Sono

Sono is an electronic trio from Hamburg, composed of Florian Sikorski, Martin Weiland, and Lennart A. Salomon.

Their name, meaning simply “sound” in Italian, is perhaps an onomatopoeic coincidence but also a promise regarding their approach.

The band polishes a shining synthpop, adapting it for the third millennium with assumed megalomania and an absence of false modesty.

Their music, conceived on a grand scale, speaks a kind of musical Esperanto: a vocabulary of elementary and clear electronic pop, understandable beyond native musical languages.

Their full, high-resolution, and megalomaniacally perfected sound offers an “aha” experience even to electronic music novices.

Despite dense song structures, a charming softness prevails, enveloping hard, bouncy electro beats in fluffy clouds.

The cold sensuality of Lennart A. Salomon’s voice fully develops, playing with the youthful timbre of his voice, as enticing as the icing on a bar of white chocolate straight from the refrigerator.

The band resists any retro aesthetic and orchestrates its version of synthpop with hypermodern sound worlds, in a corset-free style.

Their first single, Keep Control, became a surprise hit in Germany and spent six weeks on the US Billboard Dance Charts in 2001, where it was voted Track of the Year.

Their first album, “Solid State,” paved the way for new audiences, being well-received by both the dance/pop and gothic scenes.

Sono considers itself a full-fledged band.

Internal collaboration is structured: Florian Sikorski and Martin Weiland develop the sounds and beats, which they coordinate with Lennart A. Salomon’s songwriting, before all three work together on the arrangements.

The band experienced a three-year period of silence after its initial successes, due to disagreements with their major label, before finding a new home with the independent European label PIAS Recordings.

They returned in 2005 with the single A New Cage, the precursor to the album “Off.”

Their second album, “Off,” affirms their band identity more than ever.

The constructions are more complex without being complicated, the songwriting more ambitious, and the guitar integrates naturally into the family of electronic instruments, complementing the familiar Sono sound.

The band has produced remixes for artists like Fischerspooner, Rammstein, Timo Maas, and Kelly Osbourne.

They were also chosen by the band Kosheen for a joint tour in 2002, a highlight for the group, while others like St. Etienne, Underworld, and Soft Cell also wanted them as tour partners.