“Well envelopped in its New Berlin School approach and with blinks to Mike Oldfield and old figures of IC, Tiefenrausch is a very nice album to which one listens pleasantly”
1 In die Tiefe 7:25 2 Excentriques 5:55 3 Schwarze Ruhe 7:12 4 Schlägel und Eisen 5:56 5 Alleingang 13:08 6 Tiefenrausch 6:08 7 Tageslicht 7:54 MellowJet Records | cdr-hm1801 (CD/DDL 53:38) (V.F.) (Very melodic Berliner, EDM)
Since Into the Unknown, released in 2013 on SynGate, Rudolf Heimann clocks with more regularity at the scene of EM. Lugging around his compositions, where essences of rock and of progressive rock flirt with an EM approach very near of the melodious Berliner style, the German musician is roaming from label to label in order to find the one which is the most suitable to his music. With his last opus, he strikes at the right place by confiding the guides of TIEFENRAUSCH to Bernd Moonbooter Scholl who so gives to his music this necessary depth allowing to weave skillfully the links between the various styles which sparkle through this album which in the end is very seducing.
A riff of acoustic guitar, kind of Pink Floyd, opens the matrix of TIEFENRAUSCH. The vibes are in suspension with these chords which fall to meet those more melodious of a piano. My ears dive into a familiar universe; that of Innovative Communication. With fragrances of Tee Kay which merge with the melodious piano notes of Peter Seiler, Rudolf Heimann's music becomes soaked with these minimalist structures which live by mixing their essences. But there is more! These fragrances, after some phases of uncertainties, hang on to an electronic hymn of a kind of P'Cock in the rhythmic pattern of House in the Storm, but in a less violent way, another one of those albums which have delighted the ears of several fans of the New Berlin School style of EM. And the rhythm goes in a circular race with sporadic momentums and lines of sequences which skip in stroboscopic strands to merge in a rather contemporary decoration. The guitar expresses itself in this structure with harmonies, as plaintive and like a good solo segmented in many parts which are scattered between the 7 minutes of In die Tiefe. This first title gives the color of the ambiences and the form of the rhythms here. On lively structures, excepted for the more ambient phases which are Schwarze Ruhe and the title-track, the music is soaked with these ascending rhythms parading like a vertical big 8. The guitar and the synths are dividing the kingdom of stars with solos which transport us on lively structures. It's with background noises of an intergalactic cave that the electronic elements of Excentriques introduction instigate the awakening of sequences which skip in delicious equestrian kicks. Another pulsating line livens up, arousing up percussions and robotic voices and especially introducing the title to a violent explosion of Dance & Trance faithful to the signature of the German label. The rhythm makes very Moonbooter with a beautiful harmonious section forged by splendid solos which sing and coo as only an electronic nightingale knows how to do it. These solos moreover add a more attractive musical depth than these Boom-Boom of lead which metamorphose more or less the very EDM approach of Excentriques. We eventually end to like it, it's without appeal!
Just a little respite for our ears? It's doubtless the idea behind the vast extent of floating layers coming from the Zenith and of seraphic voices which is Schwarze Ruhe. Other lines, always so floating, screech in the décor, thus giving a more acid dimension to a good title of ambiences. Strata of violins in a chaos of sounds decorated by a fluty wave, Schlägel und Eisen escapes from a double line of these jerky orchestrations to roll towards a good slow e-rock and filled up with good solos of a guitar as much fascinating as a synth. This is a good cosmic slow dance with murmurs which really add nothing special to the title. Alleingang is THE track of this Rudolf Heimann's very nice album. The music evolves with a breakaway of guitar riffs which flees an introduction sewn of silky winds and of azure breezes. These riffs get couple in a majestic ascending spiral, so giving the latitude necessary for the guitar to scatter its notes as well as its floating solos. Orchestrations soften the very New Berlin School vision of the movement, whereas percussions of a tribal kind invite the sequencer to throw a pot of sequences which sparkle on a well-oiled conveyor. Playing marvellously on the latitude of its 13 minutes, Alleingang shed its sonic skin smoothly for an ascending structure which swirls like these hypnotic circular structures faithful to the IC domain. Weeping cellos, as well as layers of astral sirens voice, beautify the circular procession of Alleingang that the electric six-strings of Rudolf Heimann decorate of short dreamy solos. The title-track is the second of ambiences in this TIEFENRAUSCH. Its long lugubrious drones and their poly-sound tints clash in the rather joyful décor of this album. The alternate movement of the sequencer brings to the foreground an amphibian rhythm which remains anchored well in its fetal position. Tageslicht concludes this last Rudolf Heimann's album with a surprising approach very Mike Oldfield in a combination of his Discovery, Crisis and The Songs of Distant Earth periods. The ballad is modelled by at least two lines of guitars. The acoustic one throws lively riffs while the electric pitches very striking arrows of intensity. A little as in In die Tiefe, the piano tries a melodic breakthrough on a structure where reign Celtic atmospheres. A surprising way of concluding a very nice album to which one listens pleasantly and which proposes a good diversity in its approach.
Sylvain Lupari (January 4th, 2018) *****
Available at MellowJet Records