The band name "Technoir" came into Steffen's mind while watching the film "The Terminator", in which a club with this name played a role. In the following time he produced the album "Sea Level" in his home studio. "Sea Level" features dark, almost frightening hard electro sounds, but has never been released. Together with Stephan Kalwa from Plastic Noise Experience the very atmospheric instrumental album "Eigenspace" was recorded, also unreleased. Knowing not to create something new with hard electro and dark and distorted male voices, Steffen started looking around for a female singer which he found in Julia Beyer that he met in 1999 at a concert of the band Inside (defunct project of Psyche singer Darrin Huss) where Julia was singing background vocals.
With a lot of both musical and live experience made prior to Technoir, Steffen and Julia began developing new songs as a team. The first song they recorded was "Last Tears". Julia had been singing in several bands before joining Technoir (e.g. Inside) where she could make use of what she learned from many years in a professional choir. Steffen is not a newcomer on the scene either: He has been live-keyboarder for electro-heroes Plastic Noise Experience and comes from a musical family in which a classical piano education is both obligatory and cherished.
Shortly after sending out the first demos, they found a partner in the German label Bloodline. The first releases "Requiem" (MCD 27.08.2001) and "Groundlevel" (CD 15.10.2001) hit the German alternative charts immediately, also the press showed themselve impressed. This also attracted the attention of bigger companies and so in 2002 Sony published a very danceable Coverversion of the Killing Joke-Song "Love Like Blood" which has been produced by Olaf Wollschläger under the project name Blacklight feat. Technoir. The Single was released on vinyl and is featured on the well-known and very popular Dream Dance-Compilation 25. In the same year the duo could present themselves on bigger festivals like the Eurorock Indoor and the Wave-Gotik-Treffen.
In 2003, Julia joined the reborn Eternal Afflict and contributed vocals to the album "Katharsis" whereas Steffen supports again the Band Plastic Noise Experience at live gigs after a long break. After the appearance of Eternal Afflict on the Pluswelt Festival in 2004, Julia left the band to fully concentrate on Technoir.
Besides writing new songs, Steffen also proved his remixing skills with providing intriuging Technoir-versions of songs from bands like Psyche, Eternal Afflict, O.V.N.I. (Seize side-project) and Agonised By Love. Meanwhile Julia has been in demand as a guest singer with adding some soaring vocals to Melotron's "Folge mir ins Licht" that soon became a proper single and club hit. Furthermore, she delivered guest vocals to releases of In Strict Confidence, Rotersand and Distorted Reality. After the release of the "Manifesto EP" in August 2006, the band has now in stock their second album "Deliberately Fragile".
In the meantime, Julia Beyer left Technoir in 2008 to join the heavenly voices band Chandeen and collaborated with English band Mesh on the song Who Says from their album A Perfect Solution.
if
Technoir Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then I would dream of you
I wish that it comes true
If you ever were so near
Than it would be near to me
I know it's all for you
No identity
And if I look outside
Then I let my thought fly high
It won't fall down to me
If I ever come to you
Let me have a look inside
I'd fear about your words
If you ever ran away
Then I know what it is for
You bring it back to me
The lyrics of Technoir's song "If" revolve around the theme of hopes, dreams, and desires. The singer of the song yearns for someone they have yet to meet, or maybe even someone they know but aren't close to. They wish to dream of this person, hoping their dream will come true one day. The person they are talking about seems to embody a mystery and has no clear identity, making them even more intriguing to the singer. Even though they long to be with this person, they fear they might not be ready for what they might discover if they ever meet them.
The song portrays the idea of longing for something or someone that is beyond reach. The lyrics showcase the internal struggles the singer goes through while dreaming about their desires. They are unsure about the reality of their dreams and ponder about what might happen if they ever meet the person they yearn for. The song beautifully depicts a situation where the singer is ready to take risks in the hopes of fulfilling their desires but is also fearful of the consequences of their actions.
Line by Line Meaning
If I ever dared to dream
I don't usually let myself hope for good things, but sometimes I imagine what life could be like if you were in it.
Then I would dream of you
In that imaginary world, you are the person I want to be with.
I wish that it comes true
I hope that somehow, someday, this dream could become reality.
If you ever were so near
If you were close to me physically or emotionally,
Than it would be near to me
it would have a big impact on my life and my feelings.
I know it's all for you
Even though I might hesitate, I would do anything for you.
Your mystery
I am fascinated by how much there is to know about you, and how much I don't know yet.
No identity
But sometimes I worry that you will never let me really understand who you are.
And if I look outside
When I try to imagine my life without you,
Then I let my thought fly high
I try to keep my thoughts positive and hopeful, and remind myself what it would be like to have you in my life.
It won't fall down to me
But I know that reality can never quite live up to the dream.
If I ever come to you
If I ever get the courage to approach you, to try to bridge the distance between us,
Let me have a look inside
I am scared of what I might find, but I want to understand you better.
I'd fear about your words
I worry that you might reject me, or that I won't be able to handle what you tell me.
If you ever ran away
If you ever decided to leave me behind,
Then I know what it is for
I would have to accept that our time together was always going to be brief, but that doesn't mean it was meaningless.
You bring it back to me
In my memories and my feelings, you will always be a part of my life.
Contributed by Nathan H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Red Crystal
Its ... so good