Dear friends
Covid-19 is dangerously impacting the social-economic category of musicians. No concerts, poor political and social consideration, uncertain earnings. As a consequence, an ever-growing number of musicians, especially those from the experimental area, are trying to promote their music on BandCamp in digital format only. It is increasingly difficult for me to follow and review this incredible flow of music. I therefore decided to open this section on my blog Neuguitars where I propose music in digital format that I consider particularly interesting and worthy of attention. I hope you like it. Let’s support musicians. They need it.
Andrea Aguzzi
Aufbruch by J.Peter Schwalm, Markus Reuter, RareNoise, 2021 on #neuguitars #blog
Aufbruch | J.Peter Schwalm, Markus Reuter | J. Peter Schwalm (bandcamp.com)
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… more
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“
1. Der Aufbruch
2. Von Anbeginn
3. Rückzug
4. Abbau
5. Ein Riss
6. Der lange Weg
7. Lebewohl
8. Losgelöst
9. Abschied
Mixed, edited and mastered by J. Peter Schwalm at Mainsound/Frankfurt am Main
Photography and design by Damir Tomaš (Photographed at V&A Dundee Design Museum, Architecture by Kengo Kuma)
Edition Outshine/Universal Music:
Publishing for J. Peter Schwalm
Markus Reuter (SESAC),
All Matter in the Universe (SESAC)
Produced by J. Peter Schwalm
Executive producer for RareNoiseRecords: Giacomo Bruzzo
NeuGuitars 