We sat down with Cologne-based artist Jules Ahoi, who released his new album MAGNOLIA (The Bauhaus Tapes) on September 6, 2024 via Embassy of Music. Inspired by the house once occupied by famous Hungarian painter and photographer Lázló Moholy-Nagy, the album features richly orchestral, nostalgic arrangements of Muriel Bonn’s cello and a toy piano while still keeping Ahoi’s grainy baritone front and centre. Jules Ahoi, born Julian Braun, is a 34-year-old musician who is embracing a return to his DIY roots and newfound artistic confidence. In addition to his musical engagements, he is also pursuing graphic design studies and an art printing exam. His new work reflects a deep engagement with music, poetry, and visual art, inspired by his artist residency at the Bauhaus World Heritage Site in Dessau. This interdisciplinary project, blending elements of naive art and his own diverse artistic skills, marks a shift from his previous polished productions to a more intimate and self-made approach. Alongside his newly formed quintet, Ahoi is set to return to the stage for a European tour in the fall of 2024 to showcase his unique blend of art-folk and personal artistic evolution. Ahoi’s indie-folk resembles the most moving moments of Ben Howard, Bon Iver, and Jose Gonzalez.
Stream MAGNOLIA (The Bauhaus Tapes) while you read our interview with Julian below.
Describe your sound for us. What do you want people to feel when they hear your music?
I would love for people to start reflecting—whether they are truly happy, whether they are in the right place. Sometimes, I get messages from people telling me that my music has helped them through tough times. It’s an indescribable feeling and such an honor to be a support for someone in that way.
My approach to writing music has always been about processing things for which I can’t find words in ‘normal’ life. I think the sound is deeply influenced by the phase of life I’m in at the moment. But I would say you could describe it as atmospheric, melancholic, something like that.
Which 3 artists have influenced you the most growing up?
As a child, I always wanted to be a drummer. I love The Police for their boldness in blending genres and Genesis because my dad always listened to them. When I got a bit older and was already moving in a musical direction similar to where I am now, I started listening to more folky stuff like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Carole King. But I’ve always had a thing for really great pop music too, like Whitney Houston. Man, I loved those songs, and how my mom would dance with the vacuum to ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’ Those are some good childhood memories…
How did you discover your particular sound?
As I mentioned before, I’m not really searching for that one specific sound—I just let myself drift. I’m not afraid of change or the process. I make music from the influences that surround me and the places I find myself in. I translate the world that flows through me into a more or less understandable language.
Tell us about one of the first struggles you faced (as a group or a solo artist) and how you overcame it?
How do I pay for all this crap?
Tell us about the creation of MAGNOLIA (The Bauhaus Tapes).
I was incredibly fortunate to be selected for a artist-in-residency scholarship at the Bauhaus World Heritage Site in Dessau. There, I found myself in an empty, cold, yet light-filled master’s house, where I was able to live for a few weeks. I was alone in these vast rooms with crazy acoustics. I spent a lot of time reflecting and exploring how the space could be filled with music.
Luckily, on my way to Dessau, I found an old typewriter in a pile of junk, and I used it to document everything. I even displayed these written records at my final concert. The audience could wander through the lyrics as I performed the pieces and see all my mistakes and corrections—it was an amazing experience.
In the end, I pieced together an album from all these poems, texts, songs, and countless sound recordings, which is why the album has the additional title ‘The Bauhaus Tapes.’
Music for the individual or the masses – which do you want to create?
I make music for myself—to deal with specific situations, to process them, and bring them to a close. I see my ‘work,’ if you want to call it that, more as a collection of diaries… a kind of chronicle. One day, I’ll show it to my kids and say, ‘Look, this is when your dad lived in a van in France in his ex’s front yard, here’s when I moved to Cologne and experimented with hip-hop influences, and this is from when I was freezing my ass off at the Bauhaus in February because the heating wasn’t working…’ and so on.
Do you have a favourite memory of your career so far?
Last Friday, we filmed an acoustic session in one of the towers at Frankfurter Tor in Berlin. It was really beautiful.
If you could work with, or perform alongside any artist living or passed, who would it be?
John Lennon.
What kind of message are you trying to send with your music?
Be kind, be humble and never give up!
What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
In fall, I’m going on tour to bring the new record to the stage. And then we’ll see what life has in store…
