Review
Genre and Mood
Pischinger & Dermota and Anne Eck made Can’t Breathe for an album that Discogs files under deep house, tech house and techno; the single was filed under deep house alone. The duo describe their own sound as impulsive, atmospheric and diversified, located somewhere between house, tech house and techno, and handmade. Atmospheric and dreamy are the feelings named here, taken from that self-description and the title rather than from a review, since none describes the track in detail.
Song Summary
Can’t Breathe is the fifth of twelve tracks on Reisedrang, the duo’s debut album, released by 35 Grad Records in June 2015, and in its original mix it runs six minutes and five seconds. The credits divide the work clearly: the music was produced by Julian Dermota and Michael Pischinger, and the vocals and lyrics are Anne Eck’s. In September the label made it the album’s single, with a radio edit, two remixes and a video.
Musical Breakdown
No review describes the track part by part, so the sections below are listening prompts, not a map of the song.
Intro
Listen for how the duo set up the groove and the atmosphere before the voice enters.
Main Section
Anne Eck’s voice carries the song. Listen for how her lines sit over the duo’s groove, and for how the title phrase lands.
Outro
The album version runs two minutes longer than the radio edit. Listen for what the extra length is for: room for the groove to breathe, and for a DJ to mix out.
Concepts in Focus
Anne Eck is the <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist, but she is more than a borrowed voice: she wrote the lyrics, and she also managed the video’s production. A Viennese singer-songwriter who writes her songs at the piano, she brings a songwriter’s song into a club track.
The single shows what a radio edit is for. The original mix runs 6:05; the radio edit on the single runs 4:00. The minutes a radio station does not want are typically the long introduction and ending a DJ needs to mix. Compare the full-length original mix of Format:B, Fran – Liquid feat. Fran - Original Mix, another vocal track by a producer duo.
The music video, directed and filmed by Martin Domkar, was shot in August 2015 at the Wienerwaldbad baths in Purkersdorf, near Vienna, with Eck and both producers in the cast. It runs under five minutes, shorter than the album mix embedded here.
Artistic Context
Pischinger & Dermota are Michael Pischinger and Julian Dermota from Vienna, friends who, according to their profile, have produced and DJed together for as long as they have known each other, playing four-on-the-floor in clubs around Europe while also making pop. Reisedrang features one other guest, Kaspar, on its title track.
Impact and Reception
The duo’s profile calls Can’t Breathe a highly clicked single. Remixes by Joseph Cochon and Oliver Gruen gave it more versions. Start with the album mix, then try the edit.
