This album should come with an advisory sticker for listeners anticipating a mainstream pop record to say that it contains no guitar and no voices.
The Roedelius name should give fair warning that the contents will be in a more experimental vein. The Krautrock artist is best known for his albums with Cluster and Harmonia as well as for Ambient collaborations with Brian Eno and others.
So, while it is no surprise that HJ contributes piano and synthesiser, it requires a significant sonic adjustment to come to terms with the fact that Lloyd Cole's role is confined to keyboards, modular synthesiser, programming and treatments.
Could this really be the same man who wrote literate pop songs for cool girlfriends or casually name checked Citroen 2CV cars and cult movies?
The origins of this unlikely double act date back to 2001 when Cole, dabbling in instrumental-electronica, released an album called Plastic Wood inspired by Bowie's Low album and Cluster's Sowieso.
When this record found its way to Roedelius, he heard it as the work of a kindred spirit and added overdubs on the tracks for his own amusement.
In today's world of Creative Commons licenses, this flipped version might , at the very least , have been shared online but, though flattered, Cole decided to confine the remixes to the archives on the basis that "the project had run its course..
That might have been the end of his electronic excursions had he not reconnected with Hans in Vienna ten years later.
In an interview with The Mouth Magazine, Cole describes the unorthodox recording process that ensued: "We were never together. I sent him some tracks. He completed five of them. He sent me some and I completed five of them".
You have to decide for yourself who did what exactly, but it's safe to say that the end result is more Cluster-like than anything Cole ever recorded with his Commotions.
The compositions are billed somewhat ominously as "explorations" which I take to mean that a fair amount of trial and error went into the recording process.
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The results are, inevitably, self indulgent and uneven though by no means horrendous once you get to grips with what kind of record you are listening to.
The blue design on the cover depicts sea waves that are neither stormy nor calm. The same could be said of the ocean of sound on the album's ten tracks.
There are weird Sci-Fi atmospherics on TangoLargo and hints of motorik rhythms on HIQS but the most successful tunes on the record are those with a more tranquil mood.
This includes the opening track,Pastoral, which, as the title suggests, is both simple and serene or "free of musical garrulousness", if you prefer the record label's more ornate description.
Other calming minimalism can be found on tracks where HJ's piano is most prominent such as Still Life With Kannyu and the final two tracks Virginie L and Lullerby
Fehmarn F/O is the most far out with squalls of irritating synthesised effects.
Wandelbar is a more successful experiment although this dense, abstract piece doesn't really fit with the other tunes and perhaps should have been held back for Volume 2 if and when it arrives.
In short, this is business as usual for Roedelius and a quirky journey into unfamiliar territory for Cole.
Thankfully, it doesn't mean that the Englishman has abandoned what he does best. Standards is the reassuring title of an album of 'normal' songs scheduled for release in June 2013.
Lloyd Cole's weblog
Hans-Joachim Roedelius' website
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