Singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Georg Levin released his debut CD "Can't Hold Back" in October 2003. His unique style of 80s influence soul with hints of jazz and rock comes into full-bloom on this release. With three successful singles from the album already under his belt, Levin stands to makes some serious noise with this release. German-born Levin also collaborates with house DJ Dixon on their Wahoo project, and as such, have remixed songs by Jazzanova, Victor Davies and Brooks.
Emmerald: How and when did you start making music?


Georg Levin: I started writing songs just for myself quite early, I think when I was twelve or so. I played on the piano, and was more or less self-taught. I had classical piano lessons when I was about eight until I was about twelve, but I was never really into it. I kind of liked it, but I was not very good at reading the scores because I was always too lazy for it. I also play saxophone, and for that I had really like proper lessons until I was like about eighteen. I was always dreaming of producing my own stuff one day and becoming a songwriter and musician. But it was not until I was twenty-seven that I really got serious about it. I grew up in North Germany, moved to Hamburg for a while, then moved to London and studied communications. I worked in the film industry for television channels on the production side and as a researcher and journalist more or less. But, I was always more interested in music, which was my real passion. Then I moved to Berlin, and there I worked in a film company, doing advertising and music video clips.

But I didn't want to do that long-term. I was always thinking about music. I had a little multi-track recorder, and I was experimenting with that a lot. I played in bands as well.

Emm: How did you get started singing?
Georg: I used to play sax in this band, and they were looking for someone in the band whose singing might be acceptable. They chose me and then it started off from there. Eventually, I got more confident with it and formed my own thing. When it comes to my own music, I could have asked somebody else to sing on the album, maybe a professional singer. But on the other hand I like to keep to my own style. I know my songs best because they are mine, and as long as I?m not out of tune, it?s OK. I think everyone should do that. Everyone should sing themselves, because I mean, the whole music scene is full of all these immaculate voices that all sound the same after a while.

Emm: What musical styles and artists did you listen to growing up?
Georg: Basically American soul music and 80?s Prince; he was a great influence. And I was also listening to other things but they didn't have a very strong impact on my life in general. I mean most of my friends were listening at the time to Depeche Mode and The Cure and lots of stuff that was very popular in Germany at the end of the 80?s when I was at school. I was actually sometimes quite alone in what I was listening to, but I had maybe one or two other people that were into the same kind of thing.

Emm: You have a new album called "Can't Hold Back", and I understand you put a good bit of time into making it. How long did you work on this album?
Georg: Quite long actually, because it was my first album. There were technical obstacles I had to get over. When I started working on it, I was not very good in using sequencer software and things like that, but I wanted to do that. So I got into it. I wanted to approach the songs from different angles, and work on them from different angles. Some songs I started off first with a melody in my head that I'd had for a long time. I mean in "Can?t Hold Back" there?s a lot of old ideas of mine like little elements and ideas I'd had for ten years I was working with different producers, and coordinating all that stuff took a lot of time. I?m also a little bit picky, so it took quite a while. I started working on it 1999 or 2000, maybe like two years.