TWO LANES

The brothers Leo Schmid and Rafael “Rafa” Schmid grew up in a musical environment. Their father was a Jazz musician and their mother was a painter which gave them visual and musical influences. The two brothers went to separate musical directions with Leo becoming interested in piano early and studied composers including J. S. Bach, Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy. While his brother Rafa went in the opposite direction. He became fascinated by electronic music, sound design and production, spending years experimenting with synthesis, electronic textures and production techniques. Their paths converged at a spontaneous jam session which became the foundation of the project.

Rather than putting a multitude of layers to combine complex classical and electronic elements, TWO LANES’ music does exactly the opposite. Rafa discovered early on that ‘less can be more’ and describes his production process as using minimal but effective elements in sculpting TWO LANES’ sound. This creates the project’s signature sound profile, the feeling of space. Their sound can be summed up to warm analog textures, mixed with warm analogue textures, intimate piano recordings, and restrained percussion. They embrace the imperfections of sound by utilizing old acoustic instruments, room noise, mechanical piano characteristics and recorded analogue equipment. At live shows the audience can often hear the project using piano improvisations to experience the classical piano rather than listen to pre-programmed electronic sounds.