A beautiful and reflective bit of work, Locke-Pistol;-Kreuz floats around for an eternity, the subdued synth noises grumble around in the background, waiting for the piano riff to escort them elsewhere. Angel has the same indeterminate feel; loops of noise and melody are used, building up a very attractive web of ambient noise-pop that lasts a good ten minutes. There is a tune in there but it’s not in any hurry to show you its secrets.
It’s incredibly confident music; the opening two tracks take seventeen minutes to play out, putting your notions of what is and isn’t allowed by a recording artist firmly in their place. Elsewhere the mood is kept muted, but charmingly weird. Loops and treated samples played off carefully selected instrumental cameos are evidently the thing, as Buchberg will testify. Stein is particularly glorious, a lazy gloop of white noise somehow worked into a beautiful folksy melody. We even get a cover of Roxy’s Manifesto, which rounds things off in fine style. Highly recommended if you’re feeling lazy and ethereal.
Words: Richard Foster