Interview with November Me: ‘What songs are and mean, they’re mostly made of memories’

Berlin-based November Me is working on some new tracks, including one that has the working title ‘Life Gets You Wrong’, a song about jealousy that has became more emblematic of 2020 as the song developed.

November Me is Munich-born singer-songwriter Sebastian Krichler, who moved to Berlin around eight years ago. He plays solo around half the time and plays live with Eno Thieman the rest of the time. November Me is a twist on ‘remember me’: ‘What songs are and mean, they’re mostly made of memories, they’re autobiographical,’ Krichler said. ‘I also love autumn, I like it when the seasons change, so that’s where the ‘November’ also comes from. Summer can seem a bit paralysing sometimes compared to other seasons, it doesn’t move.’ (I tell him I totally agree.)

His latest single ‘Kein Sommer’ (no summer), which came out at the end of last year is a beautifully reflective song about last summer in lockdown and is my favourite of his songs. When I tell him, he is genuinely pleased. ‘That makes me happy because it’s also my favourite because I found something I love in my mother language,’ he said. ‘Doing a song in German feels like pulling on a pullover, like a mark. I feel more vulnerable, more naked. I wrote it in the middle of last year. There’s the line ‘like no summer before’ (it mentions wearing masks) and is about what this time did to me. The chorus is about people I can cling to to cope. It marks a shift for me, musically, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen intentionally. I always wanted to be that guy just with the guitar.’

As the song begins: ‘Ein Sommer wie bisher kein Sommer, ein zielloser Halbsatz ohne Punkt. Kaskaden von nutzlos freundlichem Licht ergießen sich über mich.’ (A summer like no other before, an aimless half-sentence without a full-stop. Cascades of useless, friendly light wash over me.)

‘It takes me ages to write a German song!’

Krichler’s songs are typically about love and fear, decay and remembrance and often flicker between quiet or introverted and more demanding, singalong lines. Interestingly, he finds it much easier to write in English than German, which is reflected by his 2019 album Until Morning Comes Again, which is sung entirely in English. ‘The next song might be similar to ‘Kein Sommer’, although I’m pretty sure it won’t be in German,’ he laughed. ‘It takes me ages to write a German song! There was a momentum to ‘Kein Sommer’, I didn’t have to construct anything.’

He is a huge fan of American singer-songwriter Conor Oberst and the indie rock band Bright Eyes that he founded. In fact, the first chorus on ‘Kein Sommer’ is dedicated to Oberst (The subsequent choruses are dedicated to Krichler’s deceased grandfather and his girlfriend.).

‘The wonderful place in the song might not be a wonderful place for everyone else’

Other tracks on Until Morning Comes Again turn out to have a different meaning to what you’ve assumed them to mean, once you listen closely to the lyrics, which is particularly true of songs such as ‘Wonderful Place’: ‘It’s a pretty ironic song,’ he admitted. ‘It’s not really a happy song. The wonderful place in the song might not be a wonderful place for everyone else. It’s a love song but it’s also a bit about being displaced. It’s got a few emotions it, a song can change direction.’

As the song goes: ‘Oh my God, what have we done? We changed the asphalt and the sun. Now we walk through the fire but the light is gone. What have we done?’

Krichler had ‘a vague idea’ as to how he wanted Until Morning Comes Again to sound when he started writing it: ‘Skyfullofair’, that’s what I wanted the record to sound like, just authentic and not invented. And then I wrote ‘Leopard’, which is a pop song, it’s not what I wanted to do, it just happened.’

‘Pony’ is his only duet on the album with a friend who didn’t want her name to be mentioned: ‘I don’t know why but I really love that song and playing it live with Eno.’

Another track, ‘Rebel with a Cause’ is a lovely tribute to his dad: ‘It’s closer to ‘Kein Sommer’, the words kind of came in one piece. It’s about my dad but we’re pretty similar, so maybe it’s also about me! I think he likes the song. It took me years to make him understand that music is more than just a hobby to me. There’s still a talk we have to have about it. It’s not in German but he gets it more or less.’

His affection for his dad is very evident in the song: ‘You’re still the rebel with a cause, I’m sure you never needed anyone’s applause to spill your giant heart and to fume with love and concern. There’s so much this world is missing, to learn from you.’

He is a huge fan of bands such as The National, Turin Brakes, Beirut, Elbow – we chat animatedly for a while about how beautiful Guy Garvey’s voice is – and Damien Rice. ‘I was in contact with the drummer in Turin Brakes last year (Rob Allum) and asked if I could support their shows in Europe and he replied showing interest and said he would put me on the list. It would be so amazing. I think it would work. When you see them live, the singer (Olly Knights) doesn’t say much onstage but there’s this humour flickering through it. The fun guy is the bass player (Eddie Myer), they’ve played here in Berlin and he made jokes in French and German! Some people really transform on stage, don’t they?’

It also sounds as if he’s a journalist in the making: ‘Interviews are my secret obsession, with musicians, politicians and actors. I love these really long interviews where you learn about them. Over such an extended period, they can’t pretend to be anyone else.’