Name: Steffen Linck aka Monolink
Nationality: German
Occupation: Producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, live performer
Current Release: Monolink's new album The Beauty Of It All is out via Embassy One.
Current Event: Monolink is currently on an expansive global tour. 
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I have a secret love for cars, even though I’ve never owned one. I don’t talk about it very often because sports cars are often so tied to toxic masculinity. But I used to study architecture and I really love design. Cars can be these beautiful compact objects that will take you places and even play music to you. Can’t get much better than that in my opinion :)  

If you enjoyed this Monolink interview and would like to find out more about his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and tiktok.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

I'm sure it did. I started writing when I was maybe 15 years old, I had met a boy at school who was really good at playing guitar and had a much more  developed taste in music than I did. I asked him to teach me to play and we started a band.

'The Libertines' from the UK soon became our idols so we covered a lot of their songs, and they were lyrically really interesting. I remember feeling inspired by the way they played with words, and painted images with them.

The lyrics felt equally important as the music.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

On one hand I love the beauty of language and the ability to play Lego with words. But I also love the aspect of exploring the subconscious, diving into your own emotions and hidden thoughts. Topics that are there inside of you but you may not be aware of them.

Those are the moments that keep me coming back to writing.

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

I remember discovering Leonard Cohen and his work had a huge impact on me. His music was all about the lyrics and once you start to really listen, a door seems to open into his mind.

Songs from a room was a record that I listened to a lot. The way he used words and told these really personal stories I just hadn’t heard before. It felt like there were secret messages within the songs that were yet to be uncovered.



Also of course Bob Dylan, the godfather of storytelling. I was obsessed with The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan back then, and still am.



Have there been song lyrics which actually made you change (aspects of) your life? If so, what do you think, leant them that power?

Some songs seem to have the power to touch us in ways we can’t comprehend, and I think that really is the magic of music.

Somehow sound is tied to our emotions, everyone can tell the emotional difference between a minor and a major chord. If melody, harmony and lyric all align, a song can shake you deeply and you don’t even know why.

The last time I remember that happening to me was when I saw an artist called Celeste opening up for Michael Kiwanuka in Berlin. Her last song was called “Strange” and it brought me to tears.



I’m not sure there has been a lyric that made me change my life, but it’s the feeling of being understood and seen that keeps me coming back to certain songs.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

I think words are always in a way limited, which lies in the nature of language. Music is not tied to boxes or associations in a way that words are, so I can relate to that.

But at the same time I also feel like that is what I love about poetry, the challenge of creating new images or emotions with words that we all already know.

The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do you see it? In how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

Yes, their relationship fascinates me as well. Words and poetry are already music in itself, every language has its rhythm, words have tonalities. Adding music to that can either enhance or change the meaning of the words completely.

‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed is a great example for that, where only the music shows you what the words really mean. It’s so beautifully tragic.



Then there’s also the aspect of hypnosis that happens when you listen to music. I think it puts the whole body and mind into a different state of awareness and presence, so words can have a much bigger impact than they would without.
 
What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

I’m often intrigued by the bigger questions, like how are we still related to nature, what impact does modern society have on us. But I also love to explore associative writing, subconscious imagery. And of course emotions and beauty.

I usually only like my lyrics when I feel like it wasn’t me who wrote them, so I try to get into a “no mind” state as much as I can. My subconsciousness tends to have better words for most things than my rational brain areas do.

On the basis of a piece off The Beauty Of It All, tell me about how the lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.

The lyrics for ‘Perfect World’ I started writing in a café in Hamburg, watching people pass by and feeling slightly disconnected from everyone.



I’m on my phone a lot, which is something I really don’t like, but it’s hard to stop. I think society has a collective smartphone addiction and once you start looking around it sometimes already feels like a dystopian 1984.

But in the end we’re all longing for real-world connections and a feeling of belonging, which is a really beautiful thing. That became the topic of the song.

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

It’s really different every time. I often write random notes into my phone, and then later when I work on a song I go through them and see what resonates with the music.

Or sometimes there is a word that I love the sound of, like “Mesmerized”. Then I know that’s gonna be the topic of the song.



I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I definitely think so. An album to me is a sound journey, and music is always related to the space and moment it’s being played in. Every DJ knows that a great track is not a great track, but it has to be played at the right moment.

I was listening to Radiohead’s album The King of Limbs yesterday, and “Codex” is one of my favorite songs.



But the song really has such a big impact on this record because all the songs before feel like they are just building up to it. It’s the emotional climax of the journey, tension and release.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

To me that is equally important as the words itself. It has to sit right in the melody, otherwise it’s not the right lyric to me.

And yes I’m rather distinct with my melody lines, that’s why I think I wouldn’t be the best session vocalist. I’ve tried a couple times but it never quite feels right.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee?

Not at all. I think we are all artists and I really love when people discover their creativity in different aspects of life. Music, theatre or painting are just the big and obvious ones.

Tending a garden, taking care of a friend or a child, cooking, making a cup of coffee - all of these can be artistic expressions, and it’s so nice to be around people who practice this. And I think we all can feel it instantly when we’re in front of something that has received some form of love.

To me music is just the type of art that speaks the loudest and that comes most naturally.