Läuten der Seele - s/t

Lauten der Seele (trans: sounds of the soul) is the debut solo outing from Christian Schoppik, one half of the shadowy duo and shop favourites, Brannten Schnure. Though lacking the volksmusik-channeling vocals of Katie Rich, those acquainted with Schoppik's usual output will identify many similar themes and processes across these twelve tracks. Much of Brannten Schnure's work seems to be concerned with early 20th century German culture and identity, and that focus is further explored here, with Schoppik constructing loops and collages from samples of Heimatfilme, a form of post-war filmmaking that imagined a romanticised and often much simpler form of German life parallel to the world a few generations of German people had just lived through. Married to Schoppik's characteristic musicbox approach to instrumentation - accordions, flutes, keyboards, guitars - and incorporation of found sounds, the result is both dream-like and sinister, an experiment in imagined nostalgia that feels cannily authentic. These are by no means the traditional sounds of the Gemeinde, but they do seem to conjure emotional vistas of lost rural life, windows to Germany's hidden reverse. Might that be its 'soul'? I've always understood Brannten Schnure's music as some kind of alternative soundtrack to Haneke's White Ribbon, which now feels somewhat ironic given that film is often pitched as anti-Heimatfilme. Schoppik has never displayed an interest in explication, though i don't believe his work to be abstract, either - this is impressionist composition, suggestive of a world just out of reach, still vivid yet still unspoken. Edition of 300.