“Far from the arid lands of A.B., Weltenuhr keeps nevertheless all of this lyrical approach which bangs to the door of esoterism”
1 Gales 3:50 2 Subgiants 8:14 3 Oculus 7:58 4 Denser World 5:30 5 Echoes of Parlours 4:53 6 On those Grounds Alone 5:34 7 Weltnuhr 5:41 8 Hallway of Things Past and Lost 4:35 9 Portico 6:01 10 Gabreta Silva 6:58 11 A Vagueness Disguised 3:40
(CD/DDL 63:16) (V.F.)
(Mix of ambient and Electronica)
Noisy winds, unfurling their angers on the unequal peaks of the snowy slopes, open the very enveloping Gales where the vaporous elvish voice of Elke Marleen Schumacher whispers her ambient singings, such as Galadriel and her mythical odes. Meditative, enigmatic and immensely poetic, Gales awaken our ears to the very last sonic feast from Wollo and Wöstheinrich. It's on the souvenirs of Arcadia Borealis that WELTENUHR was soberly approached. Then on visit in Germany within the framework of the prestigious Schallwelle Prize ceremony in2010, where Arcadia Borealis was in nomination in the category of the best album of 2009, Erik Wøllo has exchanged musical ideas and worked with Bernhard Wöstheinrich in order to find a way to build a new album. Because of the numerous commitments of both accomplices and a very charged working schedule, the duet set about 3 years before finalizing a second collaboration. Far from the arid lands of Arcadia Borealis, WELTENUHR keeps nevertheless all this lyrical approach, as well as this delicious balance between ambiences and rhythms which was the cornerstone of their previous work. Rhythms which are clearly more incisive and ambiences which are a little more enigmatic, so giving more reliefs to a music which bangs to the door of a universe closer of the eschatological than of the seraphic poetry.
Like in Subgiants and its winds which screech and howl, drawing scarlet moods where think paranoiac whispers and grumble noises of chains. It is a sound fauna of the most syncretic which adorn our hearing of a paranormal attention when a bass line belches an embryo of rhythm. And this rhythm tears the ambiences with lively and jerky percussions which feed an up-tempo solidly anchored by a line of bass and its snoring chords a bit funky. While Subgiants fidgets of its wild spasms, astral waves filled of sibylline voices wrap its abruptness while that some distraught rustlings ennoble it the spectre of a veil of terror. The amphigoric approach persists with the delicious spheroidal dance of the carillons in Oculus. Even if the ballet is of glass, the percussions and the drummed rhythm which bears it make Oculus unbreakable and guide it towards a somber dimension where the layers of guitar and its howling spectres compete to these strange noises which are the food of its ambiguity. Denser World, as well as On those Grounds Alone which breathes a bit of the tinkled chants of Oculus, brings us back towards the musical architectures of Arcadia Borealis with a lively rhythm wrapped up by these astral breezes and adorn of these riffs of guitars which resound in loops in a sonic universe always on the verge of the enigmatic. Our ears find peace of mind in the morphic and meditative intro of Echoes of Parlours. We cannot remain indifferent in front of this sublime and intensely poignant piece of music! The movement is slow, almost frightening with these tears of synth and guitar which cry in delicate movements of jolts and into gloomy moods finely drawn by superb orchestrations soaked of vaporous mist. Soft and striking, it's my very favorite on the album. The title-track leads to the poetic elvish singings of Elke Marleen Schumacher, as well as in the Galileans vibes of Gales. And after the very meditative and ambient Hallway of Things Past and Lost, Portico offers a delicate circular structure which is drummed by a suite of chords to the discreet felted tones. The rhythm is lively but delicate. It pounds discreetly in azure hoops which float all over its structure, amplifying the spheroidal shape of this rhythm which swirls under its dense eclectic veil of mist coming from this fusion synth / guitar and of its heterogeneous ambient harmonies. Coated of a membrane which always favors the very abstruse atmospheres, Gabreta Silva provides the balance of rhythms in WELTENUHR of a light advantage with a tempo always so lively and abrupt which quavers and skips under the weight of the bursts of Dantesque voices, cabalistic sound effects, nervous percussions, always humming chords of a good bass and riffs of guitar at both echoing and harmonious. A Vagueness Disguised concludes this 2nd collaboration of Wollo & Wöstheinrich with a more meditative approach. The notes of piano which fall like tears on a soft strummed lullaby are melting in a magical sonic setting where sighs of violins, stratified in a meshing of six strings and synth, as well as floating arpeggios, molded in the scarlet glass, let fall their tenderness in a veil of melancholy, so uniting the poles of the poetry, the mysticism and the esotericism which feeds the very big diversity of another magnificent work out of the DiN label.
Sylvain Lupari (October 2nd, 2014) ****½*
Available at DiN Bandcamp