Review Summary: A weird visitation.
Late of Krautrock pioneers Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze has carved his own place in the pantheon of experimental electronic music with a solo career stretching from the early 1970s to the present. His celebrated discography begins here, with
Irrlicht.
The album’s full translated title is
Will-o’-the-wisp: Quadraphonic Symphony for Orchestra and Electronic Machines, and the record makes good use of both its named elements. Combining a recording of a classical music rehearsal with sounds from a modified electric organ, Schulze conjures droning, otherworldly textures across this forward-thinking album of space-age musique concrete.
Side one, “Satz: Ebene/Gewitter” or “Movement: Plain/Thunderstorm”, begins with the sounds of classical strings being stretched into a discomfiting whine before fading into electronic drones. And indeed, drones are the backbone of
Irrlicht. The droning hum is sometimes loud and other times relatively unobtrusive, but it is ever present. Early in “Ebene/Gewitter”, melodies from the classical orchestra are heard clearly above the hum, but this familiar (though distorted) instrumentation recedes in the second half of the piece. It is replaced by something synthetic, the loud droning chords of the modified organ held for bars at a time. The altered classical recording, along with other alien instrumentation, sits at the edges of the mix, adding texture and dynamism that alter the perception of the static central rumble.
The mood of the first side is somber, not quite sinister but definitely uneasy. This sense of unease is amplified as a tremolo effect is applied to the droning at the end of “Ebene”, turning static majesty into something dynamic and frantic. “Gewitter” is falling action, featuring a much quieter, more delicate showing from the organ with bizarre sound effects I can only describe as “springy”.
The second side, “Satz: Exil Sils Maria” or “Movement: Sils Maria Exile”, is quieter than the first, without the same feeling of momentum or grandiosity. It has a more industrial feel, particularly in the center of the piece, with panning high-frequency pulses and drones conjuring a familiar sense of disquiet. The track has moments of beauty as well, particularly in the slow moving and hushed back half. Still, where “Ebene/Gewitter” demanded the listener’s attention through imposing volume, “Exil Sils Maria” seems comfortable in the classic mode of ambient music, “as ignorable as it is interesting”.
Like its namesake,
Irrlicht is a weird visitation, by turns sinister and confusing. It pulls you in with inviting textures, but keeps you at arm’s length with distortion and obscurity. It’s a strange piece of art that is well worth the effort.
