Läuten der Seele - Die Reise zur Monsalwäsche

Christian Schoppik's Läuten der Seele project returns to original home Hands in the Dark with Die Reise zur Monsalwäsche, the final part in the "Water" themed trilogy of records that first started with 2022's Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage, and then followed by Ertrunken im seichtesten Gewässer, issued by last year by none other than yours truly. Like those previous albums, Die Reise zur Monsalwäsche is presented as two continuous sides of music split into individual movements, a means of presentation perfectly suited to his expert process of sampling and collage - it's not as if you can ever see the seams with Schoppik, skilled as he is, but you can feel the motion. Here, the 'narrative', so to speak, is predicated on the notion of spiritual destiny, and there is indeed an element of dramatic grandeur to Die Reise zur Monsalwäsche not as overtly present on the last two records, a quality enforced by a heavier reliance on classical music samples. Is this Schoppik's Epic? Perhaps, though that's arguably an aspect of much of the music he's made under this name. Instead, maybe the sense of event - of something Big occurring - is a reflection of the record's position at the end of the trilogy, as if a journey is ending, epiphanies experience, the final stretch in sight. Because the emphasis is never on the literal in Schoppik's music, it's more the feeling you're encouraged to intuit than there is any true meaning to discover. It's not where you ended up, it's how you got there, and Läuten der Seele is at its best a Siddarthra of sound.