What now?

Ulrich Schnauss - "Goodbye" - a review.

Ulrich Schnauss is the grandmaster of big soundscapes. Simple melodies and sparse drum machine tracks pave the way for and ultimately yield to massive washes of sculptured guitar and synthesised joy. Listening to Schnauss has always been a reliably pleasant experience, and, though at times he can be a little too unchallenging, a private listen on headphones in the right setting will likely leave you grinning from ear to ear.

But oceans of headphone bliss aside, one of the most appealing things about both Far Away Trains Passing By and In An Isolated Place was that Schnauss' melodies and hooks added a familiar lightness of touch into even the deepest rushes of sound, and it was this comforting familiarity that made his records agreeable enough to just 'put on' in social occasions without worrying about offending anyone's tastes.

The good news is that awesome soundscapes are back in full force with this year's Goodbye. Schnauss' synth-mastery has been tweaked to an even more intense pitch: on occasions here he propels you through the smoky haze of reverberation as though you're rushing through space, at other times he conjures up cathedral domes of sound that shimmer with the voices of angels, or sometimes his arpeggios appear as alien lifeforms, communicating some secret ancient message.

As pleasant as this all is, it's not really anything new, and it's not the main attraction of this record. One criticism of his earlier work is that, structurally speaking, he hardly ever seemed to develop any of his ideas. The tracks often lacked direction: he put you into a specific space, left you there for a few minutes, and then he just got on with painting the next picture. Which is why for me this album's real appeal lies with the promise of some new tricks, notably a more distinct guitar presence and the featured vocalists, both of which point to a departure from the ambient impressionism we have come to know and love.

In terms of one looking a progression from previous work, the record certainly offers something new. There is a definite maturity here: many of the tracks feel more tightly constructed, more carefully considered. This is reflected in slightly more adventurous production decisions, greater harmonic complexity and so forth; but is visible more clearly in the inclusion of several actual structured "songs" in the record - songs that you might actually catch yourself humming along to and getting involved with.

Furthermore, there is a noticeably increased emotional range on display. Of course, the trademark magic lightness that characterised older tracks such as "Blumenthal" and "Knuddelmaus" is still here ("Stars", "Einfeld"), and Schnauss still plays to his strengths and gives us that lovely diffuse sound that satisfies all requirements. But it is the new feelings that underpin several of these tracks that leave the biggest impression. The rather fraught vocal performance of band-mate Rob McVey on "Shine" makes the familiar warm synths now sound alien, and the adolescent grunge growl that fuels "Medusa" verges on menacing in an oddly blurred way.

In fact, it's precisely this new depth that presents the biggest problem with the album, and that is that the record feels stuck between two distinct poles of purpose. On one hand, you can't really just 'put on' this record as you could the others: Schnauss here is not such an easy, unchallenging listen. But on the other, in spite of its maturity, it still feels largely stuck in the previous albums' big synthy comfort zone. It's enough of a departure to shift the album off your coffee table, but isn't quite enough for it to stand aside from the other albums as a distinct and vibrant piece of art. If anything, its small differences only serve to highlight just how little distance has been travelled.

But I'm nitpicking. Sure, it's not a surefire quick-win hit with guests like his previous albums, but we already have plenty of Schnauss for those occasions. This record's definitely worth a listen. Might I suggest that it's one for the headphones, and while you listen, you can wonder if the new-found maturity is a sign of greater things to come.

Dream Team line-up #22

Vocals - Jonas Bjerre
Drums - Steve Gadd
Percussion - Zakir Hussain
Keys - Jon Hopkins
Strings - The Brodsky Quartet

Dream Team line-up #19

Vocals - David Bowie
Guitar - Larry Carlton
Keys - Boards of Canada
Drums - Jojo Mayer
Bass - Squarepusher
Drum Machine - Jonny Greenwood
Trumpet - Arve Henrikssen

...and mixed and engineered live by Daft Punk!