Girls in Hawaii are one of Europe’s best known indie pop bands.

Their catchy yet well-thought out songs is something they’ve mastered over the years. We caught up with bassist and keyboardist Daniel Offermann to find out about their writing process and how MatrixBrute has been welcomed into their live and studio setup.

We are not the kind of band that creates songs by jamming around in the rehearsal room. Usually one of us comes up with a demo as a starting point for our creative process. Then we go to the studio to find the right sonic universe for each song.

We've always spent a lot of time on searching for our own sound, experimenting in our home studios. Playing old tapes back and forth, noodling around on strange instruments, recording things the way you shouldn't... that's where the magic happens.

I needed a powerful and versatile mono synth with the possibility to create presets. That's where the MatrixBrute raised my interest.

We recorded our last album at the ICP Studios in Brussels, Belgium. They have this amazing collection of great vintage synths. We used them not only for pads and leads, but also to record our bass tracks. For our live shows I want to be able to reproduce this large panel of synth bass sounds. I needed a powerful and versatile mono synth with the possibility to create presets. That's where the MatrixBrute raised my interest. I went to Music City in Brussels about bought one straight away.

Studio time is always precious, so generally you don't have the time to tweak for hours on a synth, even though that's what's makes analog synths so much fun. I like the fact that you can get lost for hours experimenting with modulation, the sequencer and synced effects at home. Then you just store the whole shebang in one preset and you can recall it during a studio session. Little by little you create your own unique sonic universe.

The fact that the MatrixBrute is able to route the oscillators to different filters is really handy.

You have to give your sound engineer a stable signal for the low spectrum. The fact that the MatrixBrute is able to route the oscillators to different filters is really handy. It allows me to keep a solid sound base with let's say oscillator 1 going to one filter and still create movement with modulated filters on oscillator 2 going to both VCFs.

I've been musically socialized in the 90s listening to hip hop, funk and electronic music. Artists like the Madlib, the Beastie Boys and the Warp Label were important for me at that time. I love sophisticated amateurism.

When I'm playing my bass lines on a synth or a bass guitar, I'm focused on building a groove with my drummer. Doing that, it's not about showing up your technical skills. It's to serve the song....

We just released our album 'Nocturne' and we'll be touring a lot through Europe this year. Beside Girls in Hawaii I also perform and produce for other artists. At the moment I'm working on a musical theatre project for Kids and a documentary score for Belgian television.