Odd Beholder — Honest Work

Odd Beholder is the electro/wave/indie pop project of Swiss musician, producer and activist Daniela Weinmann, with which she precisely and laconically chronicles the oddities, dark sides and misunderstandings of our time. In her songs, Weinmann tells of alienation and escapism, of emancipation and the vision of a possible better world. Her version of dark pop music deals with unpleasant facts while offering comfort at the same time. And she does so in a way that is never tedious, exhausting or didactic, but rather makes the tedious and exhausting aspects poetically tangible.

On her last album, ”Feel Better” (2023), Weinmann travelled back in time to confront the circumstances that made her the person she is today, telling stories of small towns and teenage struggles, of love and loss, of growing up and coming to terms with the past.

On 22 May 2026, Sinnbus/Believe will release her fourth album: "Honest Work" is a concept album dedicated to the stories of working people. In ten tracks, Daniela Weinmann condenses the impositions of modern working life and reflects on a society in which closeness, privacy and authenticity are commodified. The album tells of frustration with unfair working conditions, ecological crises and emotional loneliness. It tells of a society that internalises pressure to perform while only vaguely defining what performance actually means. It tells of exhaustion, anger and pressure, and of the lives of those who try to find their way in it and not lose their dignity – and who are likely to fail.

“Honest Work” was created over a period of two years during a phase in which Weinmann was intensively grappling with her personal and professional situation. In addition to her music, she was working at the university to make ends meet. There, as part of her job, she ethnographically observes neoliberal start-ups and spends her nights writing music and playing concerts. "With a workload like that, no matter how resilient you are, you eventually become angry," she recalls. Inevitably, she has to confront her own overwork and doubts about her life plan.

The pressures of everyday life are also reflected in the music, creating a sense of intensity: Odd Beholder's tracks are becoming clearer and more concise. This fits in well with the approach of Berlin-based techno producer Douglas Greed, with whom Weinmann is collaborating on the album's development and production. The tracks draw on electronic music from the nineties, including trip hop, drum 'n' bass, 2-step garage and industrial. Complemented by the introspective power of singer-songwriter role models such as Aldous Harding and PJ Harvey, beat and bass are at the heart of Honest Work, lending the music a new directness.

Weinmann uses sketches by Douglas Greed as a starting point for her songwriting. Just as the mechanically efficient, performance-oriented world of work relentlessly sets the pace, their cool sound aesthetic provides the perfect backdrop for the themes that preoccupy them: "My songs ask about the agreements we make with our jobs," she explains. "And about the possibility of an 'honest profession' in a world characterised by overconsumption, competition and market logic, where ecological balance, human rights and peace between countries are currently at stake.

For example, ”Internet Famous” questions the role and indirect involvement of musicians in the rise to power of global digital corporations. It connects the story of a worker at a server farm in Oregon with the knowledge of the construction of a dam that now supplies this very factory with electricity, while at the same time destroying the indigenous ways of life and work there.

“Ring Light” reflects the language of social media, which simulates closeness and turns authenticity into a strategic currency. How, on the other hand, can a psychologist be persuaded during an ADHD assessment that they are professionally dependent on social media and attention economies? “Focus Disease” seeks to answer this question and also to determine who and what exactly Ritalin optimises in this area of conflict. The straightforward shoegaze track "Drive" tells of symbolic escape. Of escape as short-term empowerment, of a road trip as immediate intervention. Even if only for the moment.

The flowing "Like A Chore" speaks from the perspective of a person who is trying to be there for their child while also having to work. And about not being able to explain the restlessness and lack of time: "When I was still working as a teacher to finance my music, an image burned itself into my mind that touched me deeply. I saw a young mother back in the staff room after only three months of statutory maternity leave in Switzerland. Visibly tired and emaciated, she pumped breast milk in a bare back room and then put it in the refrigerator. I found this image of the young woman with the breast pump attached to her breast heartbreaking," explains Weinmann. "I wish our society would allow her and her young family more time. I dedicate this song to her and to everyone in the same situation."

"Remind Me" is another emotional highlight in which the first-person narrator implores her fellow human beings to do things not for money, but for meaning, solidarity and love. Nevertheless, there is still room for indulgence. In the end, neither Ritalin nor disillusionment can harm Odd Beholder's dreamy music. In confined worlds, she searches for the body, temptation, desires, but also fears.

In short, “Honest Work” is nothing less than a reflection on work, on brokenness, the search for meaning and responsibility, both in her personal life (as a musician) and in society as a whole. As a graduate of an art college – and the child of a teacher and a computer scientist – Daniela Weinmann is well aware of the privileges she enjoys. She does not want to play down the poor working conditions of so many people against the backdrop of what an independent musician has to offer. Nevertheless, she finds it alarming to see how many friends wear themselves out in their own bubble, often at the expense of their health and quality of life. The music world is regularly turned upside down by the tech industry. The working conditions created by large corporations are abstract, globalised, difficult to negotiate with trade unions and unstable. It is clear that these disruptions are only the beginning and that more and more professional fields will be affected by a similar logic. As standards are lowered, the question becomes louder: for whom and for whose pockets are we ultimately spending our lifetime?

Thus, a doubt murmurs through “Honest Work”, a quiet voice that wants to know how we want to work in the future, what constitutes a good life, and for whom and why we are actually doing all this.

Odd Beholder does not provide any clear answers. Against a backdrop of apparent normality, it initially focuses on the observation of resignation and disorientation. Not every burnout can be cured by a retreat. Above all, it requires perspective. Odd Beholder's "Honest Work" is a reserved yet angry starting point for shedding a little light and clarity on this complex situation.

“Honest Work” will be out on May 22nd, 2026 digitally and on LP vinyl. Pre-Orders via: https://bfan.link/honest-work