Perfectly balancing live-instruments, analog synthesizers and electronic sounds, Berlin-based siblings TWO LANES started making indie-electronic music in 2018 as their outlet of an always evolving stream of ideas and their love for music. While Rafa has always been more into electronic music and music production, Leo was classically trained at The Juilliard School in New York City, which can be both heard and seen back in the live-versions they make of their songs, their music and the wide variety genres they produce. When graduating, the brothers decided to move to Berlin because of the city’s dynamic and young art scene.
Leo says that: “Becoming a musician was a decision that I made very early on in my life, when I was about 10 or 11 years old after I had heard a recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. If you study an instrument you not only develop technical skills and gather knowledge about music theory and music in general, it is also an intensive confrontation with oneself. This whole journey has shaped me as a person and the way I perceive and make music. When it comes to making music there is probably a lot I am doing a certain way because of my education.”
“Since I am a pianist we have been incorporating the piano more and more into our tracks lately. We also started releasing piano versions of already existing tracks and are planning on doing more in that direction. I tried to do both things at the same time but came to the conclusion that it is not possible – at least for me – to perform at my best if I have too many things going on, so I decided to focus exclusively on electronic music. I am still practicing if I find the time and also started to write pieces for the piano a while ago.”
“We have always been big fans of so-called melodic techno and downtempo music. Artists such as Paul Kalkbrenner, Moderat, and andhim were huge inspirations to us when we started out with producing music. But it was also the whole post-modern, Erased-Tapes-aesthetics that had a big impact on our musical perception. The good thing about living in Berlin is that you can easily connect with all kinds of artists, producers, and sound engineers. Getting an insight into their work process can be such an inspiration.”
The duo’s distinctive classically-influenced electronic music and their successful remixes including Odesza, RÜFÜS DU SOL, ZHU and Skrillex have resulted in great support from industry tastemakers such as Sirius XM Chill, Kasbo, Zeds Dead, YourEDM, Dancing Astronaut, DA, Trap Nation, and Mr. Suicide Sheep. TWO LANES released their latest EP ‘Lights’ in 2020 on bitbird, which was highly successful, garnering over 25 million streams and counting across platforms.
