Menschenleere is the second full album by Vlimmer following on, from the immense series of 18 ep's this most productive of German one man bands has put out since 2015, Alexander Donat has also found time to put out material with a number of other side projects including Fir Cone Children and Assasun as well as releasing records by Feu Follet and Social Union among others on his Blackjack Illuminist imprint, I believe this is the label's 95th release since 2007.
The album opens slowly with Erdgeruch, it soon bursts into life when the drums and vocals are added to the slow synths, it pulses along, evoking autumn mornings walking in the woods just after it's rained and the smells wafting by, with a sense that not everything is as it should be.
Mathematik has some very 80's soundtrack sci-fi synths with a more modern beat and percussion that seems to slowly move around the speakers as the calculations are made to get you up onto the dancefloor once more as screeds of sound mix with dislocated dance elements.
Zielzweifel has gauzy synths with yearning vocals and goth slow dancefloor intent. Noposition thuds slowly into view, as the beat grows encased in swirls of synths, dark intent threatening any neutrality implicit in the title with an icy breakdown that gives way to distressed beats, a growing sense of despair that you haven't become the Mensch your parents and grandparents always claimed you were.
Schadelhitze feels less tense as the darkened synths slowly build to find a way out of the rubble and into a brighter future. Kronzeuge is the goth soundtrack to another dark crime film with the eyewitness slowly revealing what happened in front of their eyes. The tension builds slowly with barked orders as the facts become clearer.
Schwimmhand is possibly the best song you'll hear this year about hand paddles, to help give you webbed hands when you swim, whatever next eh! So, this is perfect for you next Goth pool party, complete with the Dark wave machine and purple water.
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Stimmriss has left a nasty stain on your cello once more, as this gorgeous dark elegy slowly unfurls, as you seek out your luthier, to deal with the Stimmriss.
Fatigo is as languorous as a song about fatigue ought to be, in parts barely there yet bright and shiny in places, this might help to stir you back into action, but as I'm not intending to go out much for the next few weeks this could be my theme song too.
Menschenleere is slow thoughtful stark dark wave with drums and beats threatening to engulf the listener, before falling away to leave the pristine keys and rising once more from the ashes.
Raynaud is a foxy chase through the dark dancehall passageways, seeking some new experiences, with less alienation, a clearer way through to more gently glacial surroundings.
Find out more at https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/menschenleere https://www.facebook.com/VlimmerMusic
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