Meet the underground talent of CRSSD Fest: HVOB
San Diego’s CRSSD Fest – presented by FNGRS CRSSD — has become a sanctuary for underground electronic music fans. The upcoming March edition looks to be the festival’s most promising offering yet, featuring an even greater array of delectable house and techno acts as well as some formidable headliners such as Recondite, Flume, Lane 8 and Bob Moses. To dig a big deeper into the lineup, we’ve tapped some of our favorite acts on the bill for a daily interview series before the festival.
The Austrian duo of Anna Müller and Paul Wallner are making great strides stateside as HVOB. As their moniker – which abbreviates “Her Voice Over Boys” – suggests, HVOB center much of their composition around Müller’s hauntingly serene voice. The outfit’s production is an enticing melange of live instrumentation and innovative dance music, inspired by a vast range of tasteful influences.
HVOB kicked off February with “The Blame Game” – a collaboration with Mumford & Sons’ Winston Marshall which we dubbed as our “Top Track of the Month.” This charming, yet chilling collaboration acts as the first single of HVOB’s forthcoming album, SILK, which is slated for a March 24 release. As HVOB prepare for their third album and continue to gain a reputation for their forward-thinking live sets, they’ve swiftly become one of dance music’s most uniquely intriguing acts.
HVOB will be playing an afternoon set at Ocean View, CRSSD festival’s main stage, this Saturday afternoon. Ahead of the duo’s performance, we sat down for a conversation with Anna Müller. Read our discussion with Müller below the fold.
What was your first label release? Would you still play it in a show?
It was “Dogs” from our first album. And we are still playing it. It’s the track that opened many doors and gave us the opportunity to be heard out there. So we are thankful for this little track, we won’t miss it.
What has been the biggest breakthrough of your career?
It feels weird to answer this by yourself – and did it already happen? I feel comfortable when I say that I hope the best has yet to come.
What’s your opinion of the dance scene in the US right now?
I think it’s changing from the EDM overload to more organic and lo fi. Like in Europe a longer time ago.
What are you looking forward to most about CRSSD Fest?
I have never been in San Diego, so I am excited about quiet everything. The city, the music, the great lineup.
If you could be another artist for a day, who would you pick?
Maybe Matt Berninger from The National. I would stop thinking on this day that I am not the best songwriter in the world : )
If you could recommend three artists to catch from the lineup, who would you pick?
Recondite, Rødhåd, Bob Moses.
If you were recruited to provide an Essential Mix in 2017, what’s the one song you couldn’t leave out?
I just fell in love with my old PJ Harvey records again, I would love to wave “The Garden” into the mix and try a remix of it. Maybe one day.
CRSSD will be held Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5 at San Diego’s Waterfront Park. Tickets, lineup, and more information are available here.
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