Christian Löffler: “I want to build a space that goes beyond the music”

For Christian Löffler, one phrase has come to hold an album, a label and now a live series, and it started, almost accidentally, with a handful of piano sketches written on tour.

Christian Löffler’s fourth album very nearly didn’t happen. Having just wrapped his record A Life in 2024, the German producer expected the usual post-release quiet. Instead, a relentless touring schedule kept him moving, and somewhere between hotel rooms and short-haul flights, new ideas and inspirations started arriving.

Until We Meet Again, released in January, grew out of that period: early demos written on the road, later expanded through experiments with vintage Japanese synthesisers and shaped by Swedish artist Adna, whom Löffler had been trying to work with for years before the timing finally clicked. Fittingly, it’s an album about connection – the people who pass through a life on tour and the threads that stay tied long after the show ends.

The record has since expanded into two further projects. Until We Meet Again the label, launched with Adna as its first signing, marks Löffler’s move beyond Ki Records into acoustic and alternative territory. And Until We Meet Again Open Air, his first self-run event series, brings the album’s ensemble era to a looser, festival-style format across two dates this summer – 23 August at The Cause, London, and 5 September at Südbrücke, Köln – with a line-up of long-time collaborators including Two Lanes, Meredi, Sofia Ilyas, Mogli, Sarah Wild and Kid Simius.

We caught up with Löffler to talk about all three: the album, the label, and this summer’s events.

Until We Meet Again began as piano sketches while you were on tour. What did those early days with the album look like?

There was definitely no plan to make another album. I was touring non-stop, basically just going home to do laundry and head out again. These weeks felt very light, and I felt inspired by travelling and meeting people. Normally I would stop making music for a while after finishing an album. The process of mixing and mastering and, of course, releasing is so stressful; you just want to have a break from it. But this time felt different and was the complete opposite. Somehow, A Life opened a new approach to making music for me. I wasn’t overthinking. Sometimes it even felt like not thinking at all, just collecting ideas. 

Was there a particular encounter or tour stop that inspired you?

It was a mix of several ones. Life felt very easy. I was trying to extend my stays in different places and not leave right after shows, and through that, many new people came into my life. I was getting so much input from new places, friends and people that new music came to me super easily. It was flowing naturally. 

You made all the artwork for this album yourself. Did the paintings come in response to the finished tracks, or did image and sound develop side by side?

They were made mostly after the songs were done. I had photos from my camera roll for each track I took while touring, and painted my favourites. 

 

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In your 2021 album Parallels: Shellac Reworks, you reimagined works by classical composers through electronic sound. Did that exploration of classical music – even indirectly – find its way into Until We Meet Again?

[I noticed it] when we played the tour. I learned so much through Parallels because it was the first proper time touring with an ensemble and working with other musicians, sharing the stage and discussing the music and how to perform it. With Until We Meet Again, it felt lighter because the music is more free and flowing, but also because I found the right musicians to do that through the Parallels phase. What I learned also helped me with composing, and with keeping in mind how I’d perform it with a quartet and piano on stage. 

What was it about Adna that made you want to work with her on this album? And how did working with her change your approach to writing compared to working completely instrumentally?

We actually just wanted to do one track together. I’ve been a fan of her music for years, and we tried a few times, but it never really worked out. In the early stages of Until We Meet Again, I sent her a little piano sketch and title, and she came back with the most beautiful song idea and lyrics. It felt so nice and easy with Adna, so we just kept on making music. That process also shaped the sound of the album. At first, I tried to translate it into more electronic soundscapes, but realised more and more that this project was about the emotion, rather than finding some new, crazy synth sound.

The Until We Meet Again label shares its name with the album. Was that always the plan, or did the label grow out of the music? Beyond the album title, what does ‘Until We Meet Again’ mean to you?

Sometimes I speak to fans after a show, and it became a common thing to say “until we meet again” when we say goodbye. There was no plan behind it. It was more like, as always with my things, it grew naturally and came to life step by step. For me personally, it stands for a community. I want to build a space that goes beyond the music. I feel like we usually have very warm and welcoming crowds at my shows, and I’d love to connect them more. The idea came to my mind as Adna told me about her new music and that she was looking for a label to release it. So why not come full circle and give something back to her for helping me so much with my album? 

Your other label, Ki Records, has been running for years now. What lessons from building Ki are you carrying into this label, and what are you doing differently?

What we learned from the beginning is to trust our intuition and do it wholeheartedly. This will stay the same with the new label, but with an even more indie approach, trying to not follow trends too much and staying open to anything that touches us. I think it’s also important for artists to have a home that feels like a space where they can experiment and find their own style, especially when it’s not fitting into boxes.

Your upcoming shows will be your first time running your own open-air series rather than playing someone else’s event. What does having full control over the setting allow you to do that a festival booking doesn’t?

I’ve collaborated with so many amazing artists over the past few years, and whenever we performed at shows together, I usually felt that people only got a glimpse of their actual talent. It’s nice to show that.

You’ve pulled together a mix of artists for both dates: Two Lanes, Meredi, Sofia Ilyas, Mogli, Sarah Wild, Kid Simius. What were you looking for when putting the line-up together?

The complete line-up is based on friendship. It’s all people I’ve known for a while now, and whose music I appreciate a lot. And they go together very well. I’m sure if you’re a fan of Two Lanes, you will also enjoy Meredi, for example. 

Is this event series something you want to grow into a more regular thing, or is it a specific moment for this album?

I’m very happy that this is finally happening, and hopefully we can do a few follow-up sessions. I feel like it could develop easily into an annual thing. Another dream of mine is to hold a similar one-day festival in my home region on the beach.