Schatterau - Übers Jahr

Entrancing return from German group Schatterau with their second album in a year for the ever-reliable Hands In The Dark. If that first record crept out a little under the radar, then Übers Jahr has the potential to really allow the group to make its mark, occupying as it does the kind of hinterland territory that connects the avant garde magpie impulses of a group like Tomaga with the Gespensterland of Brannten Schnurre and their DIY underground affilates and the ever-evolving mystery world of TRjj. As aesthetic connection to those acts suggests, there is contemporary context for what Schatterau are up to, though it also fits into a much longer reaching lineage of European post-industrial, neo-folk sound that you might even argue has its roots in the outsider art music that informed much of the NWW list. With its dreamy array of electronic murmurings, brushed, scattershot drums, smoky jazz ambiance and moody vocalisations we could be hearing anything from a long lost transmission on Tapioca to a secret Beequeen communique from the depths of early Korm. Übers Jahr real strength, however, lies in its range and at 17 tracks long presents us with an impressively broad overview of their own private universe embedded with its own mysteries and unexplained vistas. The German language titles and lyrics are highly effective in adding to the overall puzzle, and with it the sense of a band operating very confidently in a shadow-world of their own design. Übers Jahr translates as "over the year", but time here could be anything.