CULK

In the organizer's words:

popanz
CULK (Vienna, Siluh)
Monday, September 21, 2026
Bumann & Sohn, Cologne
Admission 19:00, start 20:00

presented by ByteFM, Bedroomdisco, Laut.de, Musikblog, Musikexpress, Drift & The Gap

CULK around singer and songwriter Sophie Löw (aka Sophia Blenda) are back. And once again, the Viennese band is trying to encircle our present in all its ambivalences in their very own way. How does it feel to be a human being today in this world of limitless possibilities, existential and future fears, searches for meaning and questions of identity? On their new, fourth album, CULK immerse themselves in a state of suspension between euphoria and excessive demands. "smogstar" is once again being released by Viennese indie label Siluh Records and tells of the pulsating feeling in the in-between. Everything so exciting. Everything too much. All at the same time.

"smogstar" was recorded and produced together with Sophie Lindinger (Leyya, My Ugly Clementine). After their last album "Generation Maximum" (2023), produced by Wolfgang Lehman, was a kind of lyrical and atmospheric inventory of their generation between doomsday mood and collective hopelessness, the band wanted to shed some of the heaviness this time. "I wanted the lyrics to be more light-footed and radiate that special vibe: between feeling free and being lost," says Sophie about "smogstar".

CULK are Sophie Löw, Christoph Kuhn, Johannes Blindhofer and Jakob Herber. It all began for the four-piece group from Vienna in 2018 with their first single: the piece "Begierde/Scham", inspired by a novel by feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir. Since then, CULK have made a name for themselves with complex, self-reflective and darkly sparkling songs, mostly in German, sometimes in English. Their self-titled debut album was finally released in 2019. And 2020 saw the release of "Zerstreuen über Euch", a powerful concept album that challenges gender roles, violence and deep-rooted patriarchal structures.
Album number four is now about the endless possibilities of supposedly being able to constantly reinvent yourself. Even if you perhaps still don't know exactly who you are. A mood that is also reflected in the urban collages and drawings on the artwork, which Sophie Löw designed herself in the style of a graphic novel: The black-haired protagonist with the darkly smudged eyeliner on the cover is something like the fictional title heroine of the album, who makes her way through the haze and shimmering promise of the big city. Because as the album title already reveals: the smog and the stars are close together here.

Price information:

plus fee.