cloud cover
by Dronaement & Aalfang mit Pferdekopf
For more than two decades, Marcus Obst aka Dronæment and Mirko Uhlig aka Aalfang mit Pferdekopf have been gracing the international experimental music underground with harmonic drone ambient 'full of pure beauty', as it says on their first collaboration/split album 'Farewell Fields', released in 2007. After 17 years, the trilogy that began with ‘Farewell Fields’ is now completed with this new collaboration by Dronæment and Aalfang mit Pferdekopf, and attenuation circuit is honoured to release it.
(Both 'Farewell Fields' and the second part of the trilogy, 'Hermit Haven', can be found on https://aalfangmitpferdekopf.bandcamp.com/)
Stormy weather, towering clouds – the album cover with its foreboding clouds above a city hardly seen shows us a scenery which is beautiful and threatening at the same time. Similarly, the music on this album is full of harmonies at once lush and deeply melancholic, 'between low-hanging Moog clouds, lumpy guitar waves, and fibrous veil abstractions' (Mirko Uhlig). And, just when the listener has sunken to the deepest zones of these droning oceans, something unexpected startles them, like a beam of sunlight hundreds of metres under the surface of the sea. An acoustic guitar suddenly makes itself heard within the electronic dronescape. Mysterious, hard-to-place field recordings connect the listener back to reality while leaving it totally unclear which reality this may be. And, a trademark with Aalfang mit Pferdekopf at least, even the track titles are lovingly crafted. In the case of this album, they pay tribute to two pioneering female composers of electronic music, Laurie Spiegel ('… is My Field Guide') and Else Marie Pade (referenced in the Danish title of the track 'Opdag Else').
File under: drone, ambient
ACU 1078
factory-produced CDr in Digisleeve
Released in 2024
limited to 50 copies
price: 10.00 EUR (excl. postage)
Stormy weather, towering clouds – after 17 years, the trilogy that began with ‘Farewell Fields’ is now complete.
aalfang.de
aalfangmitpferdekopf.bandcamp.com
dronaement.bandcamp.com
Also available here: http://www.discogs.com/seller/dependenz?sort=price&sort_order=asc&q=attenuation+circuit&st
VITAL WEEKLY
In recent times, I reviewed a few works, old and new, by Mirko Uhlig’s Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, and here he comes with an all-new work, recorded with Marcus Obst, also known as Dronaement. Also a name I hadn’t heard in some time, apart from the contribution to the Taalem boxset (see Vital Weekly 1463, not my review). The information here mentions this new release is part of a trilogy with Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, the first one from 2007. I haven’t reviewed either of these collaborations and from Dronaement, only two previous releases (Vital Weekly 697 and 752). In those reviews I reference minimal electronics and cosmic music, and to a certain extent, one could say something similar about Aalfang’s output, which I heard more in the past. There is no division of labour here, no instruments mentioned, and I guess Obst and Uhlig handle machines and field recordings. These machines might be analogue synthesisers and sequencers, but also digital ones. They deliver a delicate mix of slow, bouncy cosmic arpeggiator doodles or some more abstract sound, with the first more Obst’s interest and Uhlig the second – I am still guessing here. The field recordings are abstract; I have no idea where that’s coming from. Sometimes, there are also voices. I assume the musician’s voices for no particular reason. Interestingly, the more cosmic outings refer to composer Laurie Spiegel, and the three parts here seem like one piece but do not appear back to back. I don’t know why, as it interrupts the flow, but it also adds some variation, which is further enhanced by using an acoustic guitar (in ‘At Sea’), which appears out of the blue but works very well. It’s not something of a massive surprise, but a consistent, beautiful release.
https://www.vitalweekly.net/number-1468/
BAD ALCHEMY
Der Himmel grollt überAftenposten. Hat nicht die norwegische Zeitung während der Besatzungszeit als Quisling-Sprachrohr gedient? Oder schießt das Auge da übers Ziel hinaus? Thema von Cloud Cover (ACU 1078, CDr) als abschließendem Teil eines mit “Farewell Fields” (2007) begonnenem und mit “Hermit Haven” fortgesetzten Triptychons sind weiterhin Stormy weather & towering clouds, 'Currents & Clouds'. Als synästhetische Suggestionen, evoziert durch tief hängende Moog-Wolken, massige Gitarrenwellen und faserige Abstraktionsschleier von Marcus Obst aka DRONÆMENT and Mirko Uhlig aka AALFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF. Ein Trommelloop führt ein in mit Strings, Drones und diffusen Stimmen verwobenden Klingklang, mit dem 3-teiligen '...is my Field Guide' als Hommage an Laurie Spiegel. Im Museum, badend in Gitarrenwellen und 'Flöten'-Klang, bezaubert von waberndem Orgelsound und Vogelgezwitscher. Aber 'Opdag Else' schlägt als Referenz an die als Widerstandsaktivistin interniert gewesene dänische Elektronikpionierin Else Marie Pade (1924-2016) mit harmonischen Schwingungen vs. motorischer Attacke dann doch einen Bogen zum Unternehmen "Weserübung".
www.badalchemy.de
brezenstudio engine