2raumwohnung

From the soundtrack of the millennium turn to the musical interplay of the album "Nacht und Tag". For over two decades, 2raumwohnung has brought something rare to German pop: the combination of lightness and melancholy more commonly found in chanson or bossa nova.

That fusion has produced both studio experiments and top-ten hits. Inga Humpe and Tommi Eckart can - in their own way - operate on both levels. More than a million records sold since 2001 speak for themselves, backed by three gold discs and a string of awards. That solid foundation gave them the artistic freedom behind seven top-ten studio albums - each one a product of their independence.

At times they seem like the shadow figures from the video for their single "Somebody Lonely And Me" - vanishing in the light, then surfacing again in the half-dark. Sometimes sharp and present, then dissolving into hazy outlines. Soft, flowing sounds meet precise beats. Humpe's voice seems to float above the notes. Snapshots of life become intricately crafted songs.

Punk, new wave, and later the energy of techno shaped them both. Inga Humpe captured the spirit of the eighties with Neonbabies and DÖF. Tommi Eckart worked with DJ Hell and Andreas Dorau. Around 2000 they found each other, first as a studio project. 2 was the working title of a constellation that gradually became a permanent duo - though not in the guitar-bass-drums-vocals sense of a rock band; that word would point in the wrong direction. 2raumwohnung stands, if anything, in the tradition of British pop duos: Soft Cell, Yazoo, Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys. A vision of future music where the digital and the emotional dance together.