Interview with GÖRL (1/2)

In our two-part interview with Sylvie Marks and Robert Görl, we talk about their album “Dark Silver Moon Light”, which will be released on May 29, 2026.

Departure in the silver light

It begins with an image that sticks in the mind: a lake at night, the light of the moon leaves a shimmering trail across the water – and somewhere between reality and dream, a figure disappears. This scene gives rise to “Dark Silver Moon Light”, GÖRL’s first album. It sounds just as the title suggests: like a state between perception and projection, between control and letting go. Behind GÖRL are two personalities who have not only shaped electronic music, but have constantly rethought it: Robert Görl and Sylvie Marks. As a co-founder of DAF, Görl became a key figure in early EBM and post-punk, while Marks has helped shape club culture since the nineties as a formative DJ and producer – including as a resident at Frankfurt’s Dorian Gray and with international releases. However, instead of looking back, they are pursuing a radical present. “We are setting off into freedom and our independence,” they say. The name GÖRL is more than just a project – it is a deliberate demarcation: “We wanted to create a new band together, with an unencumbered name.”

Two paths, one pulse

What makes them so special is not just the experience, it is the naturalness with which they work together. “We don’t even think about equality – it comes naturally to us.” It is this organic approach that runs through the entire album. Ideas don’t come about in the studio alone: “We spend a lot of time in nature, that’s often where the first ideas come from.” The pieces do not seem constructed, they have grown. Sequences tell stories before a word is even sung. And yet everything remains reduced, precise, almost stoic. “The elements in our songs are clearly set, reduced perhaps – but at the same time very emotional and powerful.”

The false tone as truth

GÖRL work according to a simple principle: intuition beats convention. What sounds wrong can be just right. “The wrong sound is actually the right one,” they say – and thus formulate an attitude that runs through the entire album. This music refuses to be pigeonholed. It is mechanical and warm at the same time, cool and deeply human. Traces of Görl’s past flash up without ever becoming nostalgic. “You can also hear traces of the old sound in it, but it continues to develop,” they explain. Standing still is not an option.

Jan Schütz (Meersein)

Line-up:
Sylvie Marks – vocals, electronics
Robert Görl – vocals, electronics

We will continue our interview shortly. You can also find GÖRL in our May/June issue:

Listen to GÖRL in our “Current Issue” playlist on Spotify: