FM4 Soundpark is a web platform, community, and radio show for and with Austrian musicians. In an ongoing collaboration, FM4’s team recommends particular artists of the moment to amplify. Today, the honor goes to: Jo the Man the Music.
“There’s no right or wrong,” says Jo the Man the Music—and that’s almost always true. What is true without question: she’s one of the most exciting new discoveries of 2025. She puts it best herself: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but you can reinvent your own—and that mindset clicked for her after a recent gig in London, where performing in English (not her first language) felt extra high-stakes. Then came the kind of compliment you don’t forget: someone in the audience told her her songwriting sounded new. For an artist on the rise—24, raised in Styria, now moving between Vienna and Berlin—that’s rocket fuel.
She’s been writing for years (and has the diaries to prove it), even if an early “wrong clefs, wrong harmonies” moment with a teacher made her keep things to herself for a while. After studying—and a crucial stretch in Hamburg that brought real musical friendships—she started releasing for real: three singles via Ink Music in 2025, plus shows from London to Vienna’s Popfest. Next up is her debut EP, out January 16, 2026—and there’s more brewing too, including a four-piece project with fellow musicians built around maximal pop-cover energy. If you want in early, the EP is already up for pre-order on CD or vinyl.
Translated and abridged by Arianna Alfreds from the German original by Lisa Schneider.