There are plenty of overtly commercialized music events, where the line-up looks and feels all the same and the festival-goers are continually battered with advertisements. And there are very few festivals like One Of A Million (OOAM) in the Swiss town of Baden: a festival that really cares about the music and other aspects such as sustainability. Since 2017, it has been one of the first CO2-neutral festivals in Switzerland.
The OOAM always takes place in February, and this year there were seven days of music with 41 acts from 16 countries at various venues in Baden – a small town only 15 minutes away by train from Zurich. Some of these concerts, the so called “Stadtkonzerte” are free and take place in unconventional venues. The Swiss dream pop band no phase played an afternoon show in a packed bowling alley, with many kids in the audience playing air guitar to the multi-layered guitar sounds.
Diversity is also a key to the OOAM: female and non-binary artists are not the exception, but a matter of course. And the line-up is put together across all genre boundaries. Swiss artist Héloïse created live loops and beats with her voice, mixing her tracks on the spot while simultaneously playing the drums. Her experimental DIY approach and free spirit were reminiscent of Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono. In any case, the audience in Baden was very impressed by Héloïse’s performance and was not afraid to sing along when the artist asked them to. And this moment showed how music can play an important role in social experiences and interactions. How people of all ages sing along, even though they have probably never heard the song or the artist before.
The headliner of the seventh and final day of the festival was the French indie band En Attendant Ana. They played an exquisite set featuring all the hits from their 2023 album Principia, some earlier songs and covers of Nancy & Frank Sinatra and The Pogues. The beauty of En Attendant Ana’s music is their musical eclecticism, and it’s obvious why the Parisian quintet sometimes give off Stereolab-esque vibes: it’s the motorik beat combined with catchy and sophisticated songwriting. Singer Margaux Bouchaudon and trumpeter/saxophonist Camille Fréchou took turns playing the same guitar and added beautiful vocals to the mix, sometimes accompanied by rattling post-punk riffs. I’m not sure how many people were really familiar with their music, but the audience happily danced along to En Attendant Ana’s songs.
The One Of A Million Festival has set itself the goal of offering a musical journey of discovery – and this year seems to have succeeded once again. I’m just a little disappointed that I wasn’t there on one of the other six festival days: I missed good bands like the jangle poppers Laundromat Chicks from Vienna or the Canadian post-punk band Cistern. But here’s hoping there will be a new edition of OOAM next year in 2026.
