We’re open-minded and have open ears to all different kinds of genres of music. This is how we stayed true to our personal sound. The only vision we had was to use more real instruments and that’s what we did. Everything else always came out very naturally so I think that’s maybe our secret. They continue to plumb sounds from distant lands, weaving in Portugal’s fado and collaborating with South African legends Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Australian musician Tash Sultana, and one of their biggest influences, Johnson, who joins them on 2020’s sprightly “Don’t Let Me Down.The album’s first single, “Cocoon,” possesses that same vulnerability. What is your personal story behind the song? The lyrics of several of your songs touch on love, and the hardships of love. Sticky acoustic riffs always serve as the hooks that punchy, reggae-tinged (and sometimes hip-hop-leaning) grooves can grab onto with ease. Even as they’ve expanded on their sound since-incorporating the infectious rhythms of Afropop and Latin dance music on 2017’s Blossom and 2019’s Mind the Moon-there remains a folk-like simplicity to their work. After that ensemble disbanded, the two stuck together and began drawing from the sounds of childhood favorites like Bob Marley and Jack Johnson to create the minimalist, beat-driven melodies of tracks like “Flashed Junk Mind” and breakout single “Stolen Dance,” both highlights from their 2013 debut album, Sadnecessary.

Before establishing themselves as Milky Chance in 2012, Rehbein and high school buddy and multi-instrumentalist Philipp Dausch played in a jazz quintet. But zoom in a little closer and you’ll hear vocalist Clemens Rehbein giving us the straight dope as he ruminates on the frustrating cycles between love and loneliness. Milky Chance’s bright, breezy acoustic pop comes dipped in liquid synths, evoking a laidback life one would imagine far away from the duo’s central Germany hometown of Kassel.

Download milky chance cocoon