NAURA

One of the great pleasures I've had over the last year has been the discovery of the music of German electronic artist Michael Brückner. Not only have I had the honour of finding out he is a very genuine person and a cheerful friend, but it has been a real joy to hear his take on the electronic progressive genre. Michael frequently favours a thoughtful mix of modern and vintage styles, everything from Berlin school extended ambience, deep droning atmospheres and even some slight modern dance elements.

In March 2013, Brückner was approached by the Klangwirkstoff label to contribute to a compilation of electronic music that is based on, or tuned to, natural or `cosmic' frequencies. According to the artist himself, he began composing a track "using a) binaural effects, and b) tuned to the Earth's magnetic field's basic resonance at 7.83 Hertz." Phew! The label itself offers that "being in tune with this frequency can enhance the capacity of the human body to repair itself, and helps to remove stress and intensify concentration." The resulting album `Naura' sees the artist delivering four lengthy pieces of electronic ambience, although it never falls into soft New Age dreck that some listeners may have feared the above description from the label may have suggested.

`Rinkula' opens like a klaxon announcement with looping, almost chime-like pulses over the most sedate of low-key synth drones that softly weave around the listener. A pattering beat gently soon complements this mysterious and hypnotic unwinding dreamscape. The almost eighteen minute `Rauka (Wild Mix)' moves through an ominous machine hum that brings an almost middle-eastern spiritual quality, with submerged bubbling synths and low-key pulsing trip-hop beats. The second half superbly executes dark robotic drama that rumbles like a quake but ends on a groaning come-down before floating into an ethereal chill-out. `Rauros - A Drone' will please fans of vintage era Klaus Schulze, with similar fizzing synths around rising and falling electronic washes that offers precious fragility yet comforting warmth. `Rauka' then returns in a `Disciplined Mix', but is not some mere lazy remix. Throbbing mechanical oscillations, a variety of low-key trance-styled beats and subtle percussive variations wrap around disorientating and shimmering spiral synth loops for a full seventeen minutes.

With atmospheric cover art by fellow electronic artist Kevin O'Neill, `Naura' is for those who love to be hypnotized by the alien atmospheres of the lengthy, extended works of the classic defining years of artists like Tangerine Dream, Adelbert von Deyen and Cluster, while also bringing modern touches, and never in an unoriginal cliched manner that imitates these artists. Michael Brückner offers superb electronic music that is rich with variety and emotion, is unhurried and subtly unfolding, yet never forgets to be melodic, approachable, and, more importantly, still very human. Those with the patience to commit to endless repeated listens to let the music truly take hold of them will be rewarded with a superb electronic release from an intelligent and challenging artist.

Four stars.

(Note - the physical CD copy also comes with a hidden `bonus' track at the end, a near fifteen minute `preview mix' of the album that works as a decent extended piece in it's own right. Just more to enjoy!)