They say there’s no place like home that statement couldn’t be truer for an artist like David August and 99CHANTS. The imprint is a playground of expression for the German-born artist and a place he can truly be himself. It’s where his first major breakthrough record, Times, was released and contributed to the international acclaim he received throughout the dance music community for his eclectic mix of dancefloor-oriented tracks and deep, introspective compositions.
His latest project, HYMNS, sees him return to 99CHANTS, but this time it’s a little more personal. HYMNS is a full-circle moment for August. It’s a 9-track project composed entirely of piano pieces that deviates from his electronic side that made him famous, and leans more into his musical roots.
The album is a 2-way conversation between August and his instrument – both sides using each other as a means of expression. David lets his guard down as he tries to escape the need for control in the creative stage, something he says dominated his mindset towards composition. On HYMNS, he puts his full trust in the piano and allows the instrument to speak vicariously through his movements and gestures. In doing so, he exposes himself to a more honest and vulnerable artistic approach.
The project reflects his maturity and growth as an artist. Initially, he says he was intimidated by the piano and its weight. Now, he approaches it without needing a pre-defined role for it. He also redefines the piano’s context entirely.
HYMNS is a homecoming for David as he returns to the instrument with which he has the deepest connection. It’s a beautiful record that fully exposes a side of him we have always found attractive: sincerity.
Tell us about your relationship with the piano. How did you encounter this instrument and how has it shaped you?
I encountered the piano quite early at the age of 5, in a very traditional way. Classical repertoire was all I played until my mid-twenties. It was less a space of freedom and more as something structured, almost disciplinary. Eventually, some pieces brought me freedom and of course joy, but the academic environment sometimes distracts you from the relationship you could be having with an instrument.
For a long time, it felt like an instrument I had to “solve” rather than one I could inhabit. But over the years, that relationship slowly shifted. I began to unlearn a lot of what I had internalized—expectations around virtuosity and musical correctness. I started to approach the piano more as a physical object, a resonant body. That shift changed everything. It became less about playing the piano and more about being in dialogue with it. In many ways, it shaped my sensitivity to sound itself, not just music—how things vibrate, decay, interact in space.
Why is this project important to you?
This project feels like a reconciliation. It’s a return to this instrument, but on entirely different terms than before. For a long time, I distanced myself from it, maybe because it carried too much weight from my early formation. With HYMNS, I allowed myself to approach it without a predefined role—without needing to prove anything. That made the process very honest, and at times quite vulnerable. It’s important to me because it reflects a point where I could let go of control and simply follow what felt authentic in the moment.
How and where was the album recorded?
The album was recorded in my studio in Berlin using two microphones facing hammers/strings. It was important to have my private and known setting rather than the perfectly sounding room I had to rent. The recording sessions happened always spontaneously. Entering the room and recording if I felt like it and if not, I’d be doing something else.
A lot of the recordings happened in long, uninterrupted takes, often late at night or early in the morning, when everything felt quieter. Sometimes the neighbour would close doors that are noticeable on the album. There was this elevator that always made noise. Sometimes I left the windows open and bird sounds bled into the recording. It didn’t really matter to me if the music felt right.
Do each of the HYMNS have a narrative? Or is that for the listener to decide?
There wasn’t a fixed narrative in the traditional sense. Each piece emerged from a certain emotional or physical state, but I didn’t try to translate that into a clear story. I think of them more as fragments or states of being. So, in that sense, the narrative is open. What matters to me is that the listener can enter these pieces from their own perspective, without being guided too much. If there is a narrative, it’s probably something that forms in the space between the music and the listener.
What paths were you led down during the creation stage?
The process led me away from composition in the classical sense and more into a kind of attentive presence. I stopped thinking in terms of structure or development and became more interested in emergence—what happens if you stay with a sound long enough, or if you allow silence to exist without filling it. That opened up paths that felt less controlled but more alive. It also led me into a more physical relationship with the instrument, almost like exploring a landscape rather than writing a piece.
What did you discover about yourself throughout this process?
I think I discovered how much of my previous work was still driven by a need of control. Letting go of that revealed a different kind of clarity. I realized that I don’t always need to intervene—that sometimes the most honest thing is to step back and allow something to happen. It also made me more aware of how I listen, not just to music but in general. There’s a difference between hearing something and truly being present with it and that distinction became very important during this process.
For this project we read that you “listened to the instrument,” which led you to use it in quite a unique way. Can you shed some light on how you listened to the piano and how it led to you incorporating its nuances into each piece?
Listening to the instrument meant shifting attention away from what I wanted it to do and towards what it was already doing. Every piano has its own character—its imperfections, the way certain notes interact. Instead of correcting or ignoring those things, I tried to follow them. Sometimes that meant focusing on a single tone and how it decays, or how the harmonics evolve in the room. Other times it meant interacting with the mechanics of the instrument more directly. By listening in that way, the piano stopped being just a tool and became a collaborator. The pieces are really shaped by that interaction—they’re responses to the instrument.
What’s next for David August?
I will introduce new music the next months, which will show a different side of me. HYMNS is also 5 years old; it was written in 2021. So, in the meantime many other things have happened which will see the light soon.