute must-see—every year! And my new interest is Dolly Parton, I really need to get more into her songs.

  • Thanks so much for being our very welcome guest. What’s next for you, obviously, alongside the promotional
    album tour?

I’m actually going to start working on my next release with FatCat Records. This means I’ll be travelling to the UK and spending some time with artists I might be working with. I also have more songs coming out this year, some of which I need to finish now. I’m going on a European tour in November and have plans for my musical work that will make me more independent and perhaps help others as well. Stay tuned!

WL//WH is very pleased to premiere “Walls Of Patience”, the second track on the “Aging At Airports” album, which lyric-wise explores the merciless/selfish nature of the world, endless desires, and the different states of energy that ebb and flow within us all.

Touch‘s beautiful range of vocals is on full display, layering cold, aloof spoken words with warm, impassioned longing and high-pitched flutters whilst dangerous, creeping bass lines, anticipation building, tightly syncopated percussions, and mysterious, shivering synths swirl, glide, and expand to evoke melancholy, dread, and excitement.

Jennifer Touch‘s upcoming studio album, “Aging at Airports,”  is slated for release on September 1, 2025, via Fabrika Records. The LP will be available on limited colored/black Vinyl and Cassette formats.

Keep up with Jennifer Touch:

JENNIFER TOUCH: | Website | IG | FB | BC | Spotify | SC | TT | YT |

FABRIKA RECORDS: | Website | IG | FB | BC | YT |

Jennifer Touch by Nea Gumprecht

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