“Easterfield is a solid E.P. whose only defect is that it's too short and where Von Hallgath walks us in every corner of an electronic universe that some have abandoned too hastily”
1 Engine 6:32 2 Sublimation 9:05 3 Night Stretch 6:11 4 Dichotomy 6:38 Von Hallgath Music
(DDL/E.P. 28:28) (V.F.) (Teutonic Cosmic Rock)
You recall how much I was blown away when I discovered the music of EFSS with the brilliant album Night on Ouddorp? Well Von Hallgath is a parallel project to this German quartet and stages the music of Jörg Erren and Jochen Schöttler. The music is as much dark, heavy and sequenced but embraces however a more Teutonic model. A little as if Kraftwerk was on Speed or would want to correct the boiling firing of the trance music such as seen by Juno Reactor. So, here is EASTERFIELD! A solid E.P., whose only defect is that it's too short, where Von Hallgath walks us in every corner of an electronic universe that some have abandoned too hastily.
And that begins with some pulsations which fall like drops of sounds and which bounce in the gleamings of an aurora borealis. These drops scatter in reverberating sound waves where are in hiding a myriad of electronic tones borrowed to cosmos. And subtly, and especially very ingenious, these drops assemble and accumulate to form a rangy line of riffs of which the effect forges the movement of a heavy train with movements knotted by jerks. The rhythm is solid and sustained. Engine runs at high speed beneath a sky covered of twisted tones and of sound graffiti which kiss a cosmic universe tinted with some slight psychedelic perfumes that which we can easily associate with the futuristic world of Kraftwerk. What a start! And especially what a huge sonic setting which will spread its charms and its fascinating patterns of rhythm weaved in the fertile imaginary of Jörg Erren and Jochen Schöttler throughout the next 20 minutes of EASTERFIELD. White noises, interstellar beeps, very enveloping synth layers and pulsations which escape from astral waves; Sublimation offers a very peaceful cosmic introduction. Von Hallgath plunges us literally in the time when EM was the den of the sound experiments at the quest of a distant interstellar horizon. The nice time of Klaus Schulze! The rhythm is less violent than that of Engine but remains just as much thematic with a fluid movement. A movement delicately drummed where the sweet bass oscillations are cooing in a universe painted of cosmic effects and of synth pads to the visions as much astral as very seraphic. Then we pass at another level with a black, heavy and constantly hopping rhythm. Night Stretch brings us in the territories of Electronica with bass pulsations which hammer a beat for zombies marinated in LSD who watch endlessly the comings and goings of the serpentines of sequences to swirl over their head. The percussions, one would say muted bongo drums, and the bass line shape a kind of cosmic funk. A sensation which little by little dissipates when we catch ourself thinking of Juno Reactor. Let's say that it's a track that will keep us awake for most of the evening! Dressed in the fineries of the first three tracks, Dichotomy offers a more fluid and a jerkier structure with electronic elements which get dressed as sequences of rhythm. This is a brisk rhythm makes in the hard way which flows with more sweetness than violence.
I like this generation of newcomers who dare to move ashes of the past by remodeling them of a contemporary face. Von Hallgath, just like EFSS, E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr, M.O.B.S., Pharamond, BySenses and recently Owann as well as Skoulaman, are part of this generation of new artists who remodel the past with a very current vision. The mixture of both boldness gives results as exhilarating as those of the former days, as shown by this superb E.P. that is EASTERFIELD. A magnificent boldness and an astonishing result!
Sylvain Lupari (June 20th, 2015) ****½*
Available at Von Hallgath Bandcamp
Comments