Milky Chance rides success

Philipp Dausch and Clemens Rehbein from duo Milky Chance are heading to New Zealand for one show.

In 2013, two high school friends from a small German city accidentally released an international hit song.

Stolen Dance, Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch's first release as duo Milky Chance, became a worldwide sensation - a melancholic, belt-out-loud track loosely combining two unusual genres - electronic and folk.

It topped pop music charts in nine countries, racked up 300 million YouTube views, and catalysed their meteoric rise to now globetrotting, headline artists.

The band has taken the opportunity with all four hands. It's on the cusp of releasing its much-awaited second album, recorded during breaks from gliding around the world playing sold out shows and lining up at Glastonbury, Coachella and Lollapalooza.

Not bad for the now-23-year-olds, who spent their school days smoking, making music and eating pizza at home.

And with a show booked in New Zealand in April following the release of their sophomore album Blossom, local fans are looking forward to the spectacle.

Speaking to NZME as the band travelled from Geneva to Milan, lead vocalist, lyricist and guitarist Rehbein couldn't have sounded more nonchalant about the duo's success.

"We just recorded [the debut album] Sadnecessary for fun, without any plans. It just all kind of happened accidentally, and at the same time we accidentally fulfilled our dreams."

Its success is made all the more incredible by the fact it was recorded in Rehbein's childhood home with a simple microphone and laptop studio, outperforming the ultra-engineered pop hits released by major artists.

Rebhein sounded more grounded than most other 23-year-olds.

He was relaxed and affable, eloquent (even in his second language) and thoughtful.

He struggles to make sense of the human experience and tries to put those feelings into words.

From school leavers living in the sleepy central German city of Kassel, to touring for months at a time, Rehbein and Dausch's creative environment flipped between recording the first and second albums. The new album Blossom reflects this, Rehbein said.

Chronicling the highs and lows of touring, profiling the weird and wonderful people of the world, and undoubtedly longing for home, either in the form of a building or a person.

"It's the same direction, but it's a bit more of an extension. We pretty much defined our sound on the first album, and now it's the same mixture of uplifting, danceable beats, mixed in with a certain sense of melancholy ... We kept that - it's just our thing. It's like Milky Chance 2.0."

Stunningly, Rehbein says the new album is even "more homemade" than the last.

"We tried to use sample banks less and tried to create our own sounds and samples - we clapped our hands when we wanted a clap. It's a more handmade album and I think you can hear that."

Rehbein now admits the name Milky Chance, which he came up with in his early teenage years, sounds a bit dumb.

"Yeah kind of, it's a weird name. If you put milky in front of any word it always makes it sound weird, but it somehow works."

- The band is heading to New Zealand for one show only, at Auckland's Powerstation on April 26. Tickets are available at aaaticketing.co.nz.