Cologne Music Week: Gwen Dolyn & Arkan 45

Gwen Dolyn + Toyboys

Born in Berlin, Gwen Dolyn had decided to leave the restlessness of the capital in 2019. In the late days of 2020, she joined forces with Toyboys, who gave themselves this name especially for her. Her solo EP "Things To Tell A Crying Girl" was released in the spring of the same year.

Gwen Dolyn and Toyboys have established a penchant for tender but fierce. On their joint debut EP "Komm schon!" you can hear Neue Neue Deutsche Welle with 80s references, but also memories of grunge. If up to now Gwen Dolyn's songs were primarily about psychological problems, feminism and relationship, now songs about love and self-empowerment are added.

Arkan 45
Arkan45 represents a symbiosis of different worlds: From a remote small town in Austria, he was drawn to Berlin, where he has found his new home between everyday abfuck and the brutalist backdrop of the capital. What he experiences is reflected unfiltered in his music - the fight against his own shadows and the intoxicating life in Berlin result in raw, danceable melancholy.

Genre boundaries are a thing of the past: together with his main producer en and multi-instrumentalist RGB1, Arkan45 has found his sound world. Genres are torn down and grids are blown up, because Arkan's life knows no frame - a melange of rap, grunge, electronic elements.