This sounds amazing . . . releases July 16th, 2021 . . .

Listening to this now, courtesy of RareNoise Records; we’ll have more, by way of review, later — but it envokes an exquisite post-rock, glitch laden aural tapestry that more than satisfies the off-the-beaten-trail listening ear . . .

Aufbruch (samples), by J. Peter Schwalm & Markus Reuter
Bandcamp (pre-order)
Review (All About Jazz)

Aufbruch, the title of the debut collaboration between electro-acoustic composer J. Peter Schwalm and guitarist Markus Reuter, translates as “departure” or “emergence.” Either definition offers an evocative interpretation of the powerfully immersive soundworld they’ve conjured together, but even more suggestive is the ambiguity between the two meanings. For the music of Aufbruch feels like both an awe-inspiring journey of discovery and a welling up from the murkiest depths of the subconscious.

Begun as a correspondence and fully realized as an in-person collaboration, Aufbruch captures and sustains an imposing air of alluring menace, an atmosphere that feels somber and distressed yet powerfully optimistic. “It seemed like we had the same sort of image in our minds,” Reuter says. “It feels like a dystopian future where the industrialized cityscape of the past has begun growing over with green – moss and trees and leaves. Which doesn’t really surprise me.”

It’s true that the global conditions in which the album was produced might lend themselves to thoughts of rebuilding after an apocalyptic disaster rather then the somewhat more hopeful idea of preventing such disasters outright. But the aufbruch, the “emergence” at which the title hints suggests that some remnant of humanity might be able to pull itself free from the wreckage and rebuild, about as cheery a thought as one could discern in these mesmerizingly bleak yet captivatingly rich aural landscapes.

Credits

Releases July 16, 2021
J. Peter Schwalm: Synths, Pianos, live treatments, electronic percussion and programming
Markus Reuter: Touch Guitars® AU8 and U8 Deluxe, Soundscapes, Electronics
Sophie Tassignon: Vocals on „Lebewohl“ and „Losgelöst“