Q&A: Soap&Skin Breathes New Life into Iconic Songs in ‘TORSO’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
GIVING NEW LIFE TO TIMELESS SONGS – Austrian musician and artist Anja Plaschg, better known as Soap&Skin, is set to release her latest project: TORSO, her first full-length cover album, slated for release on November 22. Known for her spellbinding interpretations and ability to transform existing music into something wholly her own, Soap&Skin has built a reputation for blending classical, electronic, and experimental sounds with deeply emotional undertones. With TORSO, she continues this exploration, crafting a collection of reimagined songs that hold personal significance.
The inspiration for TORSO emerged in 2022, when Soap&Skin was invited to perform at the Donau-Festival. There, she delivered a set composed of covers she had developed over the years, sparking the concept for a permanent collection. “It feels good to escape from myself,” Soap&Skin says, emphasizing how cover songs offer her a kind of refuge. For her, covers are a “disguise and hiding place,” allowing her to momentarily step outside her own musical persona.
Her approach to reinterpretation is as striking as it is unconventional. On previous albums like Narrow (2012) and From Gas to Solid / You Are My Friend (2018), Soap&Skin subtly embedded covers, often in such a way that they were not immediately recognized as such. This time, however, she embraces the idea of a “lifetime version” for each song that’s a better fit for contemporary culture.
The album's lead single, “Mystery of Love,” a haunting reworking of Sufjan Stevens’ original, is marked by the delicate inclusion of French horn and trombone, creating an ethereal yet powerful arrangement that is freshly reimagined.
“I hear a song and feel there’s something else I’d like to add,” Soap&Skin shares. Her process involves recording the song from memory, often without revisiting the original for years. “Sometimes not for years,” she admits, recalling how she has not listened to The Doors’ “The End” for years, turning it into a kind of time capsule.
Soap&Skin invites listeners into a uniquely personal and transformative experience, where each cover transcends the boundaries of its original form. TORSO promises to be a profound exploration of memory, reinvention, and the haunting power of music, further cementing Soap&Skin as an evocative and boundary-pushing artist.
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar yet, what kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
SOAP&SKIN: I always aim for cracks or something that's not binary and not clean or slick. I always search for something disturbing. I'm a very emotional person. I try as best as I can to put depth into my music.
LUNA: Are there particular moods or themes you find yourself gravitating towards when writing and performing? How do you channel these into your music?
SOAP&SKIN: I must say that I hadn’t written a song for years. Now I have the cover album done. Before this, I worked on the movie called The Devil's Bath and I played the main role and I composed the score. It was without words. The theme of the movie was different from working on my music as Soap&Skin as a solo artist. I've been making music for almost 20 years and I got used to having periods of not being able to write new music. It always feels like I need to charge my batteries. When I start making music again, it feels like I never did it before. I always feel like how does this even work? I don't have a certain strategy or a pattern I use to create something. I always collect words and stories. I always have this little folder on my desk when I read something or collect sentences or words.
LUNA: You are about to release your first cover album TORSO next month where you reimagine classic songs and interpret them through your unique lens. You’ve mentioned that covers can act as a disguise or hiding place for you as an artist. How does this idea manifest in TORSO, and how do you balance your personal voice with the songs you reinterpret?
SOAP&SKIN: The thing with covers, it's very different approaches every time. The thing I can say is, sometimes I fail. I fail with doing a cover and I give up sometimes, but most of the time when I have the feeling that I can find a new perspective, or something that makes a shift and makes it better, I go for it. I want to interpret something new that’s maybe not yet seen. I find a certain feeling, or just a few moments in a song, and I want to highlight that or make it bigger. Also an approach is when I have old songs and have to have a look at them from the present perspective, from what's going on in politics. For example, I covered “What a Wonderful World,” and it felt so, so extremely strange to put those words into my mouth because we're living in such horrific times.
LUNA: What drew you to Sufjan Stevens’ “Mystery of Love” as the first single and opener for TORSO? How did you approach reinterpreting this track while keeping the essence of the original?
SOAP&SKIN: It was a hard decision, because my first idea was to start with “The End” or really the opposite way. It was a discussion with my label I had on how to start the campaign. When I first covered it, it’s a very personal story behind it because I covered it the first time for my longest friend for her wedding ceremony. It's on a more hopeful range of emotions on this album, and it took a long time to arrange it with the instruments. I'm very proud of the arrangement and the production. I have the feeling I grow with every record a little bit in my skills as a producer.
LUNA: You've expressed that you prefer not to listen to the original versions of the songs you're covering, sometimes for years. Could you elaborate on how this approach influences your creative process when arranging and recording these tracks?
SOAP&SKIN: Sometimes I remember the song in a certain way, and I have the feeling I don't want to disturb this remembering because it has a very distinct imagery. For example, in “The End,” [The Doors] I wouldn't say that I'm a fan of Jim Morrison, and I'm really not interested in him anymore. In that music, I was influenced by it when I was a teenager. I couldn't let go of that song, in a way, and I think it stands by itself. I wanted to make it stand by itself.
LUNA: Given the diverse range of songs on TORSO, how did you select the 12 tracks for the album? Were there specific themes or emotions you wanted to explore through these particular covers?
SOAP&SKIN: I collected them over the years. Some of them I have played live for years and people keep asking me when I will release them. I came up with this idea to make a cover record. I used to be adverse to the idea of doing a proper covers record when I used to hide one cover in all my records. I always get drawn at a certain point to things that aren't comfortable to me. I stuck to that idea and I tried to make something that fills this gap or this secret I had because I performed them only live, and it was like it's a way of hiding them in another way. I was ready to release them. I decided not to re-release “Me and the Devil or “What a Wonderful World” because I really wanted to create something new. The only song I re-released was “What's Up?” because it was just a very small and spontaneous release when the pandemic started.
LUNA: What is your favorite song from TORSO and why do you love it? Is there a certain lyric or message that stands out to you the most?
SOAP&SKIN: I really love “Gods & Monsters,” but I'm also very, very, very sad that I wasn't able to release it on vinyl. It was a very frustrating and sad process too. We tried to get a yes or no for four months to be allowed to release it because it is the only song I really changed the whole lyrics. I almost created the opposite meaning, but I had the feeling that Lana would understand or would even like that version, because I also see how she changed over the years. It was very important just for me, for my well being and for my health, it was very cleansing to rewrite the song and to create. In my version I step out of this girl who likes to get abused, who is masochistic and romanticizes this toxic thing. I completely said no to all of this in my version and it was like a triumph. It's a triumph version.
LUNA: What is the best environment to listen to this album in?
SOAP&SKIN: I have the feeling that the cold period we're now stepping in is very fitting. It's maybe not a summer record. It starts with late summer, autumn with “Mystery of Love” and it's been very dark. Sometimes I try to imagine in which context people are listening to me and music. I listen to music when I need to process feelings or experience life.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
SOAP&SKIN: I'm planning my new tour next year. I’m planning which instruments I will have with me on stage and which cities we are going to play. We are preparing the last single for the beginning of November before the release of the album. I’m trying to create new merch. I’m excited to see where the movie goes. There's still some countries where the movie just started or will start soon to play in cinemas. I'm very exhausted from the past months, and I hope to get some rest before touring also.
