With slightly darker moods and bewitching washes of sadness diluted with hope that crash right into the soul, A Long Way To Fall is another album from Ulrich Schnauss destined to become a classic.
A true luminary in the world of electronic music and beyond, Ulrich Schnauss—a man responsible for classic albums such as Far Away Trains Passing By and A Strangely Isolated Place—is finally back with a new solo album. It’s been six years since Schnauss’ last full-length solo effort, Goodbye, and now the waiting is over. Was it worth the wait? It certainly was. In fact, A Long Way To Fall might be Schnauss’ best work to date. Still soaked in sweet melancholy and wrapped in a strange aura of warm nostalgia, Schnauss’ music has become more tricky, subtle, dynamic, polished and penetrating.
Indeed six years have passed since Goodbye, but Schnauss wasn’t hibernating during that time, he was actually involved in some interesting activities and kept creating windows to the outside of reality. For instance he released two collaborative albums: the suitably titled Epic with Jonas Munk aka Manual; and Underrated Silence with Engineers’ guitarist and songwriter Mark Peters. Underrated Silence was released in February 2012, and already there Schnauss has shown gentle promising signs of change and development. If you don’t own a copy of it yet, I strongly suggest that you’ll get one. Peters’ guitar work fits like a glove to Schnauss’ designs.
Unaffected by current trends, but celebrating modern technology and spiced with a stylish vintage touch, A Long Way To Fall is a lush dreamy swell of deep emotions and electrifying atmospheres that were beautifully and effectively translated into sound. Traces of Schnauss’ vision of merging the 90’s shoegaze aesthetics with electronica are present here, but this time this previously perfectly realized vision was not the main focus of this talented musician and producer. Schnauss felt the need to change and explore new avenues as it says on the press release, and indeed the album is full of freshness and new flavors, but the unique charming Schnauss panache is there as well, shining gracefully in all the compositions. It’s actually not easy to explore new avenues and embrace new elements without losing the signature magic that won over the hearts of so many people, but Schnauss has done it masterfully. Once again he sounds only like himself.
With slightly darker moods and bewitching washes of sadness diluted with hope that crash right into the soul, A Long Way To Fall is another album from Ulrich Schnauss destined to become a classic. A combination of addictive haunting melodies with rich infectious beats and all kinds of quirky sounds and manipulations makes this album quite stormy; but it still feels like a lovely evening lying in a widespread field, stargazing with a loved one. This album will make you long for something lost or forgotten, but will also remind you to live the moment and have hope for the future. It’s only the beginning of 2013, but it’s safe to say that A Long Way To Fall will fill a spot on quite a few best of the year lists. A dazzling display of audio poetry.
A Long Way To Fall is available on Scripted Realities / Domino.
