OSTIA - Europop

German-Italian border crossers Lo Selbo and Ossi Viola a.k.a. Albertine Sarges team up with Berlins Garagen Uwe (Walls and Birds) on drums and Oskar Militzer (Liiek, Pigeon) on bass to deliver "Berlins loveliest answer to the Eurocrisis". OSTIA is a new outfit, a bilingual version of Berlins underground cult band ITACA, which sang strictly in Italian, gaining its reputation with spectacular live shows in their hometown and countless tours through Italy that led to an invitation Italy's X-Factor as well to a full-length movie about one of their Italy- tours that was premiered on film-festival Bremen in 2019.

After having spent most of the pandemic producing music for Albertine Sarges, releasing two records on Londons Moshi Moshi label and repeatedly touring the UK, they return in 2023 with new material. The sound of Ostia has been compared to Boards of Canada, Elizabeth Fraser or The Knife. It is highly melodic retro-wave, first-class songwriting, strong voices and a dizzying emotional amplitude between melancholy and euphoria. It's the heaviest (and slickest) Europop you might have ever heard, but the humour and sprinkling attitude of the bands fronters Selbo and Sarges will make it seem like the loftiest Aperitivo you had in years.

"Don't stop, the fog is clearing up, now I see, I was so native!" , shouts a hurting singer to the beats of the funky opener WHO ARE YOU. It is one of several signs
of a new self-awareness of the singers Lo Selbo (East Berlin), who finished his PhD in political science and Albertine Sarges (West Berlin), majoring in music sociology and getting into feminist music activism. Both have also broadened their horizons by collaborating intensely with other artists like Holly Herndon, Kat Frankie and Jungstötter as well as producing and releasing Albertine Sarges’ debut LP on Moshi Moshi. As a result, EUROPOP takes aim at socio-political trouble. It’s never didactic, always poetic. It’s full of pain and hope, and a radically personal answer to their perceived Eurocrisis.

And who would have the legacy to do so, if not Selbo and Sarges, who have crossed the Alps innumerable times to DIY-tour not only the cities of Italy, but also the tiniest sport bars at Marchesian crossroads, learning Italian and eating at their host’s dinner tables? When other projects were touring European capitals, Ostia's aim was always to be in mountain villages, listened to by Italian mothers and their gay sons while cooking pasta. Their attitude led to a rare knowledge and complex inter-european relationship that stands for its own.