Exclusive video premiere of ‘Painting The Moment’ by BÜ.

Stefan Bürgermeister comes from Austria and is obsessed with a taste for kitsch. He’s the man behind the project BÜ. The sound of his songs evokes the vibe of the seventies and eighties pop melodies. The instrumentation is simple, but never disappoints to surprise you with lush and colorful arrangements.

Today, he releases the music video for single ‘Painting The Moment’. The song is taken from his upcoming album to be released sometime during the summer of 2021 via Some Other Planet Records.

“The song is about longing and all the memories that paint a certain picture of past relationships. In the phase of hurting and solitude you always feel that love will never find you again or that if it does your heart might not be strong enough.”

“The video on the other hand shows a totally self-obsessed man falling in love with his own picture, bringing a playful and artistic narrative to match the mood of the song. The visuals evolve with the music to end in bizarre and abstract landscapes as a reflection of the thoughts that build in the echo chamber of the mind.”

It is an album dedicated to the big, fat, fuzzy and cozy love-monster. On the surface the songs are straight up pop but when you listen closely you can hear psychedelic sounds and even Caribbean or Latin influences.

Interview with Stefan Bürgermeister

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

Stefan Bürgermeister: I grew up as a little music loving boy in Austria in the home city of Arnold Schwarzenegger and like the great Arnie, I decided to get out in the world and pursue my dreams. This brought me to London where I spent 8 years studying music, playing in bands and eating a lot of baked beans.

I then got lured to Berlin having heard of a better life for musicians and a possibility of a more versatile diet. And while I did benefit from both, and met a lot of great musicians along the way, I somehow never managed to bring a band project to the studio. That’s when I realized, I had to go solo and follow my own vision.

Was there a certain vision you had in mind when making the video for ‘Painting The Moment’?

The video is done by my very close friend Magnus Bang Olsen and we wanted to counter the relatively serious nature of the song. The song is about past relationships and all the feelings that come with that, while the video is about self-obsession and abstract landscapes that makes the story more playful and humoristic.

Can you share some further details about your upcoming album?

A friend of mine recently told me that it’s an album of love and I guess without realizing it I only wrote songs about love. Not just about romantic love but also the love for my son. The album was done in the period where my girlfriend was pregnant and my son was born, so I guess my mind was set on this. In that way you could almost call it a concept album, hehe.

“I took inspiration from the sounds and melodies of the 70s and 80s and made an album with a lot of straight up pop songs.”

What kind of album did you want to make?

I think I’m very happy with the album I made, so I would say I wanted to make exactly this one. Had you asked me two years ago, I’d probably had envisioned my first solo album to be an ode to the feline species brought to life by using only cat noises. But it became too complicated… Instead I took inspiration from the sounds and melodies of the 70s and 80s and made an album with a lot of straight up pop songs.

Do you listen to music every day?

Yes, I am listening to the EDM version of ‘Ode an die Freude’ by Beethoven multiple times a day. It’s my son’s favorite and his little Casio keyboard plays it on autopilot with the touch of one button.

How are you coping with the current situation in the world?

It is very sad to see what’s going on in the world especially with the music sector that has been left alone in this crisis with little to no help from the governments. I am lucky because I work as a music teacher and have a steady income but many of my friends normally live from gig to gig and struggling to survive. Personally I’m coping quite well as I spend most of my free time with my family or in my studio recording, but like all of us I really miss live music and playing in front of people.

Thank you. The last word is yours.

Thank you so much! Stay safe everyone and look out for each other, watch my video if you have time and I hope you’ll like it! Ps.: check out the EDM version of ‘Ode an die Freude’!

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