NIGHTFALL

A reputed figure in the Berlin Schule of electronic/kosmische Musik, Peter Baumann was also a member of the classic trio line-up of Tangerine Dream from 1971 to 1977, the same golden period in which they released their seminal albums Zeit (1972), Phaedra (1974), Ricochet (1975) and Stratosfear (1976).

He's now back to recording studios, making his first solo instalment since Machines Of Desire, nine years ago. Baumann never followed the path of progressive rock based in virtuosity and energy, but rather that particular "tangerine" blend of cerebral design with cinematic soundscapes. And this is even more misteriously atmospheric an album than their previous efforts. Nevertheless, and in spite of all the astoundingly rational structure sustaining this music, its flow never stops, always impulsed by human emotion, the more conspicuous by contrast against the ever shifting sonic background. The cover of Nightfall with a sand dune, symbolizes the fleeting nature of our lives and experiences, our existence, according to Baumann himself, but also brings the last Klaus Schulze's album to memory, a non trivial association, since both seem to breathe and float in the same extatic universe.

"The track titles, as with much of my work, reflect the ephemeral, ungraspable nature of our existence", also says the artist. Of course, a strong sense of predictability also emerges from such an existentialist premise. But, in my case, that is not a complaint. In minimalistic affairs like this one, every minor shift in nuance or mood counts. The opener, No One Knows, convoys through the most hieratic desert, guided by sparse woodblocks under a laconic guitar dome. After that, there comes an impressively omnipresent, yet impenetrable choir in Track 2, Lost In A Pale Blue Sky. Perhaps the more dynamic (to say a lot) moments come to fruition in Tracks 3, 4 and 5, On The Long Road, A World Apart and From A Far Land, which, even being sustained by a still very circumspect percussive and harmonic scheme, assume a sort of narrative tension, in a fashion similar to a movie score when the trip procedes through an uncharted land of unmeasurable desolation.

"I love instrumental music because it bypasses any concepts, it is an expression that words can never capture," the artist reflects. "We can't hear music exactly the same way twice, it's always experienced differently, sometimes slightly sometimes substantially. Like a river, never exactly the same". So, it seems like this album extends an invitation to immerse and collaborate in the construction of that unfinished world of agonizing beauty.

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