Location: Herzogenburg
Country: Austria
Genre: Electronica, synthpop
Single: Kalbin Işığı
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release date: September 4, 2025
The Austrian musician Markus Sis began his musical career by touring the US, South America, Europe, Taiwan, Singapore, South Africa, Malta and other countries with the Vienna Boys Choir. He started playing in bands in the 90s and released his first full length with his project Faust in 1995.
The self-titled album embodied the experimentation and departure from normal songwriting of what is referred to as krautrock. It was a fusion of metal, alt rock, industrial, electronic, and synthpop. The title krautrock was first created as a joke by the English music press, but it soon gained recognition as distinct from both American pop and German traditional music.
Starting independently of its forebears, krautrock helped inspire Techno, ambient, post-punk, post-rock, and new age. It's understandable that Markus Sis was able to go through such a varied phase of development in bands and as a solo artist given such experience in German based alternative rock. Working in bands and collaborating with different artists in the 2010s, he went solo in 2021 releasing four full-length albums that demonstrated unpredictability.
You should visit his Bandcamp page if you're curious about how R&B might sound with heavy guitars and electronica, prog rock with electro and industrial, electronica with funk and hip hop, classic rock with electronica and atmosphere, or strange experimental music. Then there’s Sis's recent single "Kalbin Işığı," with a Turkish title translated to "light of the heart" and German lyrics. Using the bağlama, or saz, for rhythm and structure, it shows his expansion into Middle Eastern folk and world music.
Roberta Baum, Loreena McKennitt, Sarah Brightman, and Enya are some of the musicians I know of who take their work in similar directions. While those artists write their material to be multilayered with exotic ambiance, Sis' appeal is found in electronic beats, ritualistic vocals, a straightforward bass rhythm and traditional Turkish, Armenian, Iranian, and Azerbaijani folk instruments. Instead of making "Kalbin Işığı" feel constrained, this allows the saz to foster intimacy and introspection.
Similar to an acoustic guitar, banjo and sitar, a saz can be played solo by experienced hands. Here, Sis skillfully conjures a Mideastern ambiance, seemingly filling the entire desert with the sounds he creates as his vocals create additional richness and the electronic elements propel it all forward. Like the song's intended message, the east-west symbiosis ignores cultural barriers, creating something more than the sum of its parts that should pique your interest in Mideastern music. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Markus Sis: Vocals, music, lyrics, recording
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