Roedelius - Selbstportrait Wahre Liebe

Nicely presented reissue of the first record in Roedelius' Selbstportrait series, which was originally released under the name Sanfst Muzik in 79 roughly a year after his collaboration with Eno & Moebius. After the Heat is a landmark recording no doubt, albeit one that not so much breaks with the past but represents a continuation of it, displaying a good number of the distinctive tropes of its creators (i reckon The Belldog, Base & Apex, Foreign Affairs et al could have come from any of their previous albums). On his own, Roedelius turns the mirror on himself, unanchored by his collaborators, and journeys down the rabbithole to help forge a new sensibility. These songs are in many ways the prototypes for what we might understand as 'ambient' music now, though at the time it's doubtful that was exactly the intention. As the title might suggest (trans; self-portrait), these are contemplative, inner-looking, self-reflective electronic compositions, deeply personal and immersive. The risk with much early electronic music is that it can sound dated to modern ears (and these are sounds from over 40 years ago), but i don't get that here - Winterlicht, Gerne and especially the near 15min barely-there masterpiece Aus weiter Ferne (not on the original weirdly) could be released tomorrow and we'd hear claims of the emergence of a pioneer. Perhaps that's because Roedelius is a master, perhaps it's that this kind of minimal, hushed reverence is so desired now. It's become a joke how fashionable 'ambient' music has become of late, but it's also understandable in such horribly chaotic times. A pivotal record no doubt, and also a very enjoyable soul-enriching one, too.