Get connected with Hungarian harmonies

Before their rehearsal, we caught up with Compact Disco, and took the opportunity to get some photographs

The sounds of Hungary

On stage, just as in their first rehearsal the group were all dressed in black. However, while they wore casual t-shirt and jeans on their first appearance, today they were in their stage costumes, though black is still the pre-dominant colour, the lead singer Csaba has a black shiny leather coat, with a sparkly black top that catches the light.

The camerawork focusses mainly on the lead singer, especially in the latter half of the song, that the LED background, although brightly coloured, doesn't detract from the performance. The screens feature, appropriately enough, heart shapes, as does the floor design.

The lead singer and the two guitarists also make effective use of both ramps that come down into the auditorium, before they all return to the main stage at the conclusion of the song.

In the final run through of today's rehearsals, there were some flame effects that briefly shoot up around the stage, but apart from that, effects have been kept to a minimum, so as to place the emphasis on the song and the performance.

Only the audience is missing

Compact Disco were well pleased with their second rehearsal, and considered it a great improvemnet on their first rehearsal, and that it had been "fabulous, it was perfect today, the lights, sound, visual effects. The only thing that was missing was the audience....we are waiting for them."

With four credited authors for Sound Of Our Hearts, an interesting question came up about how the writing process evolves. They answered that it normally starts with Csaba coming up with something on the paino, and then together they make the song complete, by adding the various instruments in place. It is very much a team effort between them.

When they first started out performing, they didn't have enough material, so they would also perform cover versions, and songs by Depeche Mode were their favourites, including Behind The Wheel and Precious.

The group had filmed two different videos to promote their entry. The first had included a slide show of big events from 2011, with what had happened in Europe and the world, but it had been a bit political, and this hadn't been allowed, so they had been obliged to make a second video.

Reaction to their song in Hungary had generally been very positive, although they joked that the hardcore fans of the other artists who had competed in the Hungarian final had been, naturally enough, disappointing.

With interest in the Eurovision Song Contest increasing in Hungary, it seems highly likely that Hungary will retain a similar format to select their entry next year.