COCOON is the new duo album by Sönke Meinen and Philipp Wiechert, featuring only original compositions full of stirring, surprising and touching moments.

After 15 years of close friendship and playing several hundred concerts together, Sönke Meinen and Philipp Wiechert began to translate their experiences and stories into music a few years ago. In 2023, these creative encounters resulted in the birth of COCOON.

The album title refers to their approach to composing together: In order to not only showcase their technical skills on the instrument, but to focus on the stories in their music, it was important to the two musicians to create an environment free of judgment, pressure and any form of expectations. In regards to the now finished album, Sönke Meinen and Philipp Wiechert remark, “Composing music together, and starting with a blank sheet of paper, is something very personal, and it really doesn’t work with everyone. However, in this project we wrote eleven pieces that none of us could have written on his own. And that really feels very special.”

The eleven pieces are sometimes quiet and tender, sometimes energetic and virtuosic: “Piano” and “Birds of a Feather” are calm and peaceful ballads inspired by Nordic folk and classical music, while “Vicious Cycle” with its suspense and tension could have come out of a Hitchcock movie.

“Fool’s Paradise” references Sönke and Philipp’s roots in fingerstyle guitar and jazz, while “Pardon My French” is a dynamic waltz to which the two musicians add an almost whimsical touch with all sorts of surprising harmonic and melodic twists.

For the duo, however, the word “cocoon” is even more than just a metaphor for composing together:
“As our new songs took shape, we realised that music itself can also be a kind of “cocoon,” a comforting place for turbulent times – and maybe, for our audience, the pieces on our album can become such places, too.”

After the release of the album, Sönke Meinen and Philipp Wiechert are now bringing their new music to the stage. They complement their pieces with personal and humorous stories, leave room for spontaneous interaction and effortlessly build bridges between energetic grooves and touching melodic moments. Handmade, entertaining, captivating.

Side A
1. Cocoon
2. Pardon My French
3. Solid Ground
4. Marmoris
5. Fool’s Paradise
6. Piano

Side B
7. Thick As Thieves
8. Vicious Cycle
9. Reverie
10. All Things Considered
11. Birds Of A Feather